Leasing A Truck: My Journey

So I will try to follow the perimeters that have made Prime profitable, take every load given to me, run my truck as cost efficient as possible and drive slower. Hopefully it will pay off but time will tell.

So wait, I'm confused. You're going to run like a company driver for Prime runs and still have to pay all the expenses that come with a truck? What's the point of leasing the truck for you then out of curiosity?

One thing I've learned quickly in business is surround yourself with people that are smarter than yourself. Not that you should follow them to the letter of the law. You take the framework and parameters given to you and improve on them to fit your business model. So if all the big companies are dialing back the speedometers and preaching fuel reduction shouldn't I be concerned about the same thing? Our first week out we averaged 8.97 mpg while the fleet average was almost a full point lower. That's over 10% fuel savings. My fuel bill was over 1000.00 last week. Over the course of a year I've saved myself well over $5000. Not only running at lower speeds should reduce my maintenance and tire wear. How many people know how fast truck tires are rated for? 70mph. Now how many trucks do you see going 65mph or over? The reason you see so many truck tires on the road is due to speed and or neglect.

The reason you see so many truck tires on the road is due to speed and or neglect.

Not to mention the cheap retreads with poor quality/workmanship.... re-treads are great for cost savings, not so great for safety & reliability.

Well since i am well rested today and not feeling like I have a million things on my plate I decided to do my week 2 update on time this week. I want to remind everyone that I am not trying to persuade anyone into leasing, in fact just the opposite. I want to show everyone how much extra work it is to drive and operate a business efficiently. I am not perfect at this and am prepared to take loses if there should be some. Not everyone is in my position.

I am fortunate to have an experiened company co driver and if it wasn't for him I don't honestly thing I could do this on my own. Even though he doesn't want to get involved with the business or trip planning end of it, he certainly takes a load off the driving end of it. Just tell him where to go and he does it. Althoughat first he was resistant on going slower than 60 he now opened up to me that he enjoys it much more going slower. He doesn't feel as rushed as he used to. We did compromise on 58 in the rural and 55 in the city. The truck seems to agree with it as well. Enough of the blabber here are the facts of last weeks runs.

Freight Revenue ---------$5191.32

Other Revenue-----------$1,139.12

Grand Total----------------$6330.44

Operating costs----------$4544.58 (Fixed and Variable including Co-Driver)

Emergency Fund--------$447.30 ( $1025.50 )

Tire Fund------------------$111.83 ($256.37)

Balance-------------------$ 1226.73 ( Added 526.73 to the business checking and repayed my loan to myself $700.00)

Note- I haven't made anything until I repay the money I invested myself in the company. I still owe my personal account 2300.00. But the business checking account stands at 3700.00

Pack Mule Truckings Assets $4981.87 / Liabilities $2300.00

Hopefully by my hometime I will pay my personal account back in full, at that time I plan on taking a paycheck. I am also planning hometime for 4 days in August. So I will plan on putting some money aside in case their is a deficit that week. Our pay period ends on a Tuesday and I am scheduling hometime from Thursday to Sunday so I should have 1 load on that pay period to ease the burden. I am estimating my burden that week at approximately $1800.00 dollars so if I get a load that pays around $2000.00 it should wash. If not that is what the emergency fund is for.

We ran 4473 miles this week. It seemed like more but it is what it is.

1st) Wellston Ohio to Franklin Ind- We deadheaded from Virginia, fleet manager told us there just weren't any team loads their and was trying to get us in a better area.

2nd) Indianapolis Ind to Orlando Fl.- A nice paying load that got me close enough to have dinner with my brother, he also carted my butt around to the bank and Wal-Mart.

3rd) Leesburg Fl to Chino Ca.- Night Dispatch send us this load and neglected to inform me this was a rework from the prior day. Not that it mattered I would have taken it anyway. Thing about this Cold Storage Facility is that they make the driver suffer for it. Meaning they can make you wait as long as they want and there is no detention. We arrived at 5:45 am and left the facility at 20:00. We still had plenty of time to make it but as everyone knows it stinks to be stuck.

4th) Santa Fe Springs Ca- Sparks NV- It was 05:30 and I thought my week was finished, got on the QualComm and thanked my fleet manager for his effort that week told him we were washed out and ready to go. Saying to myself at least I'll have a day head start on next week. I also mentioned I would have to pay for parking in 3hrs so if something pops up let me know. Low and behold a couple hrs later he sends me this load that delivers the next morning. Not only that it pays very well. Pick up time at 13:00. So we battle L.A. traffic and get there at 12:45. Drive to the gate and security checks us in and instructs us to park in the cul-da-sac. Our appointment at the Wal-Mart distribution center is for 0700 the next day and I figure we had plenty of time. Wrong - Since it was my co-drivers shift I decide to get some shut eye only to be wakened by him at 18:00 telling me they haven't loaded us yet and we just went past our eta on the other end. I immediately go to the guard shack to see what the delay is.

So the guard shack calls and tells us to drop the trailer and go to the trailer at will call and hook up to it. At this time I informed dispatch only to be told oh yeah they pull this all the time at this shipper. Go inside to get the paperwork and they just started loading the trailer that had been sitting there for I dont know how long. Supervisor comes out and says first shift dropped the ball the meat wasnt even cut yet when I got there. Needless to say we were 3 1/2 hrs late for a walmart load.

It was a long week, but profitable. Of course not as good as my first week, but still far from being a bad one. I know bad weeks are out there. I just hope I can get a jump on them and save a little money before they do.

I'm enjoying reading this and really curious about one thing, your mileage. Running as a team, you should easily be racking up 6,000 miles a week and not killing yourselves doing it. 3,000 a week as a solo driver is pretty easy to do and at a point where a person is making a decent paycheck without all the headaches.

I disagree 3000 miles is a ton of miles if your driving within the dot parameters. The only way to accomplish it is by driving your truck to the ground or running on paper logs. Also remember I am being paid by percentage of the load not miles. If you refer back to earlier post from experienced drivers you'll see most average 2500 miles. Sure there are weeks you may see 3000 but remember your not the only one in control of that. So many other factors play apart. Traffic, dispatch, shippers, receivers, not to mention weather can all have a negative impact on your miles. The week before I believe we were around 5200 or something and that seems to be more realistic. I am aware of many solo drivers who are friends only getting around 1800 or so. For me it's not about the miles and more about the revenue per mile.

So Pack Mule Truckings 3rd week is in the books, I would love to tell you everything went as smooth as silk but that just was't the case this week. My Co- Driver and I found ourselves detained at shippers, tight schedules and HOS issues all week. Our week started out a day later than normal our fiscal week ends on Tuesdays and are first load of the week didn't pick up till 21:00 on Wednesday. So Tuesday and Wednesday we spent cleaning and doing an extensive pre trip on the truck, long shower and a Walmart run and driving a 500 mile deadhead to our shipper. 1st load - Colton CA to Lewiston ME We arrive at shipper at 18:00 to pick up at the shipper plenty of time and park on the side street leading into the shipper. We are picking up a time sensitive produce load that at the speeds we drive gives us very little wiggle room. So being early and trying to pick up the load as quickly as possible was very important to us. Since 90% of what comes out of here is usually a drop and hook I thought my odds were going to be good getting our load early and hauling butt.

In this case that was just meant to be. I checked with the gate and they informed me that it was going to be a live load. So on live loads you can only arrive an hour early to the docks so off to get a few ZZZ,s while I could. Arrive at shipper at 20:00 and get informed it got changed to a drop and hook but the trailer was on the dock not loaded yet. So we drop our empty in the yard, go to the shipping office to let them know we arrived and park but not hook up to our trailer on the dock. They will call us when it was ready.

Detention pay starts at 0100 on this load and by 0030 they hadn't touched the trailer so I figured we should at least get some extra pay in the future over this. Then 5 minutes later I watch the trailer shaking violently as one after another forklift ran in and out of the trailer one after another until they called at 0054 and asked me to pull away the trailer and secure the load with load locks. So I pulled up, got a couple load locks and proceeded to the trailer. Looked inside and everything was a wreck. I think if I drove 20 miles I would have produce everywhere if I would have left.

So I go to the supervisor and ask him to take a look at my trailer. He asked what was a matter and I informed him I wouldn't take the load in the condition it was and they needed to rework it. Of course he tells me they are only a drop off point and they only load it the way it comes in and theirs nothing he could do about it. So I pull out my camera and start taking pictures of the load sitting in the back of my trailer. He asked, what I was doing I told him if I was going to have to take this load I am covering my butt and sending pictures to my fleet manager and the receiver.

Funny how quickly his tune changed and he told me to back into the dock again. So we depart at 0200 with a new time stamp to prove I was detained. And a shipper that lost the battle on trying to rush the load on the truck so as not to pay detention. Still our delivery window just took a major blow and we knew we had to be on point the whole trip in order to make it on time. Made it to our destination an hour before our delivery with only taking 3 hrs in cumulative breaks between us. This was a nice paying load and I was hoping to get a semi decent one out of Maine and I would have a great week Buuuuut!

2nd Load- Lewiston ME - 4 stops- (All within the Boston Metro Area) Lewiston is one of Primes few contracts for Walmart Distribution Centers- Running loads to stores in that distribution locations network. Being it was Sunday and weekend dispatch was on they blessed (cursed) me with a 4 store load to help out there. Never the one to turn down a load I wasn't looking forward to driving in and around the Boston Area.

My Co-Driver who grew up in the area told me not to worry about it. He said Brian its Sunday the traffic wont be bad. That morning bumper to bumper traffic from Maine all the way into Boston. I believe the whole state of Mass. decided to vacation in Maine this past weekend. It took my entire 14 hr window to finish the job leaving me with a whopping 2 minutes to spare on my clock pulling back into Lewiston.

3rd Load- Lewiston ME to 3stops ( This time Connecticut around Hartford) Well I had used up my 14 yesterday so I had to rely on my co-driver to do this on his own. My FM sends me the message I need you to do this little shorty please!) You know me I took it. Of course my co driver had a lot less stressful of a drive than I did yesterday. I also have to tell all you dedicated and regional drivers out their I have a new found appreciation for all what you do.

So now the nitty gritty how did we do well we ran 4145 miles this week. Less than last week and lower than I thought we would do. This week certainly didn't benefit my co-driver.

Freight Revenue $5723.21

Other Revenue $ 971.89

Total Revenue $6695.00

Operating Costs $4098.59

Emergency Fund $414.50 ($1440.00)

Tire Fund $ 103.62 ($359.99)

BALANCE $1957.39

So comparing last week with this week I drove 200 less miles than last week and my total revenue was up only approx. $300.00 Yet I managed to increase my balance $700.00 over last weeks how? Well my theory proves to work this week. I was able to reduce my variable costs $400.00. As Benjamin Franklin said and I quote " watch your pennies and your dollars will take care of themselves".

Just so you all know my bank balance last week 3700.00 with 2300.00 left in liabilities I gave my co driver a 250.00 bonus for his efforts this week. Also returned 750.00 into my personal checking account leaving me a balance of $957.39 to my business account.

Previous Balance 3700.00 Add $957.39 Total $4657.39 Emergency $1440.00 Tire $359.99

Total Assets $6457.38 Liabilities $1550.00

Good luck bro, hope all works well for you. If I might Id like to make a recommendation or two here. I don't know a lot about leasing however I have watched 2 guys on YouTube that seem to have some great pointers on fuel purchase and time management. One of em is a prime lease driver by the name of Mark Staite-videos on fuel purchasing makes sense to me. The other guy is TrainerJames2013, he has vids on lots of things and seems to be a decent guy.

Anyway, I wish you the best and stay safe above all else.

Brian, It seems to me that you are already married to your truck. You have already spent 3+ weeks out. Anytime you spend at home is negative money, because you have fixed expenses that keep on going. You also said that you haven't seen a pay check yet. You are very fortunate to have a co-driver who seems to like life on the road. How much bonus money have you given him so far? Don't get me wrong....I'm not putting you down. I hope you succeed. It just seems to me that the extra stress of owning your own truck/company is not worth it.

Tommy and Gladiator Thanks for the support,

Gladiator to answer your question yes I am married to my truck. I won't sugar coat the obvious, owning and operating your own business is more than a full time job. Though if I opened any other type of business would it in fact be any different? The answer is no it wouldn't. After owning my own business previously I completely understood the huge amount of time it would take on my personal life. I have two grown children and a very understanding girlfriend that allows me to devote my time on this business. My girlfriends profession has her traveling 8 months out of the year anyway so it's not as if she's waiting at home for me. Also after being together 22 years I think I can safely say it isn't going to be a problem.

You mentioned your concern on not having had a paycheck yet, if I was an employee I would be very much concerned with that fact and probably would have quit by now, but I am not I own the company, To be successful I must have two critical items A) A Business Plan and B) Working Capital. So far I have written a 5 year plan that not only includes the trucking side of the business. It also includes plans to invest money in other areas in order to grow the company. So many people fall into a trap by taking everything they make in their company as if it were their personal piggybank. When freight slows down no more paycheck, no money to pay your bills, and eventually the business will fail.

So to be fair lets look at the facts, In the start of the company I invested $5000 dollars. Since my first day of business to now I have been able to repay myself $3450 dollars. So if you look at it like a paycheck I've paid myself $1150 a week for the first 3 weeks. Also I have put roughly 4500.00 in my business bank account and over $1700 dollars in an emergency account. That money is in the companies operating account so in fact it is my money. As far as my co-driver and how he is compensated that is between him and I and wish not to discuss the details. But I assure you that he is very happy right now on our agreement.

This is only my first month and I am prepared for many more long work periods until I feel comfortable with taking more time off. I hope to show people that if you invest your companies money carefully in the future you will be able to take time off without the burden of worrying about the truck payment and such. Sacrifice now reap the rewards later. I know I will make mistakes I am by no means perfect. I just like to be prepared. Also by writing this hopefully it will deter people from leasing if they cannot afford the sacrifies.