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I'd imagine it's determined more by how long is been since last driving than anything, in which case they're wanting you to get a refresher course. Their own training isn't as much about you learning to drive but sharpening skills and teaching their company policies and such.

Hi Robert B, thank you for your opinion. I was just not sure on why someone who has a valid cdl class A license would go back to a driving school for 240 hours for a refresher and then if your hired with a truck company to go with a trainer for another 240 hours of training. I would think if your hired with some company that has a training phase of 240 hours that's enough?

Why do some trucking companies want you to go back to driving school if you already have your class A license but never used it? Even when some trucking companies have a student training for drivers who need training but you have to go back to a driving school? I don't understand it.

Pretty much they said for ezpass, prepass etc a charge of $2.50 dollars a week. I know it doesn't sound like a lot of money each pay check but to me that's crazy because all the other stuff you have to with lumpers, cat scales, trailer wash out, truck wash what ever else too.

All of these type of expenses are normally paid by the lease operator (well, paid by the company and then they take it out of the settlements) because the lease operator is in business for themselves and responsible for all of the expenses ... however, company drivers should NOT have to pay these fees or if they do should be reimbursed by the company upon the driver's submittal of receipts ...

Jopa

Hi Jopa, thank you for your response

Waiting to go to Maverick!

That's cool good luck with everything :)

Rest tonight, study tomorrow then go see STYX tomorrow night. :)

Have a good weekend I'm just going to see my old friend.

Hey everyone what's everyone doing this weekend?

What companies did you drive for?

I started out in '93 with Gainey out of Atlanta. I drove for Great Coastal who was bought out many years ago. I drove for TRL who was bought out by Prime a few years back. I drove for a tiny 11 truck food grade tanker outfit from Des Moines for a year. That was cool. They went out of business about a year after I went elsewhere. Drove for US Xpress for a number of years. They were great. Hauled auto parts for a small outfit out of Buffalo for a year too. Had some dump truck jobs, hauled and operated some big equipment for a year, and other odds and ends mixed in. Quite a variety.

That's really cool I see us xpress all over my area a lot, I probably see them the most out of all the companies and also swift I see a lot of.

I have a question with leasing can a trucking company lease out older trucks to drivers?

They could but they rarely do. For one, you're trying to attract people to your company and convince them to lease a truck from you. So you're going to want nice equipment. Then of course you have the cost of maintaining old equipment that likely ran out of warranty. That's an expensive proposition. Then of course you have laws and regulations to deal with like state of the art emissions controls which many of the old trucks don't have. Finally you have fuel efficiency high on your list and newer trucks tend to get better fuel mileage than older trucks.

So most of the time a company is going to lease you a truck that's less than three years old.

Thank you Brett for your opinion. I'm just going to do company driver sounds somewhat better I'm sure it has it's ups and downs like any other line of work you do. What companies did you drive for?

I would be really surprised if many lease drivers net significantly more than a company driver does, especially if you factor in insurance, simpler taxes, and any other perks offered to the company driver. But I may be totally wrong. It would be a lot of liability for me to assume to find out...

No you're not wrong. They don't make more than company drivers for the most part. And the big difference between working for a company and owning a business is that you don't lose money working for someone. You might be off for a day or a week and not make money, but you're not losing money either. Business owners have that downside risk to contend with.

But the biggest red flag that people should be paying attention to is the idea that a trucking company wants you to go into the same business they're in. Businesses exist to make money. If they can make money doing something, they will. And of course they'll keep it all to themselves. So why would they want you to go into business by leasing or buying your own truck if owning a truck and hauling freight is so profitable?

If you owned a pizzeria and you were making killer money doing it would you encourage other people to do it? H*ll no! You'd open 10 more and keep your mouth shut if you're smart about it. But what if owning the pizzeria and selling pizzas was less profitable than allowing other people to open franchises with your brand? The heck with owning pizzerias, right? Let other people pay you to own and operate pizzerias with your name on it and you just collect the fees from them. You're getting a nice profit, taking very little or no risk, and doing far less work than you were before.

That's pretty much how this works for trucking companies. Owning trucks and hauling freight has very tiny profit margins and very high risk. So instead of owning the trucks yourself, why not sucker someone else into taking on all of that responsibility and risk while you just run the franchise? You're the freight broker, the logistics service, the repair shop, and the insurance salesman. You get things in bulk and sell them at a profit to your lease drivers and owner operators without all the risk and overhead of owning the trucks yourself. Instead you'll make your money selling things to the people that own the trucks.

Many people who are new to the industry don't realize this but Prime Inc used to be a lease company only. There were very few, if any company trucks for many years. You can be sure they'd still be doing that if they were able to scrape up enough lease drivers and owner operators to keep their freight moving. But it's not that easy.

It should always throw a huge red flag anytime a business encourages you to go into business for yourself. I've owned and operated numerous small businesses over the years and I can assure you that if I'm encouraging you to start a business of your own and be a partner of mine it's because I need someone to do what you'll be doing but there's really no profit in it so I don't want to do it myself. If there was a big profit in it I'd keep my mouth shut, do it myself, and rake in the profits.

Well put Brett I don't know much about trucking or leasing but you make a lot of sense in your points. I have a question with leasing can a trucking company lease out older trucks to drivers? Sounds a little strange if they can since the truck is old and most likely paid off for where's the payments going to if the truck is already paid off for?? I'm not sure if any companies do this I was just curious. Does it only have to brand new trucks to lease?

Whenever I hear the word "lease" my mind automatically changes it to "fleece." This is something I did well before trucking.

Brett is right. There are a lot of variables to nail down. Fuel? Your cost. Truck breaks? Your cost (generally, I'm sure most company lease agreements mention a maintenance plan, but you're still paying for the plan as part of the lease). Want health insurance? Go buy it on the open market, generally.

I would be really surprised if many lease drivers net significantly more than a company driver does, especially if you factor in insurance, simpler taxes, and any other perks offered to the company driver. But I may be totally wrong. It would be a lot of liability for me to assume to find out...

Hey there thanks for your opinion