Lease Operator VS Company Driver Thread (but In Context Of Working For Wilson Logistics)

I'm creating this "Lease Operator VS Company Driver" discussion thread because I just finished my first week of training at Wilson Logistics (in the process of earning a CDL with them in exchange for a 1yr contract).

I'll have somewhere around 5 months worth of driving over the road , a lot of it with a trainer team driving with me and the last bit of it is team driving with a fellow rookie by the time it's all said and done before they start having me drive by myself. So i got all that time to research and decide whether or not to be a company driver.

And yes, by default, due to things I learned on this thread about being a lease operator, I plan on being a company driver for 2-3 years. But since I'm only planning on being in the trucking industry for 2-3 years, living out of my truck, to build up savings in preparation to immigrate to Mexico, I want to build up as much money as possible.

In this thread, I will post updates on things I learn about company driving VS lease driving for Wilson Logistics as I learn them. Towards the end of my training, I will be taking a whole class at Wilson that will really educate me on the differences between company driving and lease driving, and what all is involved, expenses, etc in regards to lease driving. They literally call it a "lease operator class".

. . . . . .

What I've learned so far about being a company driver for Wilson(as someone who drives by himself):

-.50/mile

-1,000 dollar employee referal bonus if someone gets hired by Wilson because of me. 2,000 dollar bonus if they are already an experience driver

-there's some kind of bonus if you make your delivery within a certian x amount of time. (I don't know the exact details but I will be taking a class soon that will fill me in on those exact details and I will post them here in this thread when I learn them)

. . . . . . .

What I've learned so far about being a lease purchase operator (as a solo driver):

Note: I WILL be taking a whole "Lease Purchase Operator" class that will likely answer most, if not all of these issues below

-That it seems a little bit like doordash. Instead of getting paid by the mile, you get paid by the load. So how much money you make and how consistantly you make it is dependant on how consistantly you drive

-you can take time off whenever you want...and just like door dash, it can bite you in the rear if you take too much time off because you still got to pay a weekly rental fee and possibly other expenses

-You could make several thousand dollars a week, but the question remains, "How much of that do you actually keep after expenses"?

-If you become a Lease Operator for Wilson, Wilson Logistics does not mess with ANY trucks that are more than two years old, so there's a higher probability of a part being under warranty if/when parts fail (this is just a speculation on my part since none of their trucks are more than 2 years old). So let's say I start being a lease operator in 2024, it won't be older than a 2022 model.

-It's a walk away lease. This is a huge problem for a lot of drivers but this is NOT a problem for me because when I reach my minimum savings goal that I have of 150k before I immigrate to Mexico, I'm done driving trucks for a living, quitting my trucking career and I'm immigrating to Mexico.

-Whenever I speak to people at Wilson Logistics who were a lease operator but stopped to become a trainer instead, or any other reason, it mostly came down to them not wanting to be living on the road all the time due to family obligations, or simply got burned out from living on the road.

-I've had many current/former lease operators for Wilson tell me in person that it can be a practical thing for me because of me wanting to live out of a truck a couple years, don't have wife/girlfriend/kids, and I refuse to date again until I'm back in Mexico, and all I wanna do is grind, and build up savings as much as possible for the next few years. ...but even then they told me it would only work out well for me if I'm consistantly on the road, and manage my money properly. These people encouraged me that whatever money I have left over after expenses every week, to put 20 something percent in a separate checking/savings account for taxes (because it's a 1099, independant contracting job like Door Dash), and that I should put another 20 something percent aside in another account for a "matenance fund", and consider what's left over from that to be my profit. ...these lease operators made it very clear that as long as I'm the kind of dedicated OTR driver who's not taking too much time off, that in the end I could make way more money as a lease operator than VS a company driver, and reach my 150k savings goal a lot sooner.

Of course they warned me it will take a lot of dedication and responsibility and self management on my part in order to make being a lease operator work for me. They told me my biggest advantage of me having a higher probability of it working out for me is because I'm not married, don't have kids, and the dynamics of my family is such that I would only visit them maybe once or twice a year anyway...also because I have zero obligations outside of work and I literally only have two bills right now: My cellphone bill and a montly payment plan I'm doing to pay 3k that I owe for two sleep studies.

Just to be clear, I'm planning on being a company driver.

I'm just exploring my options. I would only become a lease operator if I was ABSOLUTELY CONVINCED that that is what I want and need to do. And even then I would be a company driver for a little while FIRST before becoming a lease operator so that I'm not dealing with two rookie phases at the same time which could be a very dangerous distraction.

One other reason I'm still considering doing the lease operator thing, other than the money, is because when I immigrate to Mexico I have three different business I plan on starting in Mexico. I am thinking I could use the experience I would get from being a lease operator as a way to "gain experience building and managing a business" before going to Mexico.

By the time I immigrate to Mexico, I will be fluent in Spanish (been studying spanish since January last year), and will have a TESL certification (teaching english as a second language) that I will use to be an english teacher...and possibly a spanish teacher once my spanish skills are advanced enough.

The second business is why I have a 150k minimum savings goal: In Mexico (if you know where to look) you can purchase a plot of land for like 3k USD worth of MXN, and spend 40-50k USD worth of MXN to build a multi bedroom house that typically goes for 250k-350k in the USA.

I plan to build one house and live in it. I would be dating again so when I get married and have kids in the future that's where we will live. I then plan to build two more houses, but design them to be duplexes and then rent them out (so I would have 4 tenants to collect rent from every month). An language teaching job and being a land lord would be my two sources of income to take care of myself and a family some day, while continuing to build up savings to go back to school, finish my education in aerospace engineering, and then I would start an aerospace company that builds/sells a new type of drone that I plan to invent that doesn't use blades. I have an idea for a new type of "bladeless drone" that's similar to the ion wind drones that engineering students make at universities for science projects. I think my invention idea could render "propellers on drones" obsolete.

But if my aerospace company fails, I'll still have my language teaching job and my landlord job to depend on to provide for my future family in Mexico. :)

Wow, all I can say is your cart is wsy in front of your horse!!!!

You need to learn this industry and what the expectations are before anything else.

Companies push leaseing because they make more money off you, not you making more money off them.

The driving is the least time consuming part. The business end gets real complicated real fast.

You will net more money faster as a company driver. I know because I do own my own equipment. I also have my own authority. I can make better money as a company driver without the headaches.

Do what you want but understand reality.

Thanks. I have a gut feeling something like this is going on. It’s my intention to use this thread to help confirm/debunk things I learn about the whole “renter VS company driver” thing by the time I finish training and have been a company driver for a little while, so that when I most likely stay company driver, I’ll have the peace of mind I did the right thing…..or vise/versa if I go the other way.

Wow, all I can say is your cart is wsy in front of your horse!!!!

You need to learn this industry and what the expectations are before anything else.

Companies push leaseing because they make more money off you, not you making more money off them.

The driving is the least time consuming part. The business end gets real complicated real fast.

You will net more money faster as a company driver. I know because I do own my own equipment. I also have my own authority. I can make better money as a company driver without the headaches.

Do what you want but understand reality.

You are also talking two different lease options. One is a lease.purchase and one is a rental with no money down and you never own.

The lease purchase you put $12,000+ as a down payment up front. Then at the end of the 3 years, you own it.

The 50cpm probably has bonuses added to it.

Wilson pulls prime freight and cannot haul our hazmat , high val or fedex loads. Which means their revenue is less than prime lease drivers on average.

After 9 years of studying lease vs company, i have yet to find a lease guy that makes more than me when you add the benefits & 401k. I have been company all this time because i read the contracts and learned to read the 20 page lease weekly settlements.

Some things to ask in your class:

1. What does the accident insurance NOT cover? Prime has a negligence fee of $10,000. So jack knife and u pay the $2k deductible plus that $10k. It is also possible that the tow bill and highway cleanup / personnel are not covered. So it may not be $2,000 deductible for an accident. It could literally be $20,000+

2. What does cargo insurance cover? Some policies will not cover YOUR negligence. Therefore have a hard brake and you didnt secure load properly... you could be charged $100,000 for the damaged product. Do not washout the trailer and the load is rejected... you could be charged $75,000 for a load.

3. What does the warranty entail? Some warranties do not include labor. I have seen instances where only the parts were covered. And realize just because it is new does not mean everything is good or covered. Freightliner just claimed my friend's $26,000 transmission was not covered. They claimed either she put the wrong trans fluid in (done at terminal) or the tow truck damaged it. Another friend paid $20,000 for his downpayment due to options on a lease purchase... and in the first 18 months paid over $17,000 in repairs. There is no lemon law on commercial vehicles.

4. Ask about workers comp and what is covered. Many policies may only cover medical bills and not provide for pay compensation, hotel, rental car, or more. The #1 injury to a driver is falling out of rhe truck. And many do not have insurance for it.

5. Learn to read the settlements. Ask some current lease ops to teach you. Wilsons looks different than Primes. I had some wilsons but cant find them now. They still only averages 60 to 65cpm. Before taxes with no benefits and a ton of repsonsibility.

Good luck.

One of the most common things I've been hearing from experienced truckers on the "lease operator VS company driver" subject both on this forum and truckers I've met in person is the how and why many cases a company driver can have more "take home pay" than a lease operator.

To help give this thread more context, since this specific thread is about leasing VS company driver in context of working for Wilson Logistics, I learned who my fleet manager is going to be today.

When my months worth of OTR training is over, and I'm driving by myself as a company driver, due to wanting to live out of my truck and never "going home", I'll be put on what they call a "Dedicated OTR route" (because they apparently have multiple types of OTR routes)

I called that fleet manager and spoke with her over the phone and asked her how many miles I'll probably average in a week since I want to drive alone and not do team driving (I hate roommate situations and will gladly take a pay cut if it means I'm not sharing a sleeper cab with someone haha)

She told me that I'll be averaging anywhere between 1900-2500 per week at .50/mile plus some kind of fuel bonus whenever I deliver a load withing a certain amount of time on top of having good fuel economy. She said I'll learn more about fuel bonuses later on in my training.

So my fleet manager's information equals out to: 950.00-1,250.00 per week 3,800-5,000.00/month 45,600.00-60k/year

That's pretty dang good from my perspective! Even on the low end, 3,800/month that's great and will be the most money I've ever made in a month! Of course I'll have to find out how much money I will have "after taxes", lol. If it helps anyone address this part, I'm 38, single and don't have kids.

As of right now I have only two bills: -my cellphone bill -165.00/month payments I'm doing on a 3 thousand dollar debt due to a couple sleep studies I had to get done without health insurance

So even in the worst case scenario, of 3,800.00/month, I'll still be building up savings very well as long as I manage my money properly.

For those of you who are experienced drivers, does this specific information STILL sound like more "take home pay" after leasing in many cases?

It's good to have long range plans, but it's better to have short range goals fulfilled first.

Most new drivers fail to make it a year in this career. Heck, many fail to make it through training.

I'd recommend setting up your short term strategy like this.

1. Make it through your training peroid with 100 percent of your focus. Your future life depends on you accomplishing this. Accident and incident free.

2. Next, make it through your first 6 months solo, accident and incident free. Soak up every bit of knowledge you can about how to operate your truck safely, on time and efficiently.

3. Make the following 6 months a repeat of the first. Always operate safely, efficiently and on time. Establish a great relationship with your office by being the safest, most reliable driver you can be.

This is a trade. It's going to take you a couple of years to really become effective and efficient. If you're running OTR , once you have learned the mechanics of shoppers, recievers, freight lanes, dispatchers, load planners, hours of service, weather and a host of things other than physically driving, your mileage should easily average 3000 miles per week.

Once you reach that level, or if you reach that level, then revaluate what your effective rate per mile is and where you want to guide your career. Understanding your effective rate per mile is crucial but not right now.

You're looking at things down the road and you need to be gaining the fundamentals. If you do not concentrate 110 percent on the fundamentals of being a safe, productive driver, you're very likely to fail in this industry.

Here's a question...do you think you could make mistakes, have an accident, be late, or waste fuel getting lost?

If you answer is yes.... the. Leasing isnt for.you yet. Cause all of.those things cost money and eat yiur profits.

You did not include in your calculations:

Company paid health insurance:

$8,000 a year

Worker comp: $8,000 a year

Employer 401k contribution:

$5,000.to $10,000 a year

That is $20,000 a year in benefits you wouldnt have as a lease op.

Also realize a cpm wont be taxed while on the road away from home. At prime it is 8cpm. Wilson could have a different amount. Its "per diem". Prime calls it "travel allowance".

Yes, you are so right. Unfortunetly I'm so new to this I didn't really consider this until after I read what you said. I will give this subject a rest and focus on the basics right now. Cuz even if I do go lease one day, I would obviously have to be a company driver for a while just to explore the trade and become an experienced driver anyway.

Thank you so much for posting this!

It's good to have long range plans, but it's better to have short range goals fulfilled first.

Most new drivers fail to make it a year in this career. Heck, many fail to make it through training.

I'd recommend setting up your short term strategy like this.

1. Make it through your training peroid with 100 percent of your focus. Your future life depends on you accomplishing this. Accident and incident free.

2. Next, make it through your first 6 months solo, accident and incident free. Soak up every bit of knowledge you can about how to operate your truck safely, on time and efficiently.

3. Make the following 6 months a repeat of the first. Always operate safely, efficiently and on time. Establish a great relationship with your office by being the safest, most reliable driver you can be.

This is a trade. It's going to take you a couple of years to really become effective and efficient. If you're running OTR , once you have learned the mechanics of shoppers, recievers, freight lanes, dispatchers, load planners, hours of service, weather and a host of things other than physically driving, your mileage should easily average 3000 miles per week.

Once you reach that level, or if you reach that level, then revaluate what your effective rate per mile is and where you want to guide your career. Understanding your effective rate per mile is crucial but not right now.

You're looking at things down the road and you need to be gaining the fundamentals. If you do not concentrate 110 percent on the fundamentals of being a safe, productive driver, you're very likely to fail in this industry.

Oh wow, I never considered that! Thanks for this very helpful information. This kind of info gives me the peace of mind I was looking for in regards of making the decision to be a company driver for "at least" a year before considering the lease path. :)

Here's a question...do you think you could make mistakes, have an accident, be late, or waste fuel getting lost?

If you answer is yes.... the. Leasing isnt for.you yet. Cause all of.those things cost money and eat yiur profits.

You did not include in your calculations:

Company paid health insurance:

$8,000 a year

Worker comp: $8,000 a year

Employer 401k contribution:

$5,000.to $10,000 a year

That is $20,000 a year in benefits you wouldnt have as a lease op.

Also realize a cpm wont be taxed while on the road away from home. At prime it is 8cpm. Wilson could have a different amount. Its "per diem". Prime calls it "travel allowance".