First off, it all depends on what board you're on. If you are Linehaul, the FSC is on a sliding cpm scale depending on the national average of fuel. If you are Regional, the FSC is 100% of what was billed to the customer for the load. Regional drivers are also paid 70% of the Linehaul revenue of the load vs the $0.90cpm a Linehaul driver is paid empty and loaded.

You have to watch the equipment you get, and your fuel intake. My '05 Frieghtliner with a Caterpillar ACERT gets near about 7mpg with a low idle percentage - with that I'm making money off of my fuel surcharge.

 

Ok, so what does a typical load pay then? Arrow says the average is $1.22 with the fsc. Does this cover the truck maintenance and repair? Replacement items such as brakes, hoses, belts, tires? Who covers the down time for extended repairs? Have you factored in that your paying all of your own expenses such as medicare, medicaid, social security, health care, retirment? What is coming out for the maintenance and repairs escrow? Are you really taking into account all of your real expenses?

Are you calculating your costs based on the seasonal peaks, or are you taking into account the seasonal lows as well(ie are you using a 2000 mile week for your calculations or a 3000 mile week)? Fuel economy drops off in the winter months due to the winter fuel blends. I typically see a drop of 10%+ in my fuel economy... Are you factoring in realistic fuel projections? If you listening to the carrier tell you about how you get to write everything off... Well that is like saying you should buy something you don't need just because it is on sale and at the end of the year you get a rebate for a portion of that cost! You cannot rely on the tax man to bail you out.

I am not trying to be negative, but trying to get you to look hard at these numbers and possibly get you to ask yourself some questions. None of us wants to be talking to you this time next year about how that lease deal was a bad deal because you didn't make it past March/April due to slow freight, cheap freight, a truck problem, and a company that could care less because they managed to get you to work for them that long without any expenses out of their own pocket. IE, free labor and free truck for that period of time. You see your doing all the heavy lifting. If your going to do all the heavy lifting why not buy your own truck and do it for yourself, and you won't have to settle for cheap frieght????

You see the company has no truck payment while you lease, no insurance payment while you lease, no obligations for employee contributions like health benefits, or social security while you lease... You see they get a FREE ride while you lease. And you wonder why they are selling you on the idea of the lease????

Well chew on this one. Go into the OO forum and ask our successful seasoned vetrans, What is the minimum you will haul a load for? I bet 99.99% of them will tell you that they wouldn't start the truck for $1.22 a mile even without the FSC let alone for say .90 cpm and a $1.22 with a FSC. So why is it such a great deal for someone in a lease to basically have all the same expenses as a OO, but haul for a fraction of the money that a true OO will haul for? Something isn't right. Several of these seasoned OO's own their trucks outright and don't have those massive truck payments and they wouldn't haul a load for the rates your willing to take!

I hope you rethink the lease. BOL at Arrow.

Longsnowsm

 

longsnowsm,

I understand your comments fully, and if I had more time at the moment, I'd address them all fully and with as much thought as you've obviously put into your reply. I will try to as soon as I can.

However, I did not come into this forum to whine about lack of freight or poor pay or how I'm getting shafted in the lease. This thread was actually about Orientation.

I also appreciate the wisdom by the "elders" of the O/O community, but for some of us, buying through a company is the only way to go. I myself don't encourage anyone to go that route if they are able to go into the O/O side with a good business head and enough credit to work with a bank, but if you compare Arrow's program with many of the others, they stand out as a much greater shot at "making it". It's not foolproof, nothing in life or trucking is. Yes, your margin of success is slim, and you have to be blessed with a little bit of luck and some good freight - but if you get a copy of the information and compare it to many of the larger companies with similar lease programs, you have an extra step up at keeping yourself afloat.

 

So what you are saying is if you compare all the bad apples in the basket there may be just one that has a little skin left on it to shine? You may be right that Arrow has the best lease deal out of all of them. But what are you comparing it too? Are you saying instead of taking 6 months to go bankrupt you can outlast the others and make it to 9 months before you go belly up? I am not trying to bash you either, but wake up! You said you didn't have enough time to respond to his post. I remember saying that about 6 years ago myself. You see I leased from Prime. They kept me running so hard I never had time to sit down and really figure out what I was making. One day after about 6 months on the road with them I finally had the time. After doing all my calculations I realized what a huge mistake I made. I immediately informed my dispatcher that I was heading to Springfield to turn the truck in. When I handed over the keys it felt like the weight of the whole world was lifted off my shoulders. Needless to say I now work a local job, get paid by the hour, and have benefits, 401k the whole works. I am home daily and make more than I did running for Prime killing myself. And if you really want to compare the numbers Prime and Arrow are within pennies of each other. Think again, are you really doing the right thing?

 

I just read you blog that you already turned your truck back in. Don't fret. It was probably the best decision you made in the last 30 days. Good luck to you.