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Qualcomm Charges

TeamCaffee

TeamCaffee

Administrator
Staff member
Owner/Operator
layoutshooter said:
There is no easy answer to be sure. Those who leave before they have the escrow to cover costs should be billed for them. Those who damage equipment should be billed. Those costs should not be passed on to those of us who are doing it the right way. I am not saying that they are being passed on, just saying that they should never be.
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Layout we are going to pay for this one way or another. It will either be in QualComm fees or in another fee.

Many states do not have a personal income tax but their bills are the same as a state that has a personal income tax. These states raise the money with a different tax.
 
layoutshooter

layoutshooter

Veteran Expediter
Retired Expediter
TeamCaffee said:
Layout we are going to pay for this one way or another. It will either be in QualComm fees or in another fee.

Many states do not have a personal income tax but their bills are the same as a state that has a personal income tax. These states raise the money with a different tax.
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Yeah, you are right. The is most likely no way around it. :(
 
davekc

davekc

Senior Moderator
Staff member
Fleet Owner
We are of course the most familiar with TN & FL, and in general, the states without a state income tax generate the difference through a higher sales tax.
Seems to be cheaper to live in a state without the income tax.
 
OntarioVanMan

OntarioVanMan

Retired Expediter
Owner/Operator
TeamCaffee said:
Someone has to pay to have the QualComm installed. What happens when the new truck gets the QualComm installed and quits the next day? Who covers the cost of this?

Who pays for the cost of the QualComm when a truck leaves a company and cuts all the cables and mails it back and does not have escrow to cover this.

We have escrow to cover the costs of the QualComm and the unit being destroyed. How many people leave a company before they have enough in the escrow account?

There are tons of hidden costs with the QualComm such as is the unit being leased or has the company outright purchased them. How much does each unit cost?
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That should NOT be our problem...lets use the same line the carriers always throw at us..."It is the cost of doing business"...
I get tired of funding the carriers liability!! :mad:
 
OntarioVanMan

OntarioVanMan

Retired Expediter
Owner/Operator
davekc said:
We are of course the most familiar with TN & FL, and in general, the states without a state income tax generate the difference through a higher sales tax.
Seems to be cheaper to live in a state without the income tax.
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Well SD has no state income tax and the sales tax is only 6% and the state has no deficit....figure that one out?
 
LDB

LDB

Veteran Expediter
Retired Expediter
I'm sorry but I believe they are overcharging even considering purchase costs etc.. First, the companies tend to stretch these things out for many years so the amortized costs isn't that significant. Add in the depreciation they recover and the "cost" per unit is maybe $5 per week.

Everyone should not be paying for those who quit in a week whether it's paying for QC, signs or whatever. Company contracts specify what charges are levied upon termination. Socialism isn't the answer to anything, including the "sharing" of costs at companies.

Companies are making significant profits off every unit, especially when you consider the 1/3 or so that are OOS at any given time which means no transmission costs or other added costs. The true bottom line to companies can't be much over $20 per week, if it even in fact exceeds the teens. Weekly fees of $25 per unit would more than cover at least 99.97% of all units every week with maybe the most "chatty" of freeform message users exceeding that amount. The companies would still be making a profit on every unit, just not the ridiculous amount they are making now.
 
greg334

greg334

Veteran Expediter
Leo,
I came to the conclusion that it doesn't matter because this is all about business and nothing else.

I don't have the choice to tell anyone no, even though it isn't all that needed for a lot of the work we do, it is what they - pick a company - has as a package to lease with them.

Having the access to the freight matters to me and to everyone else and the $140 a month/$1680 a year that is part of the package to make money which is just another cost I and everyone else has to deal with until we run the companies we are driving for now.

I think there is more to b*tch about over the percentage they hand you for your work.

By the way do you know that the fee you pay also includes the insurance premium for that unit?

I think that was something like $10 a week.

Escrow?

I thought my escrow was for insurance and cargo claim stuff, not Qualcomm. FedEx never touched my escrow for my Qualcomm claim, I had one or two when the dome went missing.
 
TeamCaffee

TeamCaffee

Administrator
Staff member
Owner/Operator
greg334 said:
Escrow?

I thought my escrow was for insurance and cargo claim stuff, not Qualcomm. FedEx never touched my escrow for my Qualcomm claim, I had one or two when the dome went missing.
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Greg when you left FCC I do not believe you got your escrow money back until you returned your QC and also showed proof you had removed the signs from your truck? FCC covers the cost of repair to the QC or should I say we cover the cost to the repair to the QC with our weekly fees. With the old QC we had the dome replaced twice the wiring replaced once and the unit in the truck replaced once. The service centers do not do that for free so someone was paying to bill to keep those old QC's functioning.
 
greg334

greg334

Veteran Expediter
You are right to a point.

I didn't remove my signs, they are baked on the truck and wasn't asked about signage being removed at all. I removed what I could, I hope to paint this thing soon to get rid of the shadow FedEx words

The only things I had to return was the qualcomm unit which I removed myself - without cabling - and the IFTA permit(s). Oh and the insurance card which was part of the contract package they lost.

Something about selectively asking about signs seems to be a thought, I know of a couple trucks who left the fleet two weeks ago (or maybe a bit longer) and they have everything on the truck, signs and IFTA stickers but not the qualcom unit.

I looked again, the copy of my contract didn't include damage to the qualcomm or taking money out of the escrow for any qualcomm related costs.
 
moose

moose

Veteran Expediter
My OtR carrier charge 7.50 a week for the People net unit ,
even a caveman can install or remove .
the commodore64 had more hardware built into ,but it gets the dispatch done without calling it in like B4.
 
nightcreacher

nightcreacher

Veteran Expediter
My QC includes a dome and keyboard.All the cables were installed by Freightliner at the factory.When I left FDCC I dropped off the box with their dome and keyboard,when I started with TRI STATE all that was needed was to install their dome and keyboard.
I've had a QC Since the Roberts Express days.In fact I was the 1st tractor to get one.Whether I've been paying to much over the years,or not,doesn't matter.This piece of equipment makes me far more more money than what I would make without it.Sure,dispatch could call me on the phone,but there are times as everyone knows when the cell phone doesn't work.Would I rather call in every 4 hours to let them know where I am,that alone makes the QC worth it.
 
V

Vinnie T

Seasoned Expediter
30-40 a week for a qualcom is not a profit center for a carrier. There are costs to install the unit, monthy monitoring fees, repair costs, and the initial cost of the unit at 1800.00-2000.00 a shot. IMO it's a wash for the carriers.
 
LDB

LDB

Veteran Expediter
Retired Expediter
I disagree. $35 per week is $1820 annually. I've got a QC unit that's been around for probably a decade. That's $18,200 income to the carrier over the decade the unit has been available for install. Yes, there are costs, but the depreciated cost of the unit isn't that high. It's a profit center at any weekly amount of $3x or more.
 
greg334

greg334

Veteran Expediter
Well then what's the big whoop about what they charge?

If it is a tool that they use for two reasons, and you derive work from it, so there is a benefit from it.

I would understand your complaining about it if it was $50 a week but at $35 and you being a fleet owner, it seems it makes you money in the long run.
 
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