Need info. on A. Blair

[idtrans]

I sure would like to see his comic...err logbook, I think it would be classified as fiction if it were in the library.....j/s.

You don't have to run a logbook under 10k gvw. All I can say is the ablair rates must be real low because I see and hear of rates people are hauling freight for and **** I will stay home for those rates and just live off of my real estate I own.

I talked to a lady in Laredo a few months ago driving a CV and she told me the company she works for "I won't name her company" got her a load to laredo at .77cpm and then they had just dispatched her out at .45cpm and honestly wow that combined is the minimum i would drive to laredo for maybe I will drop to a $1 now but no less no way !

I am lucky that I own real estate also so my income is not only from driving. The 1st of the month is my income and the the rest of the month is a road trip.

 

[chetjester]

Several years ago while driving a straight truck I would get over 5,000 miles in a week. I was the master of creative log books. I no longer do that. It's unsafe and I am contrite.

Blair only does teams in straight trucks now because they too understand the danger and illegality of running too many hours. And, their loads are always more than a solo driver can do legally.

I like reading everyone's opinion. Different strokes for different folks. I was asked about A. Blair and I replied. You don't have to like what I wrote. I love what I do. I've tried several times to leave driving to go back to network and database administration. I can no longer sit in an office. I've left and driven the "big rigs" and couldn't make enough money. I want my freedom. It's the best semi retirement I could hope for.

 

[Turtle]

That $1 fee for loading the card, Comdata isn't charging that, either. There is no fee to load money on a card.

The $1 fee to transfer money from the Comdata card to the bank (your debit card) is an actual Comdata fee.

The $2.85 transaction fee to buy fuel is far and away the highest Comdata transaction fee I've ever heard of for fuel. Panther's is extraordinarily high at $1.50, actually. I think there's an extra dollar in that $2.85 floating around somewhere.

 

[Pilgrim]

CMP is CMP, no matter how many miles you run. If you make less per mile, you don't make it up in volume, you simply make less per mile for a lot more miles. You end up working longer and harder for the same money.

170,000 miles from April until the end of December is an average of more than 4300 miles per week, every week, for thirty nine weeks. That's an average of 72 hours behind the wheel every week. That's more than 10 hours a day, every day, for 273 straight days.

I'd suggest that anyone considering Blair or any other company for that matter, re-read Turtle's first paragraph and do the necessary number crunching. You had better know your cost per mile and how to accurately determine it. You have to start there to find your profit - if there is any. I know these guys used to pay cargo vans .65 per mile with little or NO fuel surcharge. Personally, I wouldn't even put the key in the ignition for that but hopefully they pay more now.

Regardless of how many miles you drive, if you're not making enough profit to maintain a decent standard of living plus cover all business expenses and put away money in a reserve account to use for emergencies you're wasting your time. When I say "cover all business expenses" I'm including the truck payment (if you have one) or the amount you deduct from each settlement to put toward purchasing the next truck. Don't be fooled by the increased gross revenue you're accumulating by driving a lot of miles - it's the profit margin that counts. From what I've heard over the years, I'm inclined to think the best deal with them would be a husband/wife team driving a company straight truck.

 

[idtrans]

I won't say the name of the company but I almost leased onto a company that "HAS NO FEES" but charges the driver for everything including settlements. heck for a $900 pay out they charge $12 for that pay so if you ran lets say 4 $900 loads that week they pulled $48 in administrative fees.

Forget that noise.

 

[x06col]

Chetjester, Didn't mean to stir up a hornet's nest but I liked what you had to say and thank's for your info. We are just trying to weed out the good company's from the bad.

I know you can run all those miles and still get plenty of rest. (Been there and done it) THANKS!

I don't know what Blair drivers make. Don't care. If they are happy. Good! However I feel the need to respond to a couple of the "whiney" responses in this thread. Ya gotta understand that there are many in this biz that are concerned about withdrawl if they couldn't attend the daily coffee clotch at the truck stop. A person can certainly run some big numbers each week legally but, ya gotta actually do your eleven insteada thinking you are tired at seven. Alot of it is poor time/activity management. For quite a while, I had a steady gig picking up in New Castle, IN at noon on Fri., and delivered to toyota in the LA area Monday morning, running single and completely LEGAL. Reset, load back, and do it all over again. You jes hafta do the windshield time......Many can't, or won't.

On the subject of "financial charges", I'd suggest a gratus MONTH of minimal charges should be plenty of time to get your "business" financial ducks in a row and be able to let the normal "pipe line" take care of their needs. Instead, they "need" to pay the high fees because of their lack of money management skills..

Neither of these driver inabilities is the Carriers fault in my humble oppinion.

 

[OntarioVanMan]

Just ask a popular member what driving for .66 a mile and almost non existent FSC is like? oh sure they'll give you the miles..but who wants to drive like a banshee to do that and who'd want too for little pay...

Oh and who'd you think get loaded first? Since Blair put on them 10 new company sprinters awhile back...the company guy?

Drive LESS make MORE....works for me...

as the Col said...if they are happy...so be it...

 

[chetjester]

Unlike other companies, every truck is re-loaded based on first in - first out after unloading. There is no "First Out" line jumping. O/O's are treated exactly like company drivers.

Remember this, though. Our Sprinters hold 4 pallets (8 double stacked). If you are an O/O with a van that has a sleeper and can only hold 3 pallets, you will be passed over until there is a load that fits on your van.

Somebody tell me how this is unfair.

And stop thinking you know how profitable we are. If you haven't driven for Blair, you know nothing. Give it a break.

 

[moose]

170,000 miles from April until the end of December is an average of more than 4300 miles per week, every week, for thirty nine weeks. That's an average of 72 hours behind the wheel every week. That's more than 10 hours a day, every day, for 273 straight days.

That's nothing...nothing !
take a look here :

Expediters Online.com - The Expedited Freight Information Center

and do the math all over .
no kiden ,I'm telling y'a ,there are 420 days a year .

 

[truck22399]

I am considering going to work for A. Blair. I did a search and they are all old post. Anyone out there working for them now. I am thinking of leasing a Sprinter from them. I have been expediting for 11 yrs and the company I work for is drying up. Will Blair keep me working. (loads) Thanks for any info!

They speak with forked tongue. A Sprinter's maintenance/repair bills are high and will be YOURS, not theirs - run away as fast as you can.

 

[chetjester]

WHAT A BIG BOLD LIE!!!! If it is your van, of course you pay for maintenance. If you can't afford it, don't be an owner operator.

If it is a Blair Sprinter (company driver), you will NEVER pay for anything except fuel, tolls, DEF and rental of the GPS Tracking unit. No lease cost. No insurance cost. No maintenance cost.

If you don't know anything about Blair, stop posting lies.

 

[Dynamite 1]

moose, no mystery, what are you getting at. latest csa carrier score as of 12/17/10 shows an alert and possible intervention in unsafe driving 83.3 %

 

[BillChaffey]

Mr. Jester:
Espar heating systems aren't inexpensive Do you take it with you when you leave their truck?.
Also 3,400 miles a week is a little over 600 miles a day. At .66 per mile your up to $2,838.00 minus maybe $500.00 for fuel. I don't know how much else your costs are, but it seems to me a pretty good deal. If you like to drive.

 

[chetjester]

You're darn right it is expensive. $1749 with installation. But, worth every penny.

I had to make a commitment to myself that I would stay in the van before I bought the unit. I wasn't sure when I first started in March, as I had always been a straight truck or T/T driver. But, I learned to love my Sprinter and made the plunge in the late fall for the heater. When Blair thinks this 2010 van has too many miles on it, I will move the heater to the new one they give me. In the meantime, this is my home on the road and I consider it my van even though it belongs to the company.

I've also insulated the walls, added an aux battery bank and some other practical things inside the van. I just love it. I want to be buried in this van.

Thanks for asking.

 

[xiggi]

If getting home was not important to me I would not hesitate to drive one of their sprinters. The pay for driving one of theirs is not necessarily low when compared to driving for an owner in a sprinter at any other company. I would not recommend leasing a sprinter I owned on with them.

What Chet said about long runs about rest was not my experience. I always had time to sleep on long runs, Cali, Texas, Florida it didn't matter I could build up sleep time while driving my normal 65mph on interstates.

 

[OntarioVanMan]

If getting home was not important to me I would not hesitate to drive one of their sprinters. The pay for driving one of theirs is not necessarily low when compared to driving for an owner in a sprinter at any other company. I would not recommend leasing a sprinter I owned on with them.

What Chet said about long runs about rest was not my experience. I always had time to sleep on long runs, Cali, Texas, Florida it didn't matter I could build up sleep time while driving my normal 65mph on interstates.

Thank you Xiggi....

Could you give us just one reason why not?

 

[chetjester]

Thanks, Xiggi. It's not non stop driving. There are occasions when it seems like there is no time for rest. But good route planning will always allow some rest time.

 

[RoadDawgg]

Maybe I'm weird, but I never liked sitting. Sometimes I needed a break, and I always told the company, and made myself unavailable to charge me back up, usually in the form of my 36 hr shutdown(just cause it's not required, no reason you can't take a 36 hr shutdown in a van if you want). But I typically sat enough that I was always bustin' to go. I would take a butt-ton of miles that pay so-so, as opposed to a butt-ton of waiting for 1200 miles that pay pretty good any time.

But they would absolutely have keep me loaded and the wheels turning, no ifs, ands, or buts about it.

I didn't get into this cause I like the relaxing pace. I got my CDL because I want to MOVE.

Now 137k might be a bit ambitious for me, but right about the 100k mark sounds sweet.

Can you tell me more about how don't have to try and sleep much with a load on? That's why I got out of vans. I don't sleep well upright.

Thanks!
Christopher

 

[chetjester]

My explanation on sleeping.

If I am so loaded that all I have is the front seat, my goal is to arrive at the consignee as soon as possible to attempt to be unloaded. If I were filled up and had to wait several days to deliver, it becomes "motel time". I'm so lucky as I live in Arlington, TX just south of I-20. So many of my loads take me close to home. So, if I'm fully loaded from Laredo going north, and I know for sure when I can deliver, I can stop at the house, shower, eat, nap or whatever and then head out to my delivery thus avoiding the hassle of sleeping standing up.

It's all in the planning.

 

[moose]

This is not a safety issue ,nor it is bad business.

4 skids in a sprinters?
those loads belong on a liftgated St. truck. by offering this services in mass numbers, the freights is being taken from under the wheels of a quarter of a million dollars truck.
surly this is NOT hauling cheap freight ,nor driving rates to the Challengers deep.
but that's just an innovative business.
placing team drivers on a long back to back loads, with 4 skids onbord, not only donot allow for the co-drivers to get ANY sleep ,but then those drivers switch ,and the drivers that just spent 14 hours on the jump seat is holding the wheel for the next leg of the trip. this can go on and on till there's no freight to haul. we are all happy to be sharing the roads.
surly this is a common safe way of hauling expedited freight.
but that's just another innovative business .
placing 4 skids in a sprinter, allow for ample personal belonging to be carried. way more then 2 strangers will ever need. not only because the lack of storage room ,but mainly do to the limited weight allowance.
surly this is a common practice industry wide to retain happy drivers.
but that's just an innovative business.
placing a non same household teams that do not even know each other in the fully loaded sprinter ,is NOT asking for troubles .that lead driver will never abuse his power. and that 2nd grade citizen will always be happy, whether he gets pay by the mil.HE drives ,or by a %tage of what the lead driver makes. note that the carrier providing guidance and helps babysitting.
surly many Owners out there prefer non same households team.
but that's just an innovative business.

with all of the above said, they provide great business opportunity for St. Trucks O/O teams. there is a rezone why many EXPERIENCED expediters teams choose to be leased on to them. to the point that (as far as i know) they are the ONLY expedite carrier to demand a TWO YEARS VERIFIABLE CDL EXPERIENCE ! definitely leading the way .just wish they lived up to my standards of overall business practice.
then we can talk!