Comments By Shiva

Hey everyone, I have two interviews two weeks from now with one being with WM and the other at Mclane Foodservice. I'm hoping to gather some insights from other drivers here on what they think would be the best options. They both are home daily, benefits, and have 401K. However, with Mclane I'll be working 4 days(Can be 5 if I choose to do so.) making 203 a day. I'm currently with Schneider GP atm, the pay is alright but it could be better plus I really do want a local job. I don't know what WM is offering yet but I imagine it could be slightly less than Mclane.

What are some thoughts?

Do both interviews and see what's best for you and your needs

He did get some loads that paid $3 or $4 a mile, but he always complained on the way out of wherever he took it that the rates were low. He had trouble learning to average the rate for the round trip, could only see the big payday on the way out.

Great point! Going into Florida pays great but coming out is horrible. Then some people will sit in FL rejecting loads to come out cause they pay low, and sit two days making no money but still have all those payments and maintenance costs.

My one trainer did learn all the freight lanes and pays. She knew to get a load to say MA that could get her a high paying lobster load out. Or take a short low paying load to out her in a good freight area.

But seriously, I know where the good freight is too, and can easily ask "hey you think you can get me to Dallas so we can try a Laredo load?"

Prime to Dallas is 500 miles. Grabbing a Laredo load can easily be 1800-3000 miles with several stops so just by asking, I could make the same as what a lease/ OK makes and get paid CPM without aggravation.

That's what many lease ops don't understand. Sometimes you have take a crappy load just to get you set up for a well paying load

Please check out Mark Staite on YouTube. He is a Prime Lease driver. He gives very helpful and useful advice for new and experienced drivers. He DOES NOT push leasing. He has a video where he gives his gross income for a year at Prime and then his net income. But I am not sure the "net income " is after tax numbers he gives. Anyway, he grossed around $125,000 and after expenses he wound up with $57,000. I am on pace to make more than that as a company driver for JB HUNT INTERMODAL.

I've done the similar things old school suggests. I'll give you an example. I picked up at RR DONELLY in York, PA on Saturday, with 4stops at USPS facilities . 1 in West Virginia on Monday morning 7 am, 3 in Ohio. 2 on Monday at 11 am and 2 pm on 2 ends of Cincinnati and the last stop in Columbus on Tuesday at 6 pm. On a chance, I decided to try and deliver to my first stop on Sunday afternoon. The person in charge had an hour left on his shift. He told me to wait for 2nd shift manager and most likely she would unload me a day early, but it was up to her. So I waited till she started and she gladly unloaded me. Then I went on my way to Cincinnati to deliver my next to stops on time and again I tried to deliver my last stop a day early. When I got to Columbus the manager told me that they had too stick to appointment times, but I could try and get it changed to today because they had an opening at like 7 or 8 pm. I forget, it was over a year ago. So, first I tried calling my fleet manager and was put on hold. I was looking at the bill and saw a phone number. So I hung up, called the number, told that person I needed to change the appointment to today, they did it. I walked back in, the computer showed the change in appointment and I got unloaded a full day early. My fleet manager called me back later, I told him what I did and he said " good job". So I was ready to go the next morning with a full clock.

I have been driving for 16 mo and I know I do not want to work for someone the rest of my life. I am a 24 yr Army Infantryman and I can motivate myself for the task. I do not need dispatch telling me " stay, sit or go." If anyone need that , then be a company driver. However, if you want to O/O, you have to be disciplined with your spending, speed/driving habits, time with love ones and veh maintenance and complaint with FMCSA. One can be a successful O/O if disciplined.

Keep telling yourself that and you may make it, or just be another sad story. Your still at the whim of a broker, having him/her find loads for you

Great article

Rainy, the issue I had with your comments is that you focused on the fact that they are immigrants, or at least a majority are. We both know that the real issue is drivers not taking responsibility for their own decisions. No one can make you do anything. No one can force you to run 2 log books, work longer then you want or force you to go on another run, when you're out of hours. I work for JB HUNT Local Intermodal, we set our ETA, to let dispatch know how much time we have left on our clock, and they figure out how far they can send us and still make it back to the yard on time and if we feel that we cannot do it, we let dispatch know and they take the load off, give us something else shorter. If there is nothing else, then we just go home. Also, if all we wanna do is 2 loads, they have no problem with that. No penalty for playing it safe. We however do get penalized for running out of hours or over hours and not telling dispatch. I only had to be rescued once, and that was because I got a flat tire 60 miles from Chicago, 3 hours left on my clock and road service couldn't get to me for a couple of hours.

Another common theme I hear from lease drivers is "The company doesn't want me to succeed ". How on earth does that benefit the company. They want you to succeed, because they want their payments. Taking your truck away costs them money, because they have to find a new driver.

Elizabeth the book is free for download on the link.

And this is a lifestyle. You said you don't want to live on the truck but do you realize we only go home 3-4 days per MONTH? I live on my truck and am saving $1500-1800 per month by not paying rent/utilities. That money is now in my 401k and I'm finally almost entirely debt free.

We tell dispatch where in the country we want to take our "home time". So if I want a couple days in FL or San Diego, or the beach somewhere, or skiing...no big deal.

Back to the parking truck..you probably won't take home the trailer, so would only need " tractor space ". CVS let me park a couple times. Takes a few cars spaces.

Living on a truck is not for everyone. Regardless of $$ saved. As OTR is not for everyone. There are many options out there. As Elizabeth has said repeatedly, she is in the process of moving in with a friend. Just my 2 cents.

This is going to sound nasty to some...but...

They didn't speak nor read English. But most of the article had drivers who owned clunkers and couldn't qualify to finance a Hyundai. They thought it was like a mortgage, and one borrowed against his house but lost it.

So immigrants who couldn't read or speak English figured out how to become legal to work at the ports, buy clunkers that were traded in for the new trucks, use two log books, buy and borrow against houses, get CDLs and of course, sue the companies for wrong doing.

But none of them understood the contracts because they didn't read English. None of them said "hey, I'm losing at this truck thing...so.maybe I need to try something else before I lose my house which is worth more".

Funny these poor immigrants know how to do a lot. Except take responsibility for bad decisions.

Maybe I'm a heartless North Easterner, but IMO we are all responsible for our choices. They obviously researched how to get some things they wanted done but want to play the victim when things don't work out.

And Brett's right, not much different from a lot of lease companies. Its all about the drivers ability to read the contracts, make good decisions, and learn from mistakes.

Yes, you do sound nasty. This article focused on immigrants. But many English speaking, American born citizens get themselves in the same predicament with leasing as well. My 1st trainer when I started in OTR, was such a person. Never should have been leasing a truck in the 1st place. Didn't understand business, but was very proud to call himself a business owner and then blamed everyone but himself for how poorly he was doing. Would get angry at me because my training checks were more than his settlements. He wasn't the only 1 either at this company I used to work for and no, I will not disclose the company, there are many of them out there that are the same. Pick one. There are many good companies out there, like who I work for for now, JB HUNT, if anyone was wondering.

Many English speaking Americans just do not do their research on any subject, let alone leasing a truck. The companies sell people on leasing because it makes them money if they can't get the freight. They tell people how much they'll be grossing a week, a month, a year. But don't tell them about the expenses. Many English speaking American lease drivers don't get that the payments don't stop if you need to take time off, breakdowns, tires need to be replaced, general maintenance. Heck most English speaking American lease drivers don't even do a Pretrip. So when there broke down on the side of the road they can blame the pos truck they leased from the pos company they work for.

I agree, the drivers in the article need to take responsibility for there actions and decisions, but so do all drivers. Especially the ones that lease. English speaking American born citizens as well. Because, they can at least read the contract they are signing. Understanding it is something different.