Job Offer

For all you folks that have been wondering about what I am up to it is time to update how things are going.

Some of you might remember Steve Marshall, he is a retire LEO from Va Beach VA that was my first student trainee when I was driving for Prime.

He left Prime back in I believe March of 2014 to pursue another job locally here in the Norfolk Va area (that is where we both live, referred to as the Hampton Roads area). He started pulling containers out of the port of Norfolk driving for an O/O then decided to buy his own truck. He has since been doing so well that he wants to buy a second truck and have me drive it for him.

So after careful consideration, I will take him up on his offer once I get the go ahead from the Dr's to go back to work.

Ernie

As we talked about on the phone. If everything we talked about is 100 % true then it maybe a dream job. Hopefully the papers back up the words.

As we talked about on the phone. If everything we talked about is 100 % true then it maybe a dream job. Hopefully the papers back up the words.

He was showing me the last 10 weeks settlement papers of what he has been doing. He has been averaging about $3000/wk take home after fuel is paid. Of course he still has maintenance, truck payment, etc coming out of that. So even after all that he still keeps a good percentage of the money.

The offer is 50% of what the truck makes after fuel is paid for. So if you take the average of say $2500/wk after fuel, then that still leaves me $1250/wk. I will have to pay my own taxes, but I still have a very nice paycheck every week, and I get home most evenings & weekends.... From my way of thinking, it is a win/win for me.

Ernie

For all you folks that have been wondering about what I am up to it is time to update how things are going.

Some of you might remember Steve Marshall, he is a retire LEO from Va Beach VA that was my first student trainee when I was driving for Prime.

He left Prime back in I believe March of 2014 to pursue another job locally here in the Norfolk Va area (that is where we both live, referred to as the Hampton Roads area). He started pulling containers out of the port of Norfolk driving for an O/O then decided to buy his own truck. He has since been doing so well that he wants to buy a second truck and have me drive it for him.

So after careful consideration, I will take him up on his offer once I get the go ahead from the Dr's to go back to work.

Ernie

That's awesome Ernie. Good luck to you

As we talked about on the phone. If everything we talked about is 100 % true then it maybe a dream job. Hopefully the papers back up the words.

He was showing me the last 10 weeks settlement papers of what he has been doing. He has been averaging about $3000/wk take home after fuel is paid. Of course he still has maintenance, truck payment, etc coming out of that. So even after all that he still keeps a good percentage of the money.

The offer is 50% of what the truck makes after fuel is paid for. So if you take the average of say $2500/wk after fuel, then that still leaves me $1250/wk. I will have to pay my own taxes, but I still have a very nice paycheck every week, and I get home most evenings & weekends.... From my way of thinking, it is a win/win for me.

Ernie

Heck it does not matter what he has to pay out of his part. He should know his numbers well enough to know if he can afford it. The main thing is what you will be making.

I think I will call you tomorrow Ernie. Just thought of something and it might make a difference wether the offer is a good one or not.

I worked for a small outfit with 11 trucks one time. One thing you want to find out about is how he's going to handle repairs and towing when it comes up, because it will. He doesn't have any national accounts or anything so it all has to be paid up front before anyone will provide any services. So if you break down and have to be towed he'll have to send a tow truck, pay for the services, and of course pay the shop before they'll release the truck after repairs. Then you've gotta get to a hotel or get home in the meantime.

And I hate percentage deals. You basically have to trust the business owner to pay you the right percentage without skimming off your earnings. I've seen a lot of business owners start out with good intentions but it all goes down the drain when times get tough and profits get slim. And if things start going negative they'll steal from their own mothers to keep things afloat.

What about health insurance, worker's comp, and disability? Sounds like you're going to be an independent contractor for him if you're paying your own taxes which means you're responsible for all of that also.

And since you're not sleeping away from home you don't get the tax write-off for being away from home. That's like $50/day or so you can't write off with local work.

And the law will soon change where he'll have to have electronic logbooks installed if he doesn't already.

Hopefully it will all work out. Did you try shooting for any LTL jobs? '6 String Rhythm' works for Old Dominion and makes a killing. Gets home every night, awesome benefits, awesome pay, and large company finances backing it all up.

I never knew how nice it was working for the major companies until I worked for a small one. When you take away all those major company perks the job can be a lot tougher. Every little thing that needs to get done is a big hassle and every dollar that has to be spent is like pulling teeth. And of course the great equipment and all those little perks don't exist.

And don't forget, the smaller the company is the more important every driver is. Wait til you want to take a week off and he not only has to eat all that lost revenue but take a loss on top of it to cover fixed costs. When you work for a company with 5,000 trucks they don't miss you when you sit. But you're going to be 50% of his entire company. If you take time off he goes into the red no matter how hard he decides to run to try to make up for it.

I mean, there's really not much risk in it for you. It's worth a shot. But I've seen this kind of setup many times. When money gets tight, and it will, the friendships go down the drain and the owner cranks up the pressure to run, run, run as he's hanging on by a thread. The heck with the logbook , the heck with repairs, "I don't have your check this week but I will next week", "I need you to take an extra run or two this week"....that kinda thing.

Time will tell. Hopefully it will all work out.

I worked for a small outfit with 11 trucks one time. One thing you want to find out about is how he's going to handle repairs and towing when it comes up, because it will. He doesn't have any national accounts or anything so it all has to be paid up front before anyone will provide any services. So if you break down and have to be towed he'll have to send a tow truck, pay for the services, and of course pay the shop before they'll release the truck after repairs. Then you've gotta get to a hotel or get home in the meantime.

And I hate percentage deals. You basically have to trust the business owner to pay you the right percentage without skimming off your earnings. I've seen a lot of business owners start out with good intentions but it all goes down the drain when times get tough and profits get slim. And if things start going negative they'll steal from their own mothers to keep things afloat.

What about health insurance, worker's comp, and disability? Sounds like you're going to be an independent contractor for him if you're paying your own taxes which means you're responsible for all of that also.

And since you're not sleeping away from home you don't get the tax write-off for being away from home. That's like $50/day or so you can't write off with local work.

And the law will soon change where he'll have to have electronic logbooks installed if he doesn't already.

Hopefully it will all work out. Did you try shooting for any LTL jobs? '6 String Rhythm' works for Old Dominion and makes a killing. Gets home every night, awesome benefits, awesome pay, and large company finances backing it all up.

I never knew how nice it was working for the major companies until I worked for a small one. When you take away all those major company perks the job can be a lot tougher. Every little thing that needs to get done is a big hassle and every dollar that has to be spent is like pulling teeth. And of course the great equipment and all those little perks don't exist.

And don't forget, the smaller the company is the more important every driver is. Wait til you want to take a week off and he not only has to eat all that lost revenue but take a loss on top of it to cover fixed costs. When you work for a company with 5,000 trucks they don't miss you when you sit. But you're going to be 50% of his entire company. If you take time off he goes into the red no matter how hard he decides to run to try to make up for it.

I mean, there's really not much risk in it for you. It's worth a shot. But I've seen this kind of setup many times. When money gets tight, and it will, the friendships go down the drain and the owner cranks up the pressure to run, run, run as he's hanging on by a thread. The heck with the logbook , the heck with repairs, "I don't have your check this week but I will next week", "I need you to take an extra run or two this week"....that kinda thing.

Time will tell. Hopefully it will all work out.

Very interesting. All your points make complete sense.

I am new to trucking but I have a family member who owns his own company and he was only going to pay me 20 percent and a friend of mine offered me the same deal to me it seems like a lot to give up when he has to make truck payments insurance and so much more to keep a truck on the road I hope it's as good as he says it is

As we talked about on the phone. If everything we talked about is 100 % true then it maybe a dream job. Hopefully the papers back up the words.

He was showing me the last 10 weeks settlement papers of what he has been doing. He has been averaging about $3000/wk take home after fuel is paid. Of course he still has maintenance, truck payment, etc coming out of that. So even after all that he still keeps a good percentage of the money.

The offer is 50% of what the truck makes after fuel is paid for. So if you take the average of say $2500/wk after fuel, then that still leaves me $1250/wk. I will have to pay my own taxes, but I still have a very nice paycheck every week, and I get home most evenings & weekends.... From my way of thinking, it is a win/win for me.

Ernie

Yeah, but you also have to pay for your own health insurance where big companies usually include that for their employees (dental and all that too).

I worked for a small outfit with 11 trucks one time. One thing you want to find out about is how he's going to handle repairs and towing when it comes up, because it will. He doesn't have any national accounts or anything so it all has to be paid up front before anyone will provide any services. So if you break down and have to be towed he'll have to send a tow truck, pay for the services, and of course pay the shop before they'll release the truck after repairs. Then you've gotta get to a hotel or get home in the meantime.

And I hate percentage deals. You basically have to trust the business owner to pay you the right percentage without skimming off your earnings. I've seen a lot of business owners start out with good intentions but it all goes down the drain when times get tough and profits get slim. And if things start going negative they'll steal from their own mothers to keep things afloat.

What about health insurance, worker's comp, and disability? Sounds like you're going to be an independent contractor for him if you're paying your own taxes which means you're responsible for all of that also.

And since you're not sleeping away from home you don't get the tax write-off for being away from home. That's like $50/day or so you can't write off with local work.

And the law will soon change where he'll have to have electronic logbooks installed if he doesn't already.

Hopefully it will all work out. Did you try shooting for any LTL jobs? '6 String Rhythm' works for Old Dominion and makes a killing. Gets home every night, awesome benefits, awesome pay, and large company finances backing it all up.

I never knew how nice it was working for the major companies until I worked for a small one. When you take away all those major company perks the job can be a lot tougher. Every little thing that needs to get done is a big hassle and every dollar that has to be spent is like pulling teeth. And of course the great equipment and all those little perks don't exist.

And don't forget, the smaller the company is the more important every driver is. Wait til you want to take a week off and he not only has to eat all that lost revenue but take a loss on top of it to cover fixed costs. When you work for a company with 5,000 trucks they don't miss you when you sit. But you're going to be 50% of his entire company. If you take time off he goes into the red no matter how hard he decides to run to try to make up for it.

I mean, there's really not much risk in it for you. It's worth a shot. But I've seen this kind of setup many times. When money gets tight, and it will, the friendships go down the drain and the owner cranks up the pressure to run, run, run as he's hanging on by a thread. The heck with the logbook , the heck with repairs, "I don't have your check this week but I will next week", "I need you to take an extra run or two this week"....that kinda thing.

Time will tell. Hopefully it will all work out.

I just learned alot from this rant/analysis. Thanks brother.