New small fleet company

I own one truck and have a driver. I'm leased on to a small carrier, and hope to get another truck one of these days, if I ever make enough money with this one. The loads are not paying what they were when I first started a year ago, but they should be going up any day now.....we do reefer so do a lot of produce. Anyway I pay my driver .60/mile and $20 an hour of any detention pay we get, or for getting a PM done on home time, stuff like that. $200/day breakdown pay but it's been a long time since I had to do that. Knock on wood.
If you don't have a computer program for trucking, I would seriously advise you get one. It's the only thing that keeps me able to do payroll and run the business halfway accurately. General accounting programs make it hard to figure out fuel costs, taxes, etc. Trucking is a different business altogether.

 

So buy truck then ask questions. Solid plan!

 

Somebody has a good gig there. That is very good pay with also getting detention at $20/hr and break down pay. Hope your carrier pays very well. I’d be hesitant to pay that high with those other perks even having my own authority.

I guess depends how many miles you run each week though.

 

Who drives your first truck? How do you pay on it? If it’s yourself then how do you pay yourself?

Other important things to consider is vacation time. Do they get paid holidays? How much paid time off do they get aside from holidays? How often and how much home time?

Are you paying taxes on a W2 and paying workman’s comp?

Some people like to pay percentage. Some by the mile, some by the hour. I like to pay by the mile with a guaranteed amount of miles per week then mileage past that. So maybe like .54/mi and 2400 miles no matter how many they get. If go over 2400 then it’s .54/mi. No detention pay as its prepaid so to speak. Makes it simple and easy, nothing to argue over.

I’d probably do paid holidays after 3 months. 1 week PTO after 6 months. 3 weeks at a year, and 3 weeks at 2 years. Don’t short change the holiday pay. Pay at the minimum 2400 mile amount. Get your people home every weekend unless they want to stay out and get more miles. However, I’d expect them to leave back out Sunday evening most weeks. Unless you live out in BFE then may have to be every other weekend.

That would be my advice.

 

He said 20 per hr of any detention received, hopefully that’s after 1-2 hrs, but I doubt it. OP is a sub contractor looking to hire sub contractor under him/her. How much meat you think is left on the bone? Cracks me up everybody complaining about mega carriers. Pay him/ her 50-55 cents per mile, 2500 miles per week minimum, w-2, 1 week paid vacation after 1 year, 2 weeks after 2 years, full medical, dental, disability should cost single employee about 50 a week, rest is on you, 401K you match 5-8 percent, employee fully vested after 2-3 years. 20 per hr detention pay after 2 hrs loading or unloading, I won’t get into layover pay or breakdown pay( sorry, can’t resist 100 per day 1st 24 hrs, 150 each thereafter should suffice) Good luck

 

before I answer and give advice, I want to know one thing - WHY?

 

Those owner operators must be getting rich over
there at landstar.
Seems like they all want to buy more trucks
And put drivers in them.

 

Not really, I know a few who are just barely keeping their head above water, they don't get after being told a lot of times how to use the system.

If the OP comes back and gives an answer to my question, I will tell her how I do this with LS, but until then ...

 

Hi everybody,
I think some people are getting us mixed up (the first two posters). Especially Inrut. I am poster #2, replying to the 1st poster, ajohnson1982.
Let me just clear up a couple of things:
1. I do pay $20.00 of any detention RECEIVED, nothing if we don't receive it. The minimum I have received is $35.00, after a minimum of 3 hours. Not everyone pays after 3 hours and we usually don't get any. My driver has arrived like 15 minutes late, and because of that we get no detention even after waiting 10 hours to get loaded. Even when delayed due to a blizzard.
2. My driver is a 1099 employee, She doesn't get any vacation, WC, health insurance, etc. etc. from me, I can't afford all that. That's why I have kept her at .60/mile. She has her own health insurance, thanks goodness.
3. Breakdown pay is based (a bit loosely) on how much she normally earns a week. I don't see any reason to put her into debt when MY truck breaks down. I'm the one who loses the money, and rightly so if I haven't taken care of my truck. (Yes, stuff happens even if you have taken care of your truck, but I'm the one who is supposed to have saved up money to account for that.)
4. We run all over the midwest and east coast, and sometimes the deep south. My driver only wants to go home every 6 weeks or so. Our carrier says 1 day off for every week out is normal, so she goes home for 5-6 days every 6 weeks or so. Not paid time off.
5. I'm not sure if Social Xpress was talking to me or poster #1, re: buy a truck and ask questions later. If it was me, I totally cop to that. But it was unintentional. Here is what happened:

My brother arrived at my house having not worked in the US for years, and not having any really transferable skills. He is at an age where it can be pretty hard to get a new job. He has a long-time friend who has been driving a pretty long time, and some years ago at this friend's advice, my brother bought a truck, put a driver in it, then the driver totaled the truck. Next, my brother left the country to pursue other things.
Now years later, my brother is back, and talks to this trucking friend of his, and it seemed like he was doing everything right and making lots of money. So brother thinks if he tried again, he could make it too. They both ended up talking me into buying a truck from his friend. I met with the friend and he seemed cool, and like his business was going well - it didn't seem like there was a whole lot to it. I thought it would be a good job for my brother, and how else was he going to make money? I bought the truck with the idea my brother would run the business, and I might make a little off my investment. We formed a corporation.
My brother truly thought he knew more about this business than he did. But you know how you don't know what you don't know? Well, we both learned that IT IS NOT SIMPLE OR EASY AND IT COSTS A WHOLE LOTTA MONEY!
The first few months were pretty much a disaster - ended up putting a ton of money into the truck, going through a couple of crazy-### druggie drivers, getting screwed by a couple of carriers...
Then we hired an AWESOME driver. She was so great I didn't want to throw in the towel, so I bought a much better, newer, truck. (Besides, my brother was still running things and was convinced we could make some major money.) And we managed to get on with a decent carrier.
Not long after, my brother got another job so he could have an actual paycheck. Besides that, I had bought the computer program and got proficient with it, and handled the finances and all that, so now I do all of it. I still don't know close to what I need to know but I am learning more and more all the time. I study, I have a ton of links saved to help me with "situations" (many of which I got here) and I read all the forums I can find.

I left a pretty lucrative 25 year career a year ago, right before my brother came back. It was going to kill me, so I quit. But from that job and others, I know stuff that helps me with this venture. And it has been stressful than what I was doing before. It helps that I love learning new stuff.
My driver has been with me for almost 8 months now, and I have learned a LOT from her. She has been a driver for 8 years. We make a great team, and she seems to like the job.

6. My company IS leased onto a small carrier. I would love to lease onto a carrier that will let me dispatch my own truck, though. My driver says Landstar has a program for that, I am going to look into it, but if anyone knows more about that, please let me know!
7. I am a "she", not a he. The "sis" that wound up in the business because of the "bro". Thanks, y'all, you are great!