THE ADVENTURES CONTINUE - DFO gets a truck and hops on Schneider's IC Choice Program

Isn't there an 'ignore' option for jerks?

Cause I have a list... And yet another in-duh-vidual has been added to my 'skim past this useless post' list.

 

DFO can question my math if he chooses, but You obviously have a much cheaper truck than he. I have cordially read this thread for some time and my civil post have either been contradicted or ignored. I was set off last week when I read all those post about stopping the 14 hour clock, which is total BS. And admin. should have jumped in and put a quick end to that discussion before some newby took it for fact. Your post are easy too read but sometime the quagmires are more than I can take.
P.S. My grand a week is just play money as I'm home most days by 3 and have already retired once in 2007.
P.S.S. My wife makes about 3 grand/week so my job is irrelevant.

 

My apologies, I was thinking your payment was around 1 k/week. By your own admission those are loan shark rates and that is the part I don't understand. A very high percentage of drivers are taking this route (which baffles me) and I see this as a recipe to fail. I would rather see schneider pay all its driver.60/mile and fix there own trucks. I see it as the companies way of sluffing off these unknown cost, because after all these new type motors are still a great unknown and they have passed the buck. I would be interested in some solid numbers on the success rate of these deals as I see most of you are hard chargers.Many are already figuring out how they get back home, when they leave the house.

 

Not to speak for TennMann but I believe his truck is worth a fair bit more than mine. Keep in mind that the number you often see discussed as a "payment" here from me includes my truck payment, what I pay into my maintenance account, all of my insurances, tags, etc., etc. The actual truck payment is $693/week.

And maybe 6 speed look at your comment here from the outside and remember that this is your situation... just like my situation is MY situation, and everyone ELSE's situation is THEIRS... I go home a lot (except for these past 3 weeks I've been ROLLIN') and like to enjoy time off often so maybe I don't make as much as person a. or person b. Bottom line is what I take home, what I save up, how I choose to purchase my truck, its all irrelevant when compared to other peoples' situations!

I'm sorry you were bothered by the discussion about the 14 hour rules but it seemed to me it was nothing more, just a discussion, and if a new driver takes what he reads on an internet forum discussion as fact then we've got more problems than that LOL.

I'll apologize for how hard I came down on you in my original reply to your post, but it did set me off just as you were by some posts by others. I've always tried to be open and honest on this thread about how things are when it comes to running my business and never claim to be the best of the best, I just am who I am. I may not make as much money as some out there but I don't do too bad for myself either. I've never claimed to be an expert mechanic with 20 years of experience but I'm never afraid to get my hands dirty and learn and so far I have at least been successful in taking care of my truck!

I too look forward to one day retiring and being able to come home by 3 to my beautiful bride who brings home 3 grand a week! But for the time being its just me and I'm doing what I'm doing for me, myself, and I. At 24 though I've got a long ways to go.

 

Holy cow you're young*I'm 25* that's giving me more reason to join

 

You are right, the interest rate is high but again, with absolutely zero credit history, assuming by some miracle I would have been able to pull off a loan from a bank from the start, would the interest rate have really been that much lower? Probably not, but again its irrelevant because with no credit history it was impossible in the first place.

What you gotta remember though is no one is forcing these drivers to become an o/o, l/o, etc., they are all doing so on their own accord. Do a LOT of them fail? Absolutely. Is the success rate high? Nope, not at all, you won't see any argument from me there.

The other thing to remember is that most of the guys here on the forum that have been apart of these discussions are the guys that are making it work. You think jim bob that starts out and goes under in the first 2 weeks is gonna continue on posting here? Nope, you'll never hear from him again lol.

Like you said, you DO have to be a hard runner (at least with SFI and SNI) if you want to make a lease/purchase turn into a true owner/operator deal eventually where you own the truck... otherwise you'll barely break even and everything else will just suck you dry. Also, keep in mind like I said in my previous post that everyone situation is different. Mine makes doing this relatively easy and I can still enjoy slow running and a fair bit of time off, and I save myself a fortune by doing the jobs on the truck that I have the space, knowledge and tools to do myself.

And like you say in your last sentence... its all about planning, you gotta stay ahead of yourself all the time, not just with loads, but with your expenses and your maintenance and everything else that comes with this. Fall behind and its very very difficult to catch back up again.

 

Also, in fairness to SNI I need to correct my math in the previous posts. I came up with the interest rate being around 20%, but I failed to include the fact that SFI covered the cost of the first two truck payments - that brings it to 17.3%. Still a high rate but in fairness to SFI I do need to correct myself on that.

 

I will hold my tongue.

 

I wrote a whole page, but then deleted it,describing my explanation of 6-speeds train of thought with this and I do understand it and I agree with and do have some issues with it, but I try to keep them quiet, because I am also choosing to work here. I have no doubt that if SNI thought they could get away with paying drivers .27 cpm, they would. They only reason We are getting the small raise that we did is because several other high profile companies have raised their pay. But again, I choose to work here. I'm 42. I don't want to job hop. I am allowed to run hard and I am left alone. My truck runs great(don't break down now, you f*****) and I have it pretty easy, when I talk to other drivers from other companies.

I think this goes back to what I said about How if you don't see their way as being the best way, then you're wrong. Never mind the fact that you has different goals and aspirations.

 

Please, guys, this thread has made it 260 pages without getting locked and I don't want to see it reach that point like it did in Jarheads. We're having a bit of a (heated) discussion here but it doesn't have to turn into a full on ****-flinging fest.