Comments By Brian M.

Nice couple weeks there sir! I also try to be proactive when going into receivers as well but am also cautious stepping on my fleet managers toes when doing so. I've found in certain situations it certainly pays off.

Being a reefer driver there are times it just isn't in the cards, many of the larger receivers have firm appointment times which just can't be moved. The smaller ones can be a little easier to manage that fete. Also when my fleet manager is on his A game he may be preplanning a great load on the other end so I find it better to try to run it by him first. Since I work on percentage of load, letting him work the board with the pre planners can work out to my advantage.

It's funny we are on week 12 since hometime and a few weeks back we had couple days extra on a load ( arrived in Cali on Friday for a Monday morning appointment). Receiver would be closed so I could have asked to drop it at the yard and hooked another load heading outta there.

I looked at the 10 week combat zone in the sleeper and decided to disinfect the truck instead of jumping on another load. Ten weeks two guys it was worse than a high school gymnasium locker room. So I told my co driver we clean Saturday play Sunday and drive Monday. He was all for it.

Saturday morning rolls around and my fleet manager calls wanting to why I'm not bugging him to get the heck outta there! I told him it was cleaning demo day on the truck and we'd hold tight till Monday. He seemed a little disappointed.

Great Ernie looking forward to it

Okay Rainy all other questions can and will be shared when I see you at the terminal. Will be rolling in on Tuesday to drop off my co driver to fly home for hometime. I'll be there for a few days getting some odds and ends done. First beer is on me at fire and ice if your around.

Yes capping lease fees is low at a 1000. your correct. It's more like 1300 to 1600 a week depending on your mileage. Now it's time to get off this subject before I get yelled at! Thanks rainy!

I don't pay for nav go it's an option and you have the right for them not to install that application. It's on mine but it doesn't work. In cases of negligence you may be completely liable. Towing bills are not subject to your policy. So yes there is some risk, nothing in business is without it but it's how you prepare for the hard times.

I had a student that had a fight with a skirt and a bean pole and the bean pole won. I was charge 500.00. Then my first co driver backed into a parked car ripped off the entire front end! 500.00 again. So unfortunately your friend may have had some negligence to answer for is my guess or one hellacious tow bill. Also in certain circumstances a roll over is considered negligence and not covered under the policy.

Sure it's micro managing and as a driver I can certainly see the aggravation of having a system like this in place. Now would I like to work under this condition? Absolutely not!

Now to the nuts and bolts, it's there truck, insurance, and company on the line. I believe they pay you not only for your ability but also to perform your tasks as they want you to them. So there is nothing unfair about this policy.

However this policy may effect them in a negative way in the future. Potentially retaining qualified drivers, hiring new drivers, overtime, and late loads to name a few. It's funny sometimes policy's such as this one bite them on the behind in the end

Rainy just to let you know some of the items about leasing are not right. For example in the case of an accident your insurance has deductible 500 for tractor 500 for trailer and 1000 for your load. So the maximum you would be 2000 on an accident.

We also get bonuses for safety, service and inspections. As far as fuel bonuses ours are directly related to yours. The better I conserve fuel the more I make. Basically I save as much as 200 a week by driving slower.

As a L/O we also get 72% of the detention that the company charges the shipper or receiver. So for this year I've collected around 2500 in detention. We also receive breakdown pay when are truck is down. If it needs to in the shop for a while they will give us a loaner as well. Prime also contributes 2500 to a retirement fund for every year of service.

This is a topic we try to avoid on this website. I am a lease operator and honestly can say it's a really bad idea to start your career worrying about the business end of trucking yet. Your first year should be hard enough learning the drivers side of things let alone worry about payments, repairs and such.

I believe I am in the the small minority of new drivers who have been able to make leasing work. The learning curve is huge. Out of the 50 new drivers I started my lease with there maybe 5 of us left. So it was about a 10% success rate.

As Errol stated their are trainers that use people to have you just run miles, this can happen with o/o or company drivers. Let's not take away from the o/o drivers that really make a difference out there. Many are my friends and miles are secondary when it comes to training.

Bad trainers happen in all sides of the spectrum unfortunately. Most are in it for the right reasons

Turn headlights on and pull