Profile For Wesley S.

Now there are probably some who will jump in here and tell you differently, but if you will go back and talk again to those drivers that told you they had turned their trucks back in I think you will find an honest confirmation of the very things I'm telling you. I don't expect you to just take my advise, but I do wish you would at least consider what I'm saying when making your decision. I happen to like the way Schneider handles their lease operators by allowing them to choose their own loads right from an online load-board, that is a nice feature, but overall I just think these lease programs are designed to benefit the bottom line of the lessor without a whole lot of consideration to what happens to the lessee.

I take this seriously and what everyone tells me about this, a great many of the guys that i talk to that turn their trucks in where because of what you had said or its simply to hard of work that they did not expect, among the most was pay.

No doubt it is to benefit the company bottom line but compared to some of the lease programs I have seen, like Land star or I can't think of the other where you only get to keep 65% of the line haul pay, imo schneider is a little better, just a little lower on mileage pay.

I honestly don't expect to make nothing more than maybe enough to pay my bills at home and put everything back into the truck and saving.

I worked at US Xpress for a number of years and got to know some guys in management. One fella told me that on the average 500 mile run the company averages a profit of $50 after paying the driver. Think about that. It's a lot of risk to make a few extra bucks, and that's a company that's been around for decades. You think you know as much about the industry as they do? You think you can match what they're doing at this point?

Just some stuff to think about

To be honest, my knowledge of trucking is very limited to only 6 months, but thats what I'm trying to work on is learning this job better. In a year i still wont know as much as i need to such as which lanes go cold when. How do i learn this? Is it better to talk to a fleet manager or learn n my own? when you're in business for yourself you do what you have to make money and if that the only loads they give you why wouldn't you take it or change to another company?

Both Old School and Bretts post are extremely informative, and i have to ask how do you learn about these thing that most company drivers don't experience, such as the many things you said Brett? Such as load boards, the ones i seen at schneider you get to choose and plan your routes from hundreds of loads.

I appreciate all the replys but I love this business and i am more than willing to accept the challenge of accomplishing the work, starting a new venture that will give me the opportunity to make more money and create a better life for me and my family, and the opportunity to build a business model that allows me to make more of the choices that affect my life. I have talked to tons of o/o and l/o at the company i work for, which is schinder, i have even met a couple guys that were able to turn the truck back in after the year with no consequences and met a few that bought the truck after the year was up, but this of course isn't the only option i have. As stated before I could lease a truck from the dealership. It will take sometime to be able to get my own authority which averages some people around 2 years. We have all have to start somewhere. I am still working out where mine is and if i don't find it by my time limit then i more than likely won't do it.

Wesley, what's your motivation for wanting to lease a truck?

My motivation to lease a truck is so that I can save up enough money to be able to buy a truck, or at the very least be able to lease with option to buy a truck. With that I also want to be able to plan my loads and not have to depend on someone else doing it.

Hey guys, I've used this website to help me get my CDLs and everything thing else to learn more about the industry along with learning other things. I have been driving for about 6 months and have loved every minute of it. I'm considering leasing a truck either from schneider or a local dealership. I have ran the numbers and know what i need to run to make payment and such, but the problem i am running into is how do i know which loads are profitable and which aren't, and whether it is better to run one long run and then run short runs back home or just run in a triangle or square short runs around my area. I've used http://www.truckstop.com/ to find the average rate. Maybe I am just overthinking it. Any advise would be grateful.