Let's Blame The Company For Our Failure...

As many of you know. When I started schooling over a year ago there was a class of 7. Only me and one other guy passed.

This guy was smart. Then he found a way to make more money...

So he leased. And made less money than I did and eventually he went into the negative and wasn't receiving a decent paycheck for months. I warned him, I told him its a bad idea.

So he quit Central and who does he blame for his stupidity?

This is what he posts on his facebook.

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Today isn't just about food people. All across the world there are families who couldn't afford to have a dinner tonight. Most of our troops on deployment are somewhere in dirka land getting shot at while we stuff our faces and pass out watching football.

Or spread all around the nation are the poor poor people who work for Central Refrigerated. They are away from their families and most likely can't even afford to eat tonight.

So let's give thanks and be greatful for those who sacrifice, humbled for those who don't have What we do. Especially those poor poor Central employees.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

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This is what I replied with.

I'm on pace to make 31k. That's not great pay considering what we do and all the risks we take. But it's twice better than my other job.

No one forces anyone to lease a truck. I have my problems with Central, but I don't think blaming them for not making money is fair. They're a business, if there's a chance to make extra money for a business then they'll do it. Blaming the company for not making any money is no ones fault but the drivers. The driver decided to lease even with every online source, every experienced driver, and common sense telling them that it's a bad idea but they did it anyway. I've said it ever since the beginning. Leasing is a terrible idea and it should come as no surprise to not be making any money. But in the end, it's up to the driver and their work ethic.

The above isn't directly related to anyone here. It's just facts. You can't expect to make money running your own business when you don't know anything about the industry.

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This is what he replied with.

Yeeaaa...Daniel. You never leased a truck so everything you said is only speculation and second hand information. True that nobody put a gun to our heads and forced us to lease, but we were all aggressively coerced.

There are almost 1000 drivers in a class action lawsuit against central for a reason. Just because you are doing ok as a company driver doesn't mean that you know what leasing is all about.

Lease a truck then we will see if you are so happy with central.

True, you did say it was a bad idea and I did too. Reality is that I NEEDED more money. My financial situation calls for more than company driver pay, so I took a leap. I spent seven months paying for that leap. Literally. You are right, work ethic plays a huge part. However proper trip planning, fuel management and getting the miles didn't matter. I exhausted all means and had to do what I did out of necessity.

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Did you guys know that if I aggressively coerce anyone into making a stupid decision that it automatically becomes my fault if they dont succeed. What a joke. A great example of people making stupid decisions and instead of taking it as a lesson learned they pass the blame so they wont feel so stupid.

Wanted to share this experience with all you.

Accountability went out of style about the same time as Guess Jeans.

Accountability went out of style about the same time as Guess Jeans.

I agree. Although the majority of the people I know still hold themselves personally accountable for their decisions, I see more and more folks playing the blame game. What's really sad is these are people held in high regard in society. Sad.

This is what he replied with.

Yeeaaa...Daniel. You never leased a truck so everything you said is only speculation and second hand information...Just because you are doing ok as a company driver doesn't mean that you know what leasing is all about.

Actually, as you know Daniel, telling him not to lease means you do indeed know what leasing is all about.

And the ol' "You never did it so you don't know anything about it" - I've heard that a million times from owner operators. Behind the scenes I get a handful of nasty email from owner operators saying that since I was never an owner operator I shouldn't tell anyone to stay away from it and I don't know what I'm talking about.

Oh yes I most certainly do. I know exactly what I'm talking about. And maybe when these same owner operators can't take working for free anymore and contemplate jumping off a building I shouldn't try to talk them out of it because I've never jumped off a building myself - I don't know what I'm talking about.

Here's an excerpt from a classy email I got from an owner operator on Thanksgiving Day:

People such as yourself sir are a dangerous virus that has infected the workers and the American Dream of this country. The desire to sit on your ass writing bull**** articles about subjects you know nothing about in an attempt to earn money for doing NOTHING and then walk around fluffing your own ego in the self inflated mental thought process of believing your a contributing American to the self reliance and independence of this great nation

Wow, that dude knows me like I'm his son! That was a beauty, eh???

Well everyone has the right to their opinion and I wouldn't want to deny anyone that. Unfortunately everyone does not have the right to my opinion so this gentleman will not receive the response from me that he was asking for. But I'm sure it made him feel better to blast me unprovoked on a national holiday.

As far as those who want to own or lease a truck...

People who have never run a business before tend to think it's like being an employee, but with the added perk of being the ultimate boss. They figure you go in, do your work, and make money - just like an employee - but you get to call all the shots like a boss. The best of both worlds!

Unfortunately it isn't anything like that at all. Being in business - any business - means fierce competition, 80 hour work weeks, and a mountain of financial risk. It means your life becomes one gigantic chess match against countless opponents who are all trying to bury you. It means every time you stop working even for a moment you're falling behind the competition.

Exactly the same way that trucking is a lifestyle, owning a business is a lifestyle. That's pretty much all you think about...it's all you do.

But the mistake people make by going into the business of owning or leasing a truck and hauling freight is in the evaluation stage itself. They should have realized when considering the proposition that there is almost no potential for turning a worthwhile profit by owning or leasing trucks and hauling freight. It's a commodity service with razor thin profit margins, massive overhead, huge financial risk, and no way of differentiating yourself from the competition. The average profit margin in the industry is 3%. Anyone who knows the first thing about being in business would run for the hills when faced with the proposition of competing in a business with such dismal prospects.

I made a quick spreadsheet for everyone to look at that lists profit margins by industry. You can find it here:

Profit Margin By Industry

If you scroll down to #83 you'll find trucking weighing in at a hefty 2.79% - abysmal. For those unfamiliar with exactly what profit margin is, it basically means that for every $100 in revenue that a trucking company takes in, $2.79 is profit. The rest goes to covering the cost of running the business.

Now in this case the cost of running the business includes paying company drivers. So if you wanted to own your own truck and haul freight you can figure your average potential earnings will be 2.79% higher than being a company driver. So if you're a company driver making $40,000 per year, your average potential as a lease driver or owner operator would be:

$40,000 + 2.79% = $41,116.00

Wow! So you're going to risk everything you have financially and revolve your life around running a business for the potential of making an extra $1,116 per year??? That's about $21.46 per week!!!

So it's in the business evaluation process that people fail to realize the daunting task of running a successful trucking operation. If a truck salesman walked up to a company driver and said, "Hey, if you'll buy this $100,000 truck from me you might make an extra $21 a week or you might go bankrupt" you'd laugh and run for the hills. That shouldn't make sense to anyone on any level.

Unfortunately nobody explains it that way and people are chasing a dream with almost no potential.

I think the problem Brett is this. Most people see that "earn up to $200,000," and have no clue that fuel, basic maintenance, emergency maintenance, etc. comes out of that "up to $200 thousand."

Heck, running a restaurant isn't as easy as the Daily Show's quote that McDonald's made over a billion dollars. That was CORPORATE and NOT the particulat franchise owner.

Dave

Most people see that "earn up to $200,000," and have no clue that fuel, basic maintenance, emergency maintenance, etc. comes out of that "up to $200 thousand."

That's very true.

The only O/O I've ever seen make a decent living hauled freight and drugs...I've always wondered what the DEA did with his fancy Peter Car...

Are there any good ways to make a decent living as an o/o these days?

Are there any good ways to make a decent living as an o/o these days?

Let's put it this way...there are 3.5 million trucks on the road trying to make money hauling freight and for every one of them there are likely several people thinking night and day about some way of getting ahead of the pack, turning higher revenues, and running more efficiently. And trucking hasn't hardly changed for decades. So if there's a way to go out there and gain a business advantage over the other trucks on the road then literally tens of millions of people haven't figured it out over the past few decades.

It's not that turning a profit is impossible. It's that there's no way to turn a large enough profit to make the financial risk & additional work & burden of running a business worthwhile.