Western Express Lease Purchase....thoughts???

I forgot to mention.....Schneider doesn't have a school anymore. You have to go a private school before going to Schneider. They have tuition reimbursement up to $6,000.00

Ive already graduated from school.

Hello Old School,

Thanks for pointing out the truth for all the new bees. This forum is awesome. I have been looking everywhere for work and get great job offers but I keep running into the same problem, "No experience doesn't work with our insurance providers." So I have no been looking into companies such as us express and western express. US Express told me they were gonna send me a bus ticket in 2 days!? I ws super excited until I heard the PAY IS 70 A DAY FOR 175 HOURS! thats less then minimum wage! So I called western express and the don't pay for orientation and only pay $2000 a month until your trained then you can go out and make your average of $1200 a week. But They said Iwill be away from my family for 3 weeks. I have kids and a wife I don't want to be gone that long, but since I need experience I was just to do it for now until I get my 3 mos. experience. I contacted a good knowledgable driver who told me how these companies make you sign 9 mo contracts with them and a lot of times they will leave you stranded for 3 months. I noticed you said you worked for western express and that made me think different also when reading davids blogs even thinking of leasing a truck because my goal at the end is haul cars with my own tractor. Car haulers is "apparently" the highest paying of them all. Now I am truly confused on whether to just go with this company and test it out or stay local and find work here to avoid driving intrastate. This is really a big decision for me and want make sure I make the right one, or maybe I am just thinking way to much and just get started because I do need money like NOW. Thanks again.

- Jim

$70 - 100 a day is about average for any company during training. Have you you looked into any companies other than USX & WSXI? Schneider & Millis, I believe, are two of the better training companies. Schneider's training process is unique compared to other carriers. Your first week is spent training at their OC, second week spent over the road with a trainer and finally your third week back at the OC for additional training and testing out. I'm not sure what the pay is during training, but I'm sure it's pretty much the same as most places.

Millis has their own school that they require students to attend. It's $500 up front, but if you work for them for a year, you owe nothing else. After school you're with a road trainer 4-6 weeks.

Trainee Pay for Millis is:(from their website)

Days 1-21: $72 per day Days 22-35: $78 per day Days 36 +: $86 per day

Millis has really pretty trucks, too LOL

thans for all info it does help, i will look into mills now.

I forgot to mention.....Schneider doesn't have a school anymore. You have to go a private school before going to Schneider. They have tuition reimbursement up to $6,000.00

Ive already graduated from school.

Must have missed that part, sorry about that. Consider Schneider then, they have a lot of options depending where you live... OTR , Regional , Intermodal , local. http://schneiderjobs.com/

Here is an article about a report from ATBS on O/O earnings in 2014

Owner Operator Earnings For 2014

Average net settlement of 52k. Knock off 13k for taxes and you made 39k. Ouch.

...

1) Never "buy yourself a job". In other words, don't start a business where you're only going to make what you would have made as an employee doing that job. Any driver with two or three years experience can make $55,000 or more without owning a truck.

...

I would never do it either, but I can sort of understand why it might be appealing to someone. The independence or freedom factor... the freedom to pick the loads you want, the freedom to work when you want, etc... to me, its kind of like owning a house. I have "owned" a home for many years but I think it is b.s. that home ownership is a great investment... in fact, according to my figures, in the long run we would be better off renting. When you add up all the additional expenses you take on as an "owner" you end up worse off than if you had taken that amount of money and invested it wisely otherwise. The only good reason I see for "owning" a home is that it gives you some freedom that you wouldn't have as a renter... to decorate (or not) as you like, to have pets as you like, etc... This is how my wife talked me into buying our first house... she wanted these things. ( I say "owning" a home because it's never really yours... it's the banks while you still have a mortgage... and ultimately it's the governments because if you stop making payments to them... property taxes... they will evict you)

Regarding the article, as I read it, owner operators, on average, earn a little more than the average company driver. Is the "freedom" and a little extra money worth the extra hassles of owning? Whatever floats your boat, I guess

Average net settlement of 52k. Knock off 13k for taxes and you made 39k. Ouch.

I'm guessing o/o's have some tax advantages that would make it better than that.... business expenses that can be written off, and such

This is the HARD TRUTH about Owning a Truck!

Back to the same old story told since the beginning of time... if you can't do it yourself, tell others about how bad it is! The MEDIAN starting wage for a Harvard Law graduate is $58,000 per year, and the average O/O earnings for 2014 was $54,000... am I missing something? Harvard Law School takes 3 years to complete at a tuition rate over $240,000.00, where the average CDL Course in America is $3250.00, YET, the difference in the average income is $4000.00 per year ($76.00 per week)???? Both are honorable career choices, but by those numbers it sounds like Harvard is a terrible investment???? We know that isn't true, far from it. I'm merely saying that a degree from Harvard is great financially for those that excel, and provide MEDIAN results for those that produce MEDIAN performance. The same rings true in every walk of life, in every city in America, yet every body knows of an exception to the rule.

Down to brass tax: An average driver is just that.... AVERAGE. He/she makes good earnings above the national average household income range, while a less than average driver will bring home less. Its pretty simple mathematics. NOW, when you are taking out the averages and focusing on those that produce more and provide more, that's a whole other ballgame.

An above average driver is something "nay-say'ers" typically don't like to talk about because they like to believe that we are all above average. They continually ignore those that excel because they actually make considerably more than the AVERAGE, and again proving that those that are Above Average will produce and earn considerably more just like any other career choice. "Lease-Haters" like to blame the programs, not the person that failed...... because all of us are perfect, therefore its only conceivable that the greedy lease program caused the failure. They also like to spout things like.... "Then you have to pay taxes" as if a company driver isn't taxed on his/her income?? Lastly, take the value of the truck at the end of the lease, YOU OWN IT!! If you took a 4 year old truck and sold it, the market value would be approximately $60,000 - $85,000 depending on brand, miles, condition, etc. Why do they never say "In addition to your earnings, you also get a $60,000 bonus at the end of your lease"?

In 20 plus years of producing some of the top lease purchase operators, some well-below average drivers did not make it..... I think something any reasonable person would say is acceptable and understand as a fact of life. Those in that top 40% range typically show similar characteristics like: cleanliness, mathematical skills, orderly paperwork, legible handwriting, ask a lot of questions, take notes during class time, prefer telephone over Qualcomm , prefer text over telephone, focus on a plan of attack versus day to day, wants ideas for a financial plan, and continually challenges themselves to do better. (That was a mouthful)!! On occasion some of these traits are not present, but all-in-all, most have at least 80% of them. If you have the majority of these traits, it doesn't mean you should lease a truck, it means you probably have the hard wiring that would produce above average results such as a Harvard Law graduate that starts his first job at $175,000, instead of the $58,000 median. If such a division of earnings exists with law school graduates, couldn't the same separation exist with CDL holders???? Of course it does!! (That's the dirty little secret!)

I say CDL holders instead of Professional Drivers not as an insult to me or my industry, but because some are just that.. CDL holders. We all know it and except it, but again "my friend's enemy is my enemy, where my enemy's enemy is a friend". Therefore no matter how much we believe a blog or posting from someone raving about 9 terrible companies in 12 months, we still want to dislike the companies instead of the blogger that we know probably will never have a happy day at any company. Things like "all these companies are out to get us, that's why I quit them AGAIN", and "I told them I would drive this truck into the river if they don't get me a load straight home now!"..... both statements are pretty one sided and say the same thing.... my way or the highway! Neither would make good company drivers OR lease operators anywhere because there isn't a give and take, we all know it and accept it, yet since the company was my "friend's" enemy.. therefore they are mine as well.

So as you make up your mind which direction to go, remember both company and lease are viable and legitimate options. As I sign off and watch the Nay Say'ers and Lease-Haters take over the blog-isphere over this post, keep one thing in mind..... are you above average or average? No one can answer that for you, except you. Huge corporations are born everyday from extraordinary men doing extraordinary things even against non-believers telling them they cannot. Making your own decision is a primal instinct, we were not born as sheep, even though some people are better off to stay as close to the "heard" as possible. As the old sayings goes, "some people have to be protected from themselves", "some people are their own worst enemy", "if given 9 right answers and 1 wrong, he would chose the wrong 9 out of 10 ten times", etc., etc., etc.

Like life, leasing is only as good and prosperous as the person doing it!

David, I wish I had the time to respond to this honey coated cheer leading, but unfortunately I'm busy out performing the other drivers in my fleet right now.

You have willfully ignored the arguments we've presented as being based on the inordinate risks involved because you painfully know that is the reality of the driver's difficulty with long term success in a lease.

You've presented a weak argument that attempts to make the naysayers appear as poor performers and the lease operators as folks who get a 60,000 dollar bonus every fourth year! What a joke!

Average net settlement of 52k. Knock off 13k for taxes and you made 39k. Ouch.

I'm guessing o/o's have some tax advantages that would make it better than that.... business expenses that can be written off, and such

INDY, You are exactly correct. BUT remember that ALL lease drivers don's make $52,000. Some do, some make more, some make less. You have things like operational costs, depreciation of equipment, daily tax allowance, sales tax exclusions, etc., etc. You have to manage your time and money or hiring someone to do it for you. Most operators set up a bank account in their business name and pay themselves a weekly salary for ease of income tax settling, and have their business account filed separately often at a different tax rate. If you are considering something like this, find a good transportation accountant or tax advisor. Most run approximately $300 - $500 per year for their expenses to handle your entire business financially so you don't have to,..... kind of like hiring a part time business manager at a discount.

Remember the "Average" is the difference between the worst and the best, not an absolute for each individual. If we only believe in AVERAGES, you and everyone you know will be: 39 years of age, live to be 67, will retire at 63, 5'9" tall, 192 lbs., have $11,400 in savings, been at your current job 2.1 years, make $37,300 annually, have a credit score of 608 and have 1.3 children. If you have all of these traits you are "probably" average. Otherwise, your income may vary!

Thanks Indy!

David, I wish I had the time to respond to this honey coated cheer leading, but unfortunately I'm busy out performing the other drivers in my fleet right now.

You have willfully ignored the arguments we've presented as being based on the inordinate risks involved because you painfully know that is the reality of the driver's difficulty with long term success in a lease.

You've presented a weak argument that attempts to make the naysayers appear as poor performers and the lease operators as folks who get a 60,000 dollar bonus every fourth year! What a joke!

Thanks for the response I was looking for! Proves my point exactly!