Profile For Robert B. (The Dragon) yes, I breathe fire and other sideshow tricks

I am wondering what the best company with good pay and benefits that will help u lease to own? I am wanting to buy my own truck but don't want to get into a sticky area that I can't get out of. I want to loads n good pay home weekly. Or local routes. I live in frankfort, In. 45 north of indy n 30 from laffayette, ind. Looking for guidance n knowledge. Thanks

I’ll just burst your bubble now. There is no way in hell you’ll lease a truck worth having and be home every week or running local routes. For that matter, there’s no truck made today worth trying to own given all the issues caused by emissions systems and the constant maintenance and breakdowns you’ll endure. The days of owning a million mile truck are over thanks to politics.

Nice round of luck lol. My last couple days have been similar. Yesterday I went to load a drill rig for pilings only to have them re work the machine twice on the trailer and couldn’t get a proper balance. After that, I came over to our shop to get a sensor replaced and noticed a leak in the bottom of the radiator. I spent the day with our mechanic taking out the old radiator, putting in the new one, only to find out after filling and running it up that the brand new one was no good. I’ll be taking another truck in the morning to go get loaded and hopefully my truck will be ready to go when I get back.

It’s odd that it destroyed those tires that quick without feeling something strange in the steering but it definitely happens.

I know! The only indication was about 20 - 30 miles before it exploded. I had stopped at a truck stop to shower and eat lunch. I was rolling again in just under an hour. After getting up to speed, the steering wheel had a slight shake, left-right repeat, and a major left pull. I could release the steering and go from the right lane to fully in the left lane in under three seconds. So I was thinking another trip to a terminal for another look.

Shortly afterwards.....kaboom!

Cars and trucks that are following too close, or hanging out in the "No Zone" suddenly drop away rapidly when pieces-parts are flying!

That’s a pretty drastic way to clear traffic lol.

That sucks and yes a blown steer will scare the crap out of you with that initial tug. It’s odd that it destroyed those tires that quick without feeling something strange in the steering but it definitely happens.

Appreciate the compliment but I’m far from being an expert. I don’t post much but will when I see something that could potentially be hazardous and really not all that important. I don’t own a gps unit and very very rarely use my phone because there’s just too much going on to deal with a phone call to pass the time. Granted, with the loads I do, there’s even more to pay attention to, especially on heavy loads, so all y’all don’t get mad when I’m slow on hills, chances are, the equipment or machine I’m hauling weighs more than a standard truck and trailer fully loaded lol. It’s all in good fun though and I love this side of the industry and enjoy talking to others who share that passion and the constant learning involved.

Totally subjective to be honest. It’s more about which style Is more comfortable for you to use. If I were a trainer though, I wouldn’t allow a student to be on the phone at all unless stopped. The focus needs to be on paying attention to what you’re doing and there’s a ton of things to pay attention to without being distracted by a phone conversation.

It’s also about when you schedule your time off and how the pay periods work. Our payroll week ends on Monday. I’ll usually stay out 4-5 weeks and drop Monday, reload the same day or early Tuesday morning and go home until Saturday evening. Leave out Sunday, deliver Monday and really not deal with significant revenue loss but it’s different for everyone. Take into account that 99.9% of what I haul is permit loads so I have to put more thought into it but it still works fine.

Totally agree. If they can keep focused on the topic and the fact that your primary focus has been on steering new folds towards success in the industry, it should be fine. Road dog could do that but In many cases they don’t because snake oil sells and many of the listeners don’t want to hear anything else. Heck, if it gets out of hand, I’ll call in and tell a bunch of folks to F off lol.

We’ve had our disagreements but I still think you have a good thing going here and deserve to have a solid interview to explain your side without having to argue with some black smoke matters moron who started driving in a quarry with Fred Flintstone and has hauled every load everywhere better than anyone else.

Congrats!!! I’ll definitely listen in on that one because it will be a good interview. Hopefully, it won’t wind up like so many others I’ve heard which go off the rails when they open the phone lines for Q&A. I’ve stopped listening to RoadDog for the same reason I don’t read Truckers Report.

Michael W says:

Last I knew, trucks are governed at 67-68 MPH. That's Lease. I think it's lower for straight company trucks.

Lease is governed at 65 mph on the pedal and cruise. However, I've been in two lease trucks and both are 2 mph slower than the speedometer. So you're really governed at 63. Company is governed at 62. If the same speedometer error applies, you're governed at 60 mph.

Also, their Lease payments are pretty high. The average when I was there in 2015 was $650-$800 each week, and that's JUST THE TRACTOR (not the related fuel and maintenance expenses).

See the current inventory and weekly lease rates:

Success Leasing (Prime) Inventory

Had I been a total rookie, 30K wasn't enough. I'm glad they raised that to 50K.

I disagree with Michael W. I'm 35,000 milesinto TNT and feel that is PLENTY to learn this job. I have not secured steel coils or structural steel yet, but once you haul a variety of loads with both straps and chains, you pretty much figure out what to do. My trainer had never hauled Bobcats, but I figured out how to secure them while my trainer was talking to the Prime securement trainer on the phone.

As far are Prime respect for drivers, I agree with Michael W's perspective on the company philosophy:

Since Rob Low was a driver and still runs the joint, he's pretty good at keeping the offices respectful of us cranky, stinky, sometimes really stupid road nuts.

As stated above, my trainer calls the Prime securement trainer on a regular basis. So far, the guy has answered the phone immediately. No, leave a message and call back later. I have had interaction with benefits, logs, flatbed equipment, inbound, outbound, road safety, dispatch, and road assist. Their respect towards drivers is always the highest.

With regard to Road Assist, Prime has this app for your phone. There is a Road Assist form that you fill out if you need repairs. We had a flat on the trailer. When I followed up with a phone call to Road Assist (again answered directly) our Road Assist manager had already submitted the authorization for the work to the Love's Connect to get the work done. While I was sitting there waiting for the work to be done, I heard another driver talking to the Love's mechanics trying to get work authorization for his repair.

However, with regard to training, don't expect a trainer. Expect a "host." Someone that gives you a place to sleep, a truck to drive, and loads to secure. If you get any actual training that would be a bonus. If fact, expect to be told things that are flat out wrong. As I mentioned, we have secured Bobcats. My trainer remains adamant that the symbol in the picture below does NOT indicate "tie down" point and refuses to use these for tie downs:

Your trainer probably shouldn’t be training then in my opinion because that’s exactly what that symbol on the sticker means. It’s to mark the securement point they want you to use to properly secure the equipment.

Today's fun little toy. She's a Cat motor grader that measures 10'6" wide, 14' tall and scales out af 95,840 gross. I picked it up from Cat in North Little Rock and it delivers to the port in Baltimore where it'll get loaded on to a ship and head for its new home in Egypt.

Today's little toy. Armored med evac vehicle headed for testing on some new equipment. It's somewhat heavy but doesn't max out the truck and trailer. Gross weight, right at 114,000, with the unit weighing right around 74,000.

A fun day at the University of Texas.

If indeed they are violating federal regulations, they absolutely should be investigated. Guess what Packrat? It effects the company you work for also, whether you want to acknowledge that or not.

Let's just use your $3.50 a mile number as an example on a 1,000 mile load. It's on a load board for $3,500 all in but the customer is being charged 5k with the broker holding back $1,500. Wouldn't you rather bid it at the transparent 5k or the $3,500? It doesn't matter if it's a single truck operation or a company with 1500 trucks, the goal is revenue and it's much harder to do that when real numbers aren't being shown as required by law.

I'm clueless about O/O, load boards and such but does it really matter what the customer is paying? Isnt your agreement with the broker? You're hauling the freight for an agreed upon rate. If you don't like the rate can't you just not take that load?

Because there's always haggling to be done when dealing with brokers, every company does it and as I've mentioned, by law, a carrier has the right to know what the load actually pays when they request it. For all intents and purposes, with technology what it is today, brokers really aren't needed but if they're going to remain, companies should be able to expect them to be honest and transparent. There's a meeting being held Monday in DC with the DOJ to discuss potential price gouging. Customers are still being charged pre covid rates yet are going on loads boards for bottom of the barrel rates.

I am a company driver and there's nothing "fake news" about carriers being allowed to see the full rate charged to the customer before it's put on a load board. Let's just use your $3.50 a mile number as an example on a 1,000 mile load. It's on a load board for $3,500 all in but the customer is being charged 5k with the broker holding back $1,500. Wouldn't you rather bid it at the transparent 5k or the $3,500? It doesn't matter if it's a single truck operation or a company with 1500 trucks, the goal is revenue and it's much harder to do that when real numbers aren't being shown as required by law.

The push is twofold. One, to make companies that aren't aware of the regulation and get more people to demand to see the entire rate, the rate charged to the customer and not just what was put on the load board. The other push is to get brokers to start working more honestly and abide by those regulations set in place. How can a company, any company bid on freight when the real numbers are being hidden?

The issue is that brokers violate. 49 code 397.1 (I need to double check that reference). There's already guidance in place that states if a carrier requests the entire rate and billing, it must be provided. Brokers notoriously will hang up the phone when it's requested even though it's already mandated by law. People are just asking for them to play by the rules, just as carriers are expected to play by the rules. I've personally gone to pick up a load, with a signed rate con. I arrived at the shipper, waiting to load and received a call from the broker claiming it cancelled. While waiting for my reload, I watched the load I was supposed to pick up get loaded on to another truck so I asked the other driver how much they were getting for it because I "had an identical load". He took it for $1100 less than my company had agreed upon. It's games and behavior like that which need to stop.

What a bunch of idiots that bunch is! First it's, "we want less government." Then, because we're too stupid to understand business and economic trends, "we need more government to punish the evil brokers that are stealing from us." LOL.

Here's a suggestion: be a company driver, because if you believe the brokers are all getting rich by thievery, you shouldn't be running your own business.

I have to disagree. I see every rate con for my loads, some of the brokers we deal with show everything they're supposed to with full transparency when asked but they don't give it willingly. The average rate brokers take off the top is 30-35%, then they list the load. A carrier will book the load, only to be told the load cancelled when it didn't actually cancel, someone else offered to haul it for cheaper. There's a lot of shady stuff going on with brokerages, double brokering loads etc and there legitimately should be some sort of regulation. If nothing else, they should be forced to abide by the regulations in place, that they skirt quite a bit. My information isn't coming from websites or other drivers, it's first hand information coming from my load planners and the long term relationships they have built with reputable brokerage firms. Not all of them are.

Loads are down, freight rates are wayyyyy down and it's only larger companies with large investors who can really afford to run with the rates at terribly low levels. The question will be , how long can they hold on before drivers start sitting around more while waiting on loads because it gets to a point where it's cheaper to park the trucks than run them.