Comments By Texas Tim

And this is usually the response we get back from anyone that goes into the lease plan. I'd love to read all your numbers for all the costs and expenses compared to settlements. Some day a lease operator will post these, but after my six years on TT, it hasn't happened.

Good luck.

I think these are in the right order... this is my statement from last week.

I’ve always been curious as to what Prime gives lease ops in regards to fuel surcharge because I can almost guarantee they’re skimming.

I don't know if they are or not but they definitely have some connections with discounts and all that. Last week I ran 4315 miles and after discounts only paid $1100 for fuel. I think the only reason I even paid that much is because of where I bought fuel a couple of times. I wasn't always where I could fuel at the places Prime suggested.

We all go through a steep learning curve in trucking. You just decided you wanted yours to be even more challenging. I hope you can pull it off. If you've got a good dispatcher, who is only dispatching lease operators, they should be able to help you some. They will understand the things you need.

I understand what everybody is saying and I get that I have to pay dues and that I won't make a ton of money since I'm just starting out. I'm not arguing that. I knew I would be at the bottom of the ladder. I knew that coming in to this industry. I'm not naive or young enough to think I would make a LOT of money off the bat but I do have a minimum amount I need in order to survive and pay my bills. My calculations were a little higher than 1000 a week or so which would be close to what I was making before I lost my last job. If I can't make that it will be a lot harder to survive and not worth the sacrifice I'm making to call this a career. So far as a lease op I think I'll be able to do that. All, and I mean ALL the other drivers I know at my company are lease ops. All the trainers, all the more senior drivers I know, all of them. They didn't push me to lease but talked it up enough to convince me it would be a lot better. Did I want to take that risk so early? Of course not! But if the money is drastically different I believe it will be worth it. So far it has been better. I won't always have a week like this past one but it is encouraging.

I came here on advice on how to be successful at something that I've already committed to, not to be scared and criticized for making the decision.

Hi Tim,

My only advice to you is to be honest with yourself. Don't be saying you made 5k when you know you have fuel, truck payments, maintenance, ins etc. to pay for. Don't forget to make your estimated quarterly taxes also or you will know the real difference between leasing and company.

I guess you were right. I didn't make $5000. I made $4100 and yes, that is take home.

You can certainly do that. You can even do it as a lease operator, but if you think that just changing your category from an employee to a contractor works like a magic wand to turn on the great income, you are really missing something.

The difference between company and lease is I went from 46cpm to 70% of every load. I'm already making more money. The weird thing about that is that they're giving me more miles as a lease op than they were a company driver... they gave me a bunch of rinky dink loads that had me sitting at a customer for 6-8 hours every time and I wasn't making enough to live off of.

Can we SEE a pic of your lease truck, Tim? (Thanks for coming back up in here, too!)

I think I already did... if there's a picture of the other one it's exactly the same lol

Tim, did you really think you were going to be making big money as a rookie driver?

I totally get that I gotta pay my dues as a rookie and won't make a ton of money is one thing but I'm talking about working harder than I have at any other job and not making enough to pay my bills and support my family is another thing entirely! I'm not some lazy kid bro I'm a 45 year old father husband and soon to be grandpa. I have to support my family one way or another. I've worked 2 and 3 jobs at a time before. If I can't make enough I'm not going to sacrifice this much for it. I don't care what I do for a living. I just need to support my family!

I really wish you would have asked us for some advice on this. I don't think you would have found much encouragement. Maybe that is why you didn't ask. You may have already known what we would say. I wish the best for you, but I don't think you realize how deep you stepped into it yet.

Wow real encouraging... I'll tell you this. I can live off of $7 or 800 a week. If that's all I make trucking then forget it and I'm walking away. If lease doesn't work out I'm quitting.

Well Annamarie told me on Facebook I needed to update here so here it is 🤣

This trucking thing us tough guys, not gonna lie. I've hardly been home at all in the last 5 months and it's stressful. It's stressful anyway but being away from home makes it worse. I was making 46cpm as a company driver for 2 or 3 weeks and wasn't making but around $700 a week and was running my butt off so I bit the bullet and went lease. My first week was about $800 I think, 2nd week I didn't make anything but it was a learning experience? Third week I'm on track to make $5000! I doubt that's sustainable but God worked it out that way this past week.

That is enough to make me want to stay out here but everything else is making me want to walk away. I'm staying because it's better than not making anything at all and I need the experience to get another job close to home.

Help me out guys... I need some encouragement.

Tim

Tim, is your engine running when you cook? My invertor can handle an 800w microwave, but not a toaster oven, I guess it is 1,500w, so I have to start the engine to use it.

Sorry about the late reply, I don't get any notifications on new comments. I have a Freightliner Cascadia which has opti-idle so whenever the batteries get low it cranks up on its own and charges em. The microwave runs fine but the air fryer would pop the breaker on the inverter and I'd have to reset it every time so I quit using it.