I'm Headed To Springfield Prime Fri

Wow this thread took a turn.

I love this site as it's a place where driver's can come to ask anything they want and someone will help them out.

But this thread has quickly devolved into the one thing that still leaves me scratching my head about this sites collective minds.

If a driver posts on TT claiming that they can't make any money at a mega carrier and their company is taking advantage of them. The Company won't let them take the home time they want or isnt giving them the miles they need to survive. Then voices of TT will inform them that they need to readjust their attitude and realize that their success is in the companies best interest. These mega carriers didn't become so successful by screwing over their driver's. The only thing holding them back is their own attitude and truck management skills. TT will post a number of articles laying out the path of how to become a top tier driver.

Now comes the confusing part.

A driver posts claiming how they love the mega carrier they work for. They make wonderful money and are able to take home time when they wish. Sounds wonderful until they mention that they lease...

Suddenly the face of TT turns and the posts come raining down about how they have fallen into a trap. Their mega carrier is screwing them over by dumping costs and risk on the driver. They can't possibly take as much home time as a company driver or they wouldn't make any money. Then come the sarcastic comments mocking the driver's claims of how well they are doing. Their happiness is all smoke and mirrors because they clearly don't understand math and don't even realise the trap they've fallen into.

All that wisdom about how to be a top tier driver suddenly is meaningless. Suddenly no matter what your only as good as an "average" company driver.

What happened to that bit about no mega carrier could survive screwing over it's driver's over the long run? Primes fleet is about 80% lease or owner operator. How did this company become such a giant in the industry if it's screwing over 80% of it's driver's????

PlanB, this driver just claimed he's making $100,000 in profit per year as a lease driver.

Do you believe him?

What happened to that bit about no mega carrier could survive screwing over it's driver's over the long run? Primes fleet is about 80% lease or owner operator. How did this company become such a giant in the industry if it's screwing over 80% of it's driver's????

They're not screwing the drivers over by offering them a lease. They're allowing the drivers to take control of the truck and run the business side of it and make all of the decisions for themselves. The reason it doesn't benefit the driver to do that is because Prime will charge a fee for every service they provide to the driver, who is now a business owner.

So in essence, the driver is paying for the privilege of running his own company but counting on Prime to provide all of the freight, parts and service, financing, and everything else. As a company driver you don't have to pay for those services to be provided to you, because you're not a separate company. You're part of the company itself.

So how can a lease driver make more than a company driver when the lease driver has to pay for a long list of services from Prime that a company driver doesn't have to pay for?

Not to mention if there were more money to be made by owning the truck, maintaining and insuring it, replacing it, and all that goes with owning the truck, why would Prime, or any other company want to lease to a driver? Why would they not simply hire company drivers and keep those profits for themselves?

I am not claiming I make that much. I clearly said only if I work every single week with no days off. Which I said I dont do... I really could careless if any of you believe me or not. I have no gain or loss if anyone agrees or disagrees with me. All I did was stated my opinion... just like all of you. I have taken what I learned in my previous business position (non trucking job) and everything I was taught by my trainer when I entered this industry and used those experiences/knowledge to my advantage. I accept all of everyones criticism, opinions, and statements. With all that being said we've reached a dead end and theres no reason for any of us to continue wasting our day on how much someone earns.

Their mega carrier is screwing them over by dumping costs and risk on the driver.

Who said this? How does a company dump said costs and risks on a driver? Doesn't the driver have to sign a lease contract first?

Claiming to be making a paycheck of $2000/wk AFTER ALL EXPENSES may be convincing to the uninitiated entrepreneur, but it's not that convincing to anyone with some business experience who wants to make the most informed decision he can. Is it really ALL expenses or all IMMEDIATE expenses? Those expenses need to be spelled out to make a fair evaluation between L/O and being a company driver, otherwise it's an apples to oranges comparison. Not having any trucking experience yet myself, that is where I would guess the caution and warning would be coming from from the experienced drivers here.

Revenue is a juicy number to look at. It's hardly surprising that so many LO and OO drivers would rattle off that number or leave off or forget other numbers to make their profit look better than it is. But at the end of the line, those non-immediate expenses you don't count today (eg wear and tear on the truck) will come back as hard expenses later. At that point the $2000 per week will become less and this conversation will have been long concluded.

I have no gain or loss if anyone agrees or disagrees with me. All I did was stated my opinion... just like all of you.

Netting $2000/wk is your opinion?

Austin O. I hope you will answer some of the questions posed to you in this thread, Old School's in particular, since you have been making these claims regarding the profitability of going L/O.

Plan B, you just made a lot of untrue accusations. It would be nice if you would quote the places where we made "sarcastic comments." I was merely trying to get some facts instead of vague statements about the "big differences" he was talking about when he calculated his mileage as a company driver and then comparing that to his lease revenues. That is a very misleading way of trying to compare the differences in pay talking about leasing.

What floored me was when he started in about deadheading 800 miles and acting like it wasn't that big a deal. I know a bunch of lease operators, and none of them make those kind of business decisions. I lost interest at that point because my business background screams at me that something is amiss here. I do my best to speak up in these discussions because I know how many newbies read these threads and are influenced by them. I want them to be influenced with facts, not false hopes.

It was only 8 and 1/2 months ago that Austin told us this...

I just wanted to reach out to everyone on here that helped me achieve my goal today and I earned my Class A CDL.

Despite the fact that he lists himself as an "Experienced" driver, he's actually very new to this, but wants us to believe he's netting $2,000 dollars a week! He's probably been a solo driver for around six months max. A six month rookie who comes in here claiming to make $100,000 per year should expect to have some push back from the professionals who are here to protect newbies from the many pitfalls of this business.

We push for the "truth." That's just what we do. Sometimes people don't understand that, and frankly it's not always fun. But there's a lot of folks who get help here because of that.

PlanB, this driver just claimed he's making $100,000 in profit per year as a lease driver.

Do you believe him?

That's not what I got from his posts. I read that he average nets 2k after expenses on the weeks that he is out. He did not state 100k as that would mean he never took home time...ever. To me it is not clear if he deducted estimated taxes from that net figure. But in my opinion this matters very little. A company driver making 100k and a lease driver making 100k both pay taxes. Company driver just pays them before they get their check. Lease driver pays them after. Someone posted earlier that if you make 70k you still have to pay 15k taxes so you only made 55k. But they left out that a company driver who grosses 70k still has to pay their taxes as well, and will be brought down to nearly the same final figure. I am not forgetting about social security and business taxes. That's why I said "nearly the same figure." All this is assuming the lease driver understands that they must pay their taxes later. If the driver doesn't take that into consideration than they will absolutely sink their own boat by no one's fault but their own.

So how can a lease driver make more than a company driver when the lease driver has to pay for a long list of services from Prime that a company driver doesn't have to pay for?

Company driver is still paying for those services.

(What did this guy just say?! He must be out of his mind!! I'm a company driver and I don't pay any of that!)

Yes you do....

You earned the money, but never saw the money to begin with.

The money paying these expenses is coming from the customer. So you could really say the customer is the one paying all those fees. The difference is just the flow of the money.

As a company driver you complete a load and the customer pays the money to the carrier. From that money the company pays its expenses. All those services the company driver enjoys are paid for from this money pool. The truck payments and insurance come from this money. From that same money pool the driver's wages are paid. The rest the carrier keeps as profit.

If that same load was completed by a lease driver the customer still pays the same amount of money. The money pool is then split between the driver and the carrier. In the example of prime, it's a 28/72 split. The 28% paid to prime covers it's office and administrative expenses with what ever is left over as profit. From the other 78% the costs of running the truck are deducted. What's left over is paid to the driver.

The office/administrative and trucks costs aren't any different between the company and lease fleets. The only difference was which spreadsheet the money touched before those costs were paid.

Company driver's pay is a fixed expense.

Lease driver's pay is a function of the loads pay minus how effeciently or inefficiently they run their truck. (cost)

If they run there truck well (top tier driver), they will do very well. A top tier efficient company driver will increase the profits for their company. This is why we have fuel bonuses. The carrier is giving us an incentive to save the carrier more money. The lease driver who efficiently runs their truck pockets 100% of those fuel savings.

If they are a lower tier driver and don't learn to control their costs, they will quickly drive themselves out of business.

A higher tier driver gives themselves a significant pay raise the more efficient they run their truck, the more of that 78% they take home.

Everybody I'd on so many different pages. When you have a death in the family money is the last thing on your mind unless your moral compass out of whack. My opinion is not about 2,000 go back to my very first comment....

I don't think anyone will large that you build a large fleet by keeping your driver's happy.

Prime has kept a very large fleet of happy driver's and had become a giant in the industry because of all those happy driver's.

Prime makes it's money off it's large happy fleet of lease/owner operators and company driver's.

Why limit itself to one or the other?

Not to mention if there were more money to be made by owning the truck, maintaining and insuring it, replacing it, and all that goes with owning the truck, why would Prime, or any other company want to lease to a driver? Why would they not simply hire company drivers and keep those profits for themselves?

Plan B, you mentioned nothing about the risks that a L/O assumes that company driver does not. That is a very real factor to consider.