I'm considering hiring a driver for my truck.

If you read this thread: http://www.classadrivers.com/forum/a...ullhaulin.html, then you'll know what I'm doing right now. Meanwhile, my truck is parked in a shed. I'm considering leasing it on with Fikes or any other O/O only company, and then hire a driver for it. He/she will have a lot of freedom driving my truck as they will be choosing their loads and deciding their hometime without any input from me and basically running the truck as an O/O without the headaches of actually being one, and that brings up a concern.

What I'm concerned about is the driver having the all-to-common company driver mentality of "drive the wheels off of it; who cares about the revenue per mile as long as I'm getting miles, miles, miles." If I have a driver choosing cheap loads and driving lots of deadhead miles knowing they're going to get paid no matter what, then I'll be broke in a hurry, and I don't want that. I could pay a % of the load's revenue which would entice a driver to choose higher paying loads. But, I still have the problem of possibly getting a driver that doesn't understand how to calculate deadhead into the equation, that doesn't understand determining freight volume in an area that a load is going into, or that doesn't understand anything that comes with having to drive the truck profitably.

For those of you with drivers, how do you get around these problems? Are you choosing the driver's loads and dispatching them (forced dispatch), or do you make sure they know how to run a truck profitably and then let them do what they want? Do you pay drivers CPM like most other companies, or do you pay them on a percent basis? Are your trucks leased to a carrier, or are you running with your own authority?

 

It's more likely that you'll create major headaches, both physical and financial, for yourself.

 

To start with you cannot give a driver total control over your truck. It won't work and you will wind up losing everything. Some drivers will take care of your equipment, others will not. When you have drivers you are going to have headaches. When you own a truck you are going to have headaches. It is the nature of the business. The driver has no investment at stake, so he will never take care of your equipment the way you will. If it breaks then either you fix it or he goes to the next job. I have had good and bad drivers over the years. I have had a drivers who have embezzled money, sold fuel and one who abandoned my truck. The guy who abandoned my truck was supposed to be a mechanic, yet he got shut down in a weigh station when a proper pre trip would have easily found a couple of things that I could easily have fixed had I known about it before hand. He is the only driver that I have ever had who was shut down for mechanical problems over a 30+ year time period. If you put a driver in your equipment you need to make sure to hire someone who lives near you and get the truck by to be checked every couple of weeks or so. Some won't even bother to check the oil. I can't see ever paying a driver mileage. It is too easy for them to abuse it. It is also more fair to both the owner and driver to pay percentage. That way, when the rates are good and the truck is making more money then the driver can share in those profits. When the economy is soft then you aren't going broke by deadheading so much or paying out more money to a driver than you can afford. Most of the time my drivers have made more on percentage than they would had I paid them mileage.

I usually find loads for my trucks, but have had a few drivers whom I have given parameters if they want to find something on their own. I typically want them to run it past me before taking the load. What sounds like a good load to the driver may not be a good rate for the owner. If you allow the driver to select all of his own loads and decide when he is going home you may find yourself with way too much deadhead and not enough income. I try to get drivers home when they need to be there, but you cannot always make it work. If a driver really has to be home for something and I can't find a load, then I may pay for the deadhead or give him the option of paying for the fuel himself. With the low rates, you cannot just give a driver the keys to the bank. I also found that having your own fuel cards can reduce the potential theft by embezzlement posed by using cash or comchecks, etc., You need to constantly monitor fuel usage. It is much easier to track what your truck is doing and fuel mileage when you use a fuel card. There are probably more drivers who will sell or steal your fuel than any other type of theft, yet it is the easiest to catch. No one said that you had to be intelligent to steal. You can check your trucks computer and see if he has been speeding and whether the truck has been overheating, fuel mileage, etc., If you don't have the means to check your computer the cost is minimal at most engine dealers.

I have a contract that I have all drivers sign. Even with a signed agreement you can still have problems, but it will minimize it. Since I pull flats and steps, my trucks have straps, chains, binders, tarps, etc., I also have an inventory sheet that they sign. If something is missing when they bring the truck back, then they pay for it. It hasn't been much of a problem since I started using an inventory sheet that we both sign. Before, it was difficult to prove that what they had on the truck. A truck can easily have $2,500 or more of chains, etc., that a driver could sell. If you pull a van then it isn't as much of a problem. You could both inspect your truck and have them sign for it and a fuel card, etc., Having a written contract will help both of you and should avoid most misunderstandings. You will find it difficult to make money putting a driver in one truck. You may make a little money for awhile, but a major breakdown can take any profits away very quickly.

Unless you plan on running several trucks you will be much better off driving the truck yourself. If the driver knows enough to run a truck himself then he would likely own one. He would not be driving for someone else. I don't recall how long you have been driving, but you need to spend time in the truck yourself to make sure how things are running and check your fuel mileage. Mileage should not drop significantly when you put a driver in it. If it does then you probably have a driver who is stealing your fuel. You won't know that unless you drive the truck yourself. My trucks are not governed. You may want to consider limiting your top speed on your trucks. Some will do as much as they can get out of the truck. If you check your computer and see if the driver is driving too fast and the fuel mileage is suffering then you may want to consider limiting the top speed. Any truck or engine dealer can do this for you. Some independent shops can also check it for you.

This is a business where it is easy to lose your shirt, especially when you are dealing with drivers. You may get lucky and find a good driver right away. Most will only stay with you a few months and then go to the next company. Keep in mind that on average this industry has a driver turnover rate of somewhere around 136% per year. That is an average. It is higher for some and lower for others, but drivers just move around. Your truck could be sitting for a while between drivers. That means no income when there is no driver and your payments and other expenses continue whether the truck moves or not. So you will need to have enough income to pay for those expenses or be prepared to start driving yourself.

I have had drivers in trucks running my own authority and while leased to a carrier. There isn't much difference in the quality of drivers you find in either case. When you run your authority you will need to find loads for your trucks. With some carriers you will still need to be proactive and find loads for your truck. In either case, this is not a passive investment you make and then wait for the money to roll in. If you expect to make a profit you will need to be very much on top of your truck and what it is doing.

 

Excellent post, GMAN. There's a lot of good information there. I hadn't considered the possibility of hiring a crook. I've heard stories about truck abandonment and theft, but I guess naivety makes me think that it wouldn't happen to me. However, it has happened to GMAN and many others, so it could certainly happen to me.

As I think continue to think about all the negative things that could come about by hiring a driver, maybe it's safer to just leave the truck in storage until I'm ready to pull a bullrack with it this fall. But it would sure be nice for that truck to pay for itself somehow. Although, I suppose it's better to make the truck payment with another job and still have a truck to drive this fall, than to have a driver ruin the truck and I still have a payment but no truck anymore.

I thought about asking some friends if any of them wanted to drive it, but I know of a few friendships and family-ties that have been hurt by business stuff. A guy once told me "Never mix personal and business; if you go work for your best friend, chances are he won't be your best friend much longer."

 

I have known of a few owners who have hired friends or relatives to drive their equipment. As I recall, it has been a mixed bag. Some have made it work and others rue the day when they even considered it. As far as an abandonment is concerned, this is the only time that it has happened. Hopefully, it will also be the last. That is the main reason that I won't hire anyone who doesn't live close to me. I figure that they will bring the equipment back to get home.

 

I think GMAN has this 100%. It should be some sort of sticky.

I remember what I went through dealing with drivers for my truck and my Dad's almost 20 years ago. Like the guy who tried to kick in the door to my apartment after I fired him. Like the guy who parked his truck at home when he wasn't supposed to, then when we came to pull it out of the place he had gotten stuck, he runs into the house, comes out with a rifle & starts shooting at this tree, claiming there were bears in it. Like the driver who got arrested for child molestation and caused a whole bunch of wrath to get directed at us for hiring a pervert even though he was acquitted. Then there was the driver who picked up a hitch hiker (despite a written no riders policy that he had signed) rolled the truck which injured the passenger who promptly sued my Dad. My favorite was the guy who was letting his truck get filthy- except for the top of the hood and the left fender. One day I watched him come in the yard and sure enough- he only washed the top of the hood and the left fender while he had the hood up for his pre-trip. I came out of the office & asked him why.

"Because man, those are the only parts of the truck I see while I'm driving it"

I see what my boss goes through with drivers now- (It hasn't gotten any better, but he brings a lot of his problems on himself).

I can't fathom ever having to deal with the BS again. I'm not sure I ever want to own a truck again.

Even with my present complaints with my current job, it's just too easy to remain a driver.

 

Most people change their perspective when their name is on the door or title.

 

Now that is just hilarious!