Swift O/O and L/O - How much do they make?

OK, I have yet to hear from someone who leased a truck from IEL/Swift and failed (financially). It's always hearsay, no shortage of people willing to tell you to stay away from leasing a truck from IEL/Swift. I’m not saying you can’t go broke leasing a truck from IEL/Swift (because plenty of people do), I’m saying you rarely hear from someone who wasn’t smart enough to make it work.

IEL/Swift is taking a gamble when they lease you a truck. If you are a company driver with 6 months experience (with Swift), a decent RA score, and a minimum of negative stuff on your driving record they will lease you a brand new truck worth well over $100,000 with no money down. Yes, it makes more sense (financially) to buy a truck and lease it to Swift but for many new drivers that is not an option.

I leased a nearly new (1750 miles) 2012 Cascadia on May 17, 2012. To date I am doing well. I have made as much as $1600 for a 2800 mile week and lost $375 for a 1000 mile week when I overbought fuel. According to my accountant my break-even point is 1800 miles (for a week) yet I’m gonna net $856 for last week which was just over 1800 miles and included $222.50 in detention & stop pay. I’m currently on hometime. I ran a 1025 mile load to get home and plan to go back out on Monday. If I get a load which delivers on or before Wednesday I’ll break even, if not I’ll probably lose $200 or so which I consider a reasonable tradeoff for 4 days off at home.

If you lease a truck you need to realize that you are running a small business. As such your truck is a business tool. You need to be smart about which loads you take,where you buy fuel (as well as how much), and how much you idle the truck. Fuel is by far your biggest expense, it will either make you or leave you flat broke and busted.

 

yeah......

 

....almost.

I'm confused (imagine that) about the actual fuel cost and the fuel surcharge. Am I correct that Swift refunds/rebates a dollar amount per gallon/miles for the fuel the L/O buys and that amount can vary daily/weekly by a list of factors including the geographic location? Is that only for fuel bought at a terminal or anywhere as long as you use your Comdata card? In other words, I guess, is the fuel bought through the company to leverage their bulk fuel discounts?

Tanx,
Frank

 

In the contract they have a stipulated amount they pay per mile in fuel surcharge compared to the Department of Energy's base diesel price for the week (set on Mondays I think). This stipulated fuel surcharge I believe should not be considered 100% fuel surcharge one might see in so many truck hiring ads.
My calculations have shown that I'd have to get a little over 9 miles per gallon for the fuel surcharge to break even, otherwise with fewer miles per gallon I'm dipping into the line haul pay to cover the fuel purchased.

I think fuel cost me $0.6x something cents per mile last week but the fuel surcharge was $0.39. This can eat an L/O alive.

Too much deadhead is also a recipe for disaster. Just saw a Macro 30 load offer-- 189 empty to 207 loaded. Remember, no fuel surcharge on empty miles.....

 

Ok here's where I am, running solo. Through the first 6 months 2012 I've netted $22,874 before taxes. My maintenance account is up $1,117 since the begining of the year with $6,527 in expenses and a current balance of $8,491 in my maintenance account. My current operating cash on hand stands at $5,578.

My tax liabilty for 2011 was $1,400 on $39,083 net income for federal, state and self employed.

I've been leasing for 20 months and I take about 45 days of hometime a year. Generally in 6 to 8 day stretches about every 6 weeks. To this point I've paid $1,117 in excess milage.

Now for some of the points ... Frank the fuel rebate is a flat milage spiff for all loaded miles. It varies based on the average cost of fuel and there's is an additional spiff for the west coast state based on the differentila of the cost of fuel there from the national average.

innkeeper ... It may be up to the descretion of the terminal manager, but I have seen O/O day cabs. It was at Mira Loma. They are indistingushable from company day cabs other than havimg the leased to Swift blurb on them.

Steve ... your break even should be in the $1200-$1400 range.

Though Swift is getting more liberal, before leasing they wanted 6 months experience and at least 30 consecutive days running 10K miles prior to leasing.

Witch ... A mentor can drive during the first 50 hours. The mentor MUST be on duty during the first 50 hours the student drives. The mentor can drive any amount of time up to thier 14/11/70.

 

I agree. I was merely quoting what my accountant told me. I was a bit suprised to see a $901.40 settlement (got more detention pay) for 1804 loaded/107 MT miles. The mileage portion was $633.90.

 

Frank,

To specifically answer your question the fuel surcharge (or rebate as some call it) has NOTHING to do with where you buy your fuel or even how you pay for it. It is a per mile amount ($.398 last week + $.02 for west coast states) based strictly on your loaded (or dispatched) miles. If your dispatch says 800 miles and you actually run 900 you get paid rebate on 800, same if you only run 785 miles on ther same load.

When I started 9 weeks ago it was well worth buying fuel at Swift terminals as the discount averaged about $.20 a gallon. Lately the discount has all but disappeared and in some places actually cost most than the local truck stops. I research EVERY gallon of fuel that I put into my truck. My truck is currently sitting in my driveway with about 20 gallons on board, I did this to reduce how much I'll lose this week in case I do not get another load that MTs out before Wednesday. If I get a load on Monday that MTs by Wednesday I'll pump in just enough fuel to make the run, if it MTs after Wednesday I'll probably fill it.

Did this help?

 

standard answer between -700 and +1,700 unless u have steady dedicated route with predictable miles,same terrain,same weight and fueling options really hard to get even paychecks....not counting having hometime...but u have to work! no sitting around whining about miles....

 

I have found that my break even point is about 1200 miles. After this, all that I am paying is the fuel and my maint. account. My check when I last went home was $1700 and that was for about 2900 miles. I am very picky about my loads. I look at the weight and the terrain. East cost I stay out of because it will kill you on the fuel, mtns and cost.

 

Swift skims money off the actual FSC amount.

My mentor leased at truck for several years. He found out Swift paid for the truck in 8 months or less with the original lessor. If Swift wanted more L/O's they should give a higher percentage of the FSC, and pay percentage VS a set per mile pay.

My mentor's truck hauled nothing cheaper than $1.67 a mile. One load for $8 a mile.