more info on bolt

[underdog777]

i need the info on bolt.like how they pay after you do the runs,how long it takes to get paid.also if they have program like panther where they load a percent on comdata card after you pick up or drop off.and if they have a insurance company they use for the trucks on with there company.or is it better to have your ownand anything else that might be helpful .and any charges they have weekly like qc and ins.thanks for any input

 

[Jack_Berry]

i need the info on bolt.like how they pay after you do the runs,how long it takes to get paid.

also if they have program like panther where they load a percent on comdata card after you pick up or drop off.

and if they have a insurance company they use for the trucks on with there company.or is it better to have your ownand anything else that might be helpful .and any charges they have weekly like qc and ins.thanks for any input

2-3 weeks later if i remember.
you can get fuel upfront not sure if payment on comdata
transport ins was the carrier i used

actually calling anne m and asking these questions get real good answers.

 

[RLENT]

2-3 weeks later if i remember.

Loads are paid the 2nd Friday after the end of the week that the load was run in - IOW, taking the current month as an example:

Let's say you run all this coming week - November 2nd thru the 8th (this coming Sunday) - provided you have delivered your loads and submitted your stamped BOL's as proof of delivery (either via Tripak Scan, Transflo, fax, or email) by midnight on Sunday/Monday (the 8th/9th), the monies owed to you for those loads would be paid (via direct deposit, into your bank account) on Friday, November 20th, 2009.

Having your paperwork, for any given week, in by midnight on Sunday is critical.

On the advances, I don't really remember what all was explained about that in orientation .... I know it's done thru CommData - but it's been several years, and since I don't use load advances I'm really not all that familiar.

 

[LDB]

I thought that was a different company not Bolt doing the 15% theft on pay.

 

[RLENT]

When I was there, (5 or so months ago): Three weeks before your first settlement pay .... You need to call and talk to someone...............things do change.

I wrote what I wrote to clearly illustrate exactly how the pay system works, in terms of when you get paid vs. when you run a load. The other posters comments, quoted above - I believe - are somewhat inaccurate:

If, in fact, one started and ran a load on Monday, November 2nd, one would be paid for that load on November 20th, as I stated. That is 2 plus, but not quite 3, weeks.

If the poster above feels that my representations are inaccurate, please by all means, feel free to illustrate an actual scenario with real dates - rather than just some glib inaccurate generality.

To illustrate the concept a little further, if one were to start and accept their 1st load on a Friday - say Friday, November 6th, the pay for that load would pay out on Friday, November 20th - which is exactly 2 weeks after the load was initially picked up, and actually less than 2 weeks after the load was completed.

 

[RLENT]

I thought that was a different company not Bolt doing the 15% theft on pay.

..... ahh ..... theft ?

Leo .... I'm truly surprised that you of all people would say something like this ....

What - do you figure that pay/load advances are compulsory ... and that individuals are forced to take them, as a requirement of their contract ?

As far as I can see, that would be the only possible way one could consider it theft. Nearly usurious ..... well, maybe .... but then on the other hand, have ya seen what the credit card companies are up to lately ?

Or perhaps you figure that an advance is just owed by one party to another .... before the second party has actually even provided a valuable service - such as hauling a load to a particularly destination - that would require to first party to pay something to exchange for that service ?

Last time I looked, it was sort of fundamental principal of the free market, and the concept of private property, that individuals and companies are allowed to do what they want with their own property .... and that one just doesn't automatically owe something to another, unless that other has done something in exchange.

Given the fact that most carriers are not paid instantaneously for loads they run and deliver, the cost of financing accounts receivable, and the cost of any advance program that a carrier might make available to contractors, is a very real cost .... one way or another. And it's up to any given individual or company to decide whether they provide such a program, and if so, at what cost.

If one is not happy with paying a particular rate for the use of someone else's money, then I would think it would behoove one to arrange one's own financial affairs in such a manner to, at least at a minimum, not be dependent on that type of an arrangement.

This conversation has refreshed my memory somewhat about the pay advance program as it was discussed during my orientation: I initially did remember that pay advances for cargo vans and Sprinters were charged a higher percentage (than straights and E-units) - although I could not remember the exact percentage involved - since, as I stated, I have never used it - so I avoided commenting on something I was unsure of the exact particulars of - now however, I will:

From what I recall, the advance program for straight trucks and E-units is somewhat different - in that one has the option to elect at the time of signing of your lease contract to either go on the pay advance program or not. If you elect to go on it, I believe the cost is a couple of percentage points.

 

[ConfusedMuse]

Wow 15% That seems a tad steep. You seriously have money taken off your advance to run their freight? Sorry it just seems wrong but, perhaps Leo and i are missing something here, do you think, Leo?

 

[guido4475]

I worked for them in 2001, didnt care too much for the management there.Hopefully things have changed since then.And the rates were terrible then, also.

 

[fastrod]

Wow 15% That seems a tad steep.

That is more than a tad steep but it is just one way for a small company to prop up there bottom line off of the backs of the O/Os working for them.

 

[LDB]

What I figure is the amount of pay one is owed for the run is the amount one is owed. If the payer wants to offer money in advance that is their option. I don't believe it's right to offer a job that pays $100 in two weeks on payday or we'll pay you $85 today. That's what this amounts to.

Next will be the argument they are loaning money since the customer won't be paying for 2 weeks. Well, I can't argue that point although charing 15% for 2 weeks time is rather excessive since that would amount to $390 in one year per $100 of pay. That sort of interest rate is usury and usury is just another word for theft isn't it?

 

[comet_4298]

RLENT,Like I said,(((((You need to call and talk to someone)))).when I was in class, I was told they hold 3wks,things might have changed and yes
I was in a sprinter van.

 

[OntarioVanMan]

Pay advances should NOT be allowed IMO....If you can't afford to run you should not be in this business...It is a user pay system and you pay the piper when you have your hand out for money you have not even earned yet.

Waiting 3-4 weeks should be not a problem if one is properly set-up to run in this business....

 

[RLENT]

What I figure is the amount of pay one is owed for the run is the amount one is owed.

That is true - however, one isn't owed anything ...... until one actually completes the run.

If the payer wants to offer money in advance that is their option.

Yup - it definitely is - certainly, no one is owed it.

Just as it is their option to decide what, if anything, they want to charge for it.

I don't believe it's right to offer a job that pays $100 in two weeks on payday or we'll pay you $85 today. That's what this amounts to.

So you figure that someone ought to loan you their money for free .... ?

Good deal ..... if you can get it. Those offers are becoming few and far between these days.

Next will be the argument they are loaning money since the customer won't be paying for 2 weeks.

That isn't an argument - it's a fact. (and in some cases, two weeks might be a best case scenario ....)

There isn't some magic "advance fairy" that comes around and sprinkles the company coffers with greenbacks before the customer actually remits payment .... nor do many carriers have printing presses running down in their basements with sheets of Benjamins flying off.

Well, I can't argue that point although charing 15% for 2 weeks time is rather excessive since that would amount to $390 in one year per $100 of pay.

No argument here from me - which is why I never have, and never will, use the advance program for cargo vans and Sprinters.

However, I recognize that it is their right, at least at this time and place, to charge whatever they feel like for the use of their money - no one has (or should have) the right to compel the use of the property (money) of another for free, or for an amount which is not acceptable to them.

I also recognize that there is inherent PR liability for them to do so at a rate that most would find excessive - that possibly outweighs whatever dollars it produces by casting them in a less than favorable light.

Further (and much more importantly) I realize that as a small businessman, I am responsible (or should be) for providing my own working capital to operate my business - it isn't up to my carrier to do that for me.

That sort of interest rate is usury and usury is just another word for theft isn't it?

No - it really isn't.

Look up the origins of the word - originally, it meant the charging of any kind or any amount of interest on money lent (which in other places and earlier times was not even lawful - in any amount whatsoever)

Later, it came to mean charging excessively high interest ..... whatever that is .....

Of course, the definition of "excessively high" varies according to the time, place, and customs of those involved.

 

[OntarioVanMan]

Rlent..your inbox is full..I can not send you a PM!!

 

[RLENT]

Rlent..your inbox is full..I can not send you a PM!!

Fixed .....

 

[pjjjjj]

If you are an employee, you have a regular payday and you must wait until then to receive your pay for past service.

It is common for contractors in other businesses to demand partial payment upon agreeing to do the work, which would usually cover the outright expenses the contractor would have to shell out of his own pocket, with the balance being paid after the job is completed.

I understand what some are saying here, it's probably not a great sign if your business is not backed up well enough to be able to complete a load without being paid for part of the load in advance; and it's obviously going to be more pleasant to receive the entire load pay afterwards, knowing the expenses (fuel) have already been paid.

The reality is however, that a contractor can be out of pocket thousands of dollars for fuel, before being paid for those loads that required all that fuel. The reality is also that for one reason or another, through no specific fault of their own, many may have depleted their backup and/or operating resources.

I've never heard of a roofing contractor (or any other type of contractor) being told by the business they're contracting to do a roof job for, that sure, they can have a partial 'advance' on the monies payable, however 15% will be deducted. Most roofers, or any other contractors, wouldn't be willing to do that job under those circumstances, or at the very least, they'd boost their charges to their customer by 15% to cover it. Yet drivers are not at liberty to do any such thing.

Perhaps someone with more patience can figure this out more accurately, but off the top of my head, if you are being charged 15% to get money 2+ weeks in advance of when you would normally get it, that's about 1% per day, which is about 365% per year interest. To my recollection, aren't the credit card companies charging more like 15 - 28% per year or 1.5% per month?

I realize that it costs the carriers money to provide the money in advance to their drivers, however, why shouldn't it cost them? Why are the drivers who are actually paying for the fuel, expected to be the ones to also pay the advance charges? I'm sure that when the carriers bill their shippers, like any other business, they are taking into consideration the period of time between billing and actually receiving payment.

Sometimes it just boggles my mind thinking about all the things the drivers don't have going for them in the trucking world, and yet there are so many willing to accept it as is.

 

[CharlesD]

The way I see it, an advance is something some carriers do out of the goodness of their hearts, or for a profit as appears to be the case there, but I don't believe it is something that should be expected out of a carrier. A carrier doesn't owe a driver squat until after a load is delivered.

 

[davekc]

I think a carrier charging 15 percent is ridiculous. A factoring company would charge a fraction of that for the entire amount.
I think a carrier should have a obligation to provide that service.
That doesn't mean they should, but that would be my expectation. If not, it would be another strike of "why do I need the carrier"?

 

[LDB]

Delivered a load on Tue at 1630 earning $1000 in the process. That $1000 will be paid on the Fri 17 days later. POD money if taken would be $400. To have $60 of it taken away is ridiculous. I'm not telling anyone to take any money prior to payday whenever that is. Ideally everyone would be able to always run without getting any money prior to payday. Real world doesn't follow the ideal. Real world is full of Murphy. Getting that $400 isn't getting anything that wasn't earned.

I also never said anyone was owed or should expect something for nothing. It's tiresome when some people always want to put words into your mouth. I also don't care as much about the original meaning of usury as I do about the currently accepted meaning of it. No, it's not an exact synonym for theft but it's at least a synonum for improper and excessive interest rates. I suspect in the current economy people would consider 6% a reasonable interest rate, perhaps even an upper level rate. That would be $6 per $100 per year. That works out to 50 cents per $100 per month. Rounded off that would be one quarter per $100 per pay period for most expediters. For that $400 that would be one dollar not sixty dollars.

The same argument that says every operator should be able to run under their own money could be made from the other side of the coin that every company should be able to cover POD's. At the very least they should be able to do it for a one dollar reasonable fee not a $60 ridiculous borderline thievery fee. If they can't do it at a reasonable fee then they shouldn't do it at all.

 

[davekc]

Same theory as charging maintenance, lease rates or anything else on a trailer to haul the carriers freight. IMO........a total joke. Better off charging a higher freight rate and going to lease your own.