ericmoss37
Seasoned Expediter
Ground is improving, but they still are cheap. They are investing a lot more into the contractors now. I get $4500 dollar bonus every three months for owning four trucks. I just got my bonus yesterday. 
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Fleet Owner Blues
- Thread starter ericmoss37
- Start date
I've been a fleet owner at Fedex Ground for two years now and I make enough to pay my bills and have a little fun. I was disapointed with my earnings so I turned to Expediting. I signed on with Panther a few weeks back. I own a class 7 and class 8 straight truck with 70' sleeper that is loaded. The boxs is 22ft long with lift gate.
My question is do most fleet owners lose sleep at night? I don't know what to tell my new driver. He only grossed $475 this week and he was out all seven days. He did four loads and two of three of them were under 200 miles. He had one big run of 589 miles. He finished the week with 1,100 miles and very unhappy. I am not having him refuse any loads because I want to build up a reputation of reliability and great service. What do other fleet owners do to retain drivers in slow times? I try to tell him that some weeks are going to be better then others and when it's good it's good. When it's bad it's bad, but neither one lasts forever. The driver is frustrated and he does not want to leave me in a bad position because I have been good to him. For those are wondering I pay .45 cents a mile for straight truck and take out the taxes and file for the drivers. They have employee rights and I try to provide them with a benifit plan like I do at my Ground business. I have a friend that understands the business better and he's going to start driving for me in April, so I hope this driver lasts at least that long. I have another guy in orientation because I had a person flake out after going to class at Panther. They had a huge blizzard and he went home and returned to the truck two days later. He said he would not drive it because the powersteering was gone. I had the local TA come down and they told me nothing was wrong with the truck. I never heard from the kid again, so I hope this new guy works out and I can get both of my units on the road.
I have been an owner going on four years now, this business is and will always be a struggle just to make it let alone deal with trying to keep drivers. Every new driver thinks the grass is greenier some where else. I would only hire experienced drivers mainly because they know how the life style is. At least 50% of new drivers quit after six months of trying to make it. As far as I know the drop out rate might be even higher. It's not the free & easy life style like they see on TV.
I have put some serious thought into expanding my business through the years and it's always non-stop issues coming up and just being to keep the bills paid let alone multiply the problem with more trucks. I really dont see the upside to this business and I really regreat buying a new truck last year with a four year contract.
Let alone no work for the last week of Dec to April of the following year before things start to pick-up and two weeks off again for the first two weeks of July. So if you add it up that is only eight months a year to try and make any money, even August last year was not that busy. August is supposed to be the start of the busy season (Yah-Right) Most People I talk to say the same thing about this business.
Fed-Up Custom Critical:
(Wow) They are the worst Company we had worked for, they want a truck on every corner at the owner/operator expence. They are nothing but window dressing, they look good until you walk through the door, followed by Panther who only caters to big fleet owners. It's pretty bad when a recruiter from Fed-up who recruited my Company called me a month ago and she moved over to Panther hopying we would go back? "I'm sorry I told her we are going under just fine without going back to Panther."
Welcome to MexiAmerica land of opportunity for the rich
Garman
Last edited:
Fed-Up Custom Critical:
(Wow) They are the worst Company we had worked for, they want a truck on every corner at the owner/operator expence. They are nothing but window dressing, they look good until you walk through the door, followed by Panther who only caters to big fleet owners. It's pretty bad when a recruiter from Fed-up who recruited my Company called me a month ago and she moved over to Panther hopying we would go back? "I'm sorry I told her we are going under just fine without going back to Panther."
Do you mind me asking which carrier you are signed on with, or are you on your own?