Nervous newbie

[BigStickJr]

I agreed with Kip Life all the way through the first paragraph.

Maybe Josh likes the new, more comfortable, more efficient trucks.
They make more sense for teams .
Own authority. We see people do it all the time. They’re excited at first, then one day they wake up and say it isn’t worth it. Probably depends on how many no pays you get, how your last audit went, etc.
Some people thrive, they live it. Maybe Kip multi tasks better than some. Maybe Kip thinks trucks 24-7. Maybe Kip thrives under pressure.
It takes a special person to work Kips business model. I’m glad it’s working for him.
I definitely wouldn’t recommend it for a rookie or someone that has a life or outside interests.

 

[BigStickJr]

Kip, not piling on, but want to point out something a lot of people miss.
You mentioned you have no trouble coming out of Michigan at $1.90-$2.00.
That’s cool for a Fedex/Panther/Landstar Truck.
For a guy under his own authority, wouldn’t that be like $1.30 to a guy at a carrier ?
How would going to an ELD affect your income? Not everyone wants to exceed the 11/14/70.
I imagine you eat all your deadhead, and have other expenses that a leased operator doesn’t think of.
I’m just pointing out a flaw of any forum.
Some people talk gross. Some people talk net.
Some people flip between the two to suit their story. And some are carriers with different cost structures.
It’s hard for people to get a true picture of any situation.

 

[Kip life]

BigstickJr

good questions -You are right , if comfort on the road is important to you ,then by all means get a truck with all bells and whistles. but if making $ is your primary goal , get a decent straight and customize it to fit your needs

-You are right. I think trucks 24-7, Run hard as an owner operator.I personally find most drivers, lacking that killer instinct and drive to move from driving to fleet owner..most want to be comfortable in someones else truck, have all the luxury at someone else's dime

-Michigan is a good load area .You get many load to NC /SC/ TN /OH/IL /IN that you can do within regulation and pay well 1.9-2.0 is typical for my truck in that route.. I rather sit than take less and of course i am not taking 2.0 going 250 miles or 400 miles ... No ..we talking 600-1000 miles runs
-I dont know how people who get 1.30 a mile pay their bills. I Have never carried a load that pays that low so i dont know.

-Deadhead 150 is within limits.. you can do that within Michigan without a big deal

-currently dont have own authority but friends who do, remain with much more share of the cake than i do when leased to a carrier .

My gross so far in 2018 : north of $70,XXX Q1 alone $ 58,XXX and Its not a team and not a fancy truck with a sleeper

 

[BigStickJr]

Nice numbers.

 

[DBenton]

OMG... The dog situation is similar to what happened to our dog about a week ago.
We have a crate under our bunk that holds loose bottles of water and bottled drinks. Our dog went under table and tried to jump from seat to floor. He missed and fell into crate. He is so sore on his ribcage and under his arms. He has gotten better but still have to be careful when we pick him up.

On another note we took our first trip into New York. The load picked up in Newark Delaware and had 4 additional stops. Mind you there is no place to park overnight so we got a hotel room two nights in a row. The trip out of New York was a Brooklyn New York. Very tight and crazy traffic. Made it through and delivered around Boston, MA. No loads in MA that were worth a damn. Got an offer over C-link to go to Jamaica, NY. Pick up Monday and deliver in MA on same day. Told my husband, no more. Going west and getting out of here. No more NY for awhile.

I hope everyone has a blessed weekend and a profitable week. Hubby has a birthday on Tuesday so maybe a romantic dinner at Country Pride or Iron Skillet! Lol

Godspeed!

 

[BigStickJr]

You can tell when a dog is family.
He has arms.
Most have 4 legs.

 

[DBenton]

BigStickJr.

Lol! Yep!

 

[Josh]

Well, the gathering finished up a few hours ago. Had a pretty good time and met some cool people.

There was a lot of information that was given and I can't say I absorbed a whole lot of it. Mostly because I didn't understand much of it... yet. I imagine it makes more sense once you actually get to that level of knowledge.

What I did absorb though, was the information about expediter services specifically. They also had a few carriers attend and speak.

There are a few things that I was unaware of. I did not realize expediter services pre screens carriers. They spoke of several that they refuse to partner with due to their shady-ness.

Also learned a little bit more about the path to ownership program. From my understanding, expediter services is the one that will ultimately finance your truck purchase. Because of this they really get to know you before hand. They look at your total revenue, and actually tell you weather or not you can actually afford it. I understand that may be a process most lenders undergo, but the typical lender wont give you personal advice such as, how you can increase revenue, and weather or not your making the right choice for yourself based on long term goals.

They also provide a lot of services to you as an owner operator. You can opt to use their fuel card ($12 a week to use it) and get all of their discounts. They offer insurance at a discounted rate, maintenance discounts, a maintenance program (from my understanding someone will keep track of your maintenance records and when the truck is due?) Pretty much a one stop shop for all your needs. They also plan to offer tax services in the future. The owners that we spoke to while there (they also were giving information on how to get a fleet started, so there were owners there that were taking that path) had nothing but nice things to say about their experiences.

I know some people have their own opinions on how to get started in trucking, but for me, I have no idea why people would choose any other path than driving for expediters to start with. The only way you can fail is if you don't have the ambition to succeed.

All that being said, I'm not %100 sold on owning our own truck. I did speak to their finance guy and he is going to get in touch with me sometime next week and talk about specifics to our situation on owning a truck. Ill have a better idea on how much a truck payment would be along with insurance ect.

In the meantime. Our hotel reservation is until tomorrow. So we're going to enjoy the rest of the night, and look for a load out tomorrow evening or Monday. Overall feeling pretty good. Glad we went and we had a good time.

 

[Kip life]

Josh good information. .word, of caution never buy a truck from the same person who provides your loads. It's a bad situation even if they say it's through a 3rd party lender .

Sent from my SM-N900T using EO Forums mobile app

 

[BigStickJr]

Josh good information. .word, of caution never buy a truck from the same person who provides your loads. It's a bad situation even if they say it's through a 3rd party lender .

Sent from my SM-N900T using EO Forums mobile app

Generally good advice.
I’d say ES is an exception to the rule.
They’re not Prime or KLLM.
They have such a good reputation and thier company culture is so different than most lease companies. They want you to succeed and grow into a fleet. Then they prosper with you, not off of you.

 

[Josh]

Little confused. Is it the same even though expediter's doesn't supply us with our loads? Even then, we would own the truck, so we would only be going through FedEx anyway.

 

[BigStickJr]

Josh, it is different because ES is not the carrier.
Historically, some companies would sell you a truck and pull gimmicks to rip you off. Required inspections at company facilities. You’d flunk and have to buy an overpriced repair to get back on dispatch. Or they’d run you hard, gets lots of your money. Then freight would dry up and they’d bankrupt you. Take your truck and sell it again to someone else. These companies would set you up for failure. The company was designed to make money off the truck leasing instead of the freight.
ES isn’t like that.
They seem to have morals and ethics. Two things missing in many trucking operations.

 

[Ragman]

Generally good advice.
I’d say ES is an exception to the rule.
They’re not Prime or KLLM.
They have such a good reputation and thier company culture is so different than most lease companies. They want you to succeed and grow into a fleet. Then they prosper with you, not off of you.

Little confused. Is it the same even though expediter's doesn't supply us with our loads? Even then, we would own the truck, so we would only be going through FedEx anyway.

As BigStick said, ES is the exception to the rule..... You're going to be fine.

 

[Josh]

I wasn't worried about it, just gathering knowledge.

I think ES is an exception to a lot of the shady things that typically seem to happen.

That's when they mentioned they deny a lot of carriers. They check a lot of different things to make sure the carriers will have he ability to keep you running, even when the freight dries up a little. (Example, if a carrier only stays at 75% capacity and calls brokers for the rest, when freight dries up they cut the brokers out and not the drivers.)

The whole 2 days of listening to different speakers was really heartwarming. They really try to get their point across that they are not here to screw you. Yes, they are for profit, but they explain everything they do and why they do it. It's like always having someone in your corner to help you out.

 

[DBenton]

Josh,
I am glad you guys went and acquired the information you wanted. It is a huge decision and they seem to have a great support system.

Owning a truck is definitely not for us. Not right now but you never know. Stay safe and keep us updated on your journeys.

 

[Josh]

Josh,
I am glad you guys went and acquired the information you wanted. It is a huge decision and they seem to have a great support system.

Owning a truck is definitely not for us. Not right now but you never know. Stay safe and keep us updated on your journeys.

I don't think owning a truck is for us either. We did get our numbers back though. We're about 1-2000$ a month away from being able to own a truck. That's fine with me.

They want the truck to make $15000 a month average. On our normal months we get around $17,000 but we had a few bad months (all the maint issues with the truck) and that brought our average down. No biggie.

 

[Ragman]

Josh,
I am glad you guys went and acquired the information you wanted. It is a huge decision and they seem to have a great support system.

Owning a truck is definitely not for us. Not right now but you never know. Stay safe and keep us updated on your journeys.

I don't think owning a truck is for us either.

Being a truck owner isn't for everybody..... I, myself, have made a career (30 years) driving for others.

 

[DBenton]

Ragman,
This has been our way of life from the beginning. We have prospered by being company drivers.
It just fits for us. Ragman have a great weekend!

 

[ucfd608]

Ragman,
This has been our way of life from the beginning. We have prospered by being company drivers.
It just fits for us. Ragman have a great weekend!

Dbenton how is everything goin I hope everything is good an you can call me 608 or 8 either one is fine


Josh hope all is well

 

[ucfd608]

My wife an I have actually been looking at trucks she wants to go start traveling we are tore between a kw an. Freightshaker I have drove both An like the kw studio sleeper better an the cab of freightliner better than a kw more comfortable