Leasing Just For The Pay Bump.

How long have you been driving, Rigs?

Is this lease you're thinking about at the same company?

But like I said - some people just get an idea stuck in their heads (I happen to be one of them), and you have to look at this from ALL THE ANGLES before jumping in. DON'T LET YOUR NEXT EMPLOYER SUCK YOU INTO LEASING (and many PUSH IT HARD - again - the COMPANY BENEFITS WAY MORE THAN THE DRIVER DOES).

Best of luck to you - keep us posted. I have YET TO HEAR of someone that jumped into leasing (especially this early in the game) that came back and told us HOW GREAT IT WAS.

Rick

Lease benefits:

For the Driver: 3% more income on average! For the Company: No truck payment, no fuel payment, no worries about repairs costs...

It appears our original poster has dropped out of this conversation, but for those of you following along with similar interests as the O/P, I'm providing a link to a very interesting thread/conversation from almost four years ago. This topic of leasing intrigues so many people. Some of us are just convinced there's a magical formula to leasing that provides a way for us to make more money at this. I get it. I understand the temptation, but the way to more money has never been found in any type of gimmick like leasing. We hear these lease operators tell us about these huge paychecks, but they don't even get paychecks. Anybody who thinks a lease operator is receiving a paycheck is only fooling themselves. The checks they get are business revenues. That money cannot be considered as one's "pay."

Your performance will always be what increases your take from truck driving. Learning to manage your time more productively than your peers, and being savvy to the ways of getting in and out of customers quickly and efficiently, will always put you in that top tier of professionals who make a great living at this.

Take a look at this Conversation About Being An Owner Operator Or Lease Operator and pay special attention to the comments from the Lease Operators in the thread. Also of note are the comments from one character named "Unholy Chaos," a company driver convinced he can make a lot more money by leasing a truck. He was convinced it was the way to go and he was settled on that fact no matter what advice we gave. He has since disappeared from the face of the earth as far as we are concerned. I always expect these guys entering into these leases to come back in here and declare their stories of great success after they've been doing it for a few years, but they never do - I mean never! You'd think they would love to come back in here and tell us how wrong we were, but they don't. I honestly wish they would, but they can't.

That conversation I linked to is four pages long, but it's worth reading every word. There's just a lot of great stuff in there. "Unholy Chaos" even points out his own misconceptions and understandings when he claims...

The thing is though, owner operators do end up grossing a lot more per week.

That kind of comment makes it clear that he doesn't understand what he's getting into. "Grossing a lot more per week" means nothing positive. It's not a gross amount that is applied to your income. It is simply revenue that is consumed by expenses. You cannot consider it your pay. He makes further comments that really show how this gimmick has seized his mind with mysterious math equations. He makes this wild assertion...

When I lease my own truck through Schneider, I have a potential to double my take home pay every week if I do it right

That just simply isn't going to happen. We would all be leasing trucks if that were the case. The market drives truck driver pay. If there were a market so easy to get into as leasing that would double everybody's pay, we would all be knocking on that door.

Don't Be Fooled By Owner Operator Math

OS as usual you have hit the nail on the head. Some people just don’t understand many aspects of this industry, or business in general. They also assume everything will go smoothly as they planned. Well it never does.

I love what I do. First and foremost, I work harder and longer than I ever did as a company driver. I have spent years cultivating and networking contacts to do what I do each week. I found that niche in this business that works well for me.

I make marginally more than a good company driver at a good company. We all know some are better than others, just a fact of life. This year I had a major breakdown and about 25-30 percent of my profit went into that repair. Thankfully these types of things don’t happen all the time, but they do happen. If someone is not prepared for a situation like that, it can put them out of business faster than they got in business.

Those container drivers you mentioned in your podcast are a different breed in south Ga for sure. I don’t know what they make, but I know they usually drive crazy and don’t keep their trucks up.

Those container drivers you mentioned in your podcast are a different breed in south Ga for sure. I don’t know what they make, but I know they usually drive crazy and don’t keep their trucks up.

Ever seen the ones here in Chicago? They drive like their shorts are on fire drive junk that can't even pass inspection, ring up debts and fines then close that company and reopen under a different name.

Here's another thing to chew on. Most L/O agreements require you to use your lessor for dispatch. You can't go to the load boards yourself and choose your loads. You only get to choose the loads and rates from your Lessor! What does that mean? Well, when times are slow (January) there are fewer loads and rates go down. You get all the downside of any trucking company or Owner/Operator. You may sit idle for days waiting for a load or have to take one at or near break-even. When times pick up and rates go up everyone makes more money - except for you. See, if a broker get greedy and starts offering loads for less than his competitors are offering them for drivers will take their trucks where they can make the most money and he makes nothing. As a Lessee Operator you're captive - you can't take your business anywhere else. Lessors know this so they will take a bigger slice off the rate and offer you less. Yeah, your rates will go up but not as much as they would for a comparable load on a competitive board. So, in a fluctuating market you get all of the downside and a fraction of the upside.

Here's another thing to chew on. Most L/O agreements require you to use your lessor for dispatch. You can't go to the load boards yourself and choose your loads. You only get to choose the loads and rates from your Lessor! What does that mean? Well, when times are slow (January) there are fewer loads and rates go down. You get all the downside of any trucking company or Owner/Operator. You may sit idle for days waiting for a load or have to take one at or near break-even. When times pick up and rates go up everyone makes more money - except for you. See, if a broker get greedy and starts offering loads for less than his competitors are offering them for drivers will take their trucks where they can make the most money and he makes nothing. As a Lessee Operator you're captive - you can't take your business anywhere else. Lessors know this so they will take a bigger slice off the rate and offer you less. Yeah, your rates will go up but not as much as they would for a comparable load on a competitive board. So, in a fluctuating market you get all of the downside and a fraction of the upside.

And too many people never read the contracts. Prime actually does allow you to lease onto another company, however, they have you sign an additional rider that the new company agrees to pay Prime the fixed costs directly. Most "new" companies wont bother with that hassle. But I do know a few who did.

I should post some lease settlements along with my pay as a company driver

People need to compare apples to apples as well. Break it down to profit per mile and we can have a clearer picture.

I have lease settlements where the revenue was $10k. After expenses before taxes it came to $2300. For the same amount of miles i made $2500 plus my benefits before taxes.

In the end....newer lease ops I know are making between 42 and 52cpm. One with 6 years experience does about 64cpm...the most I have seen Proven to me was 73cpm

And....i ask for the "Lease to date" totals. That is real...not this weeks pay.

I know this is an old thread and I appreciate the well written answers and information. I've been A company driver my entire 10 year carer mainly and primarily because I was so influenced by this Trucking Truth. Did all my studying for the CDL exam which I passed EASILY every single test after preparing via this Site.

I don't contribute that much at all but still lurk on occasion and readily admit that this Site BIGTIME influenced my decision to never go lease operator.

Things have changed for me because I had an at fault accident for the 1st time my entire 10 year career and was given a lane violation citation and now my opportunities have honest to God decreases 90-95 percent until I get the citation plead down by My Lawyer. I'd readily admit if It was my fault but I honest to God don't think it was. And She had A witness that gave testimony over the phone. He wasn't even there in person and the Police officer put me at fault. I had ZERO idea what one at fault accident can do to my career. I'm getting turned down by Companies that have emailed Me for Years to come on board for them. Now none can touch me until this citation is plead down or a year or two or three have elapsed. The fact that I've had 10 years of not even a not at fault incident means almost nothing now. The only places that will hire me are these lease purchase/rentals based out of Chicago. Mandatory 4 thousand miles a week I have to agree to. That's ALOT. I did receive A reply from JB hunt who I was with for 18 months and left on GREAT terms today and they'd get me in but I'd have to move to Seattle. Right now I'm in Nevada. I'm still strongly influenced by this web site as far as lease purchase goes but I upset some people early on 10 years ago and felt unliked and unwanted LOL. I still lurk though. As years go by I see 10x more value in what people say on here then I did when I first started 10 years ago. Any reply from anyone about any thing I've just said would be greatly appreciated and highly valued. Crazy thing was my Pet died after I got home that night after the accident so was processing that for days and what had happened never truly sunk in until these past 2 weeks now that it's on my PSP report and my MVR. Definitely A very bad day that was.

Hey Clayton, it's great hearing from you!

Man, I'm sorry to hear what's going on with you. Trucking can be ruthless. You're finding that out. Have you tried Western Express? I would keep trying to land a company driver position. Try everywhere you can. Even if you don't have the best situation, by staying there one year, you will open up a lot of opportunities. One year without another accident says a lot.

That's been a policy with many Trucking companies. After they terminate an otherwise good employee for an accident, they will usually hire them back after they work somewhere else accident free for one year.