[Bigmon]

Tracer,

Most leasing companies have a grace period. Just call them and tell them what's going on. The reason banks won't take your money is because of all the money laundering that goes on. BTW...Monday is a banking holiday in the US because of MLK.

[tracer]

Originally Posted by allan5oh

BTW Tracer which way are you going up to kapuskasing?

I'm not sure yet, either through Thunder Bayb or through Winnipeg, But it's probably much shorter via Duluth and then Thunder Bay. This 'free' Wi-Fi at the McDonanald's in Winnemucca NV sucks. Maps are taking forever to load so I cannot be more specific.

[tracer]

Originally Posted by rank

Tracer,

How much money do you figure LS saves you a year? Seems like they save you ~.25/mile on fuel. Is plates and ins cheaper too?

Insurance is cheap (cheaper than it was at MacKinnon). I see actually less deductions from each paycheque.. The only thing I don't like is that the fuel surcharge is much smaller than what I had at MacKinnon. Landstar just pays on the cents per mile' basis. MacKinnon used this only for vans. Flatbed guys like me had much higher payouts. I guess the fact that Landstar is a US company and fuel prices here are lower has something to do with it. When I was at MacKinnon, I alwayd made sure my tanks were full before leaving Canada. Now I am FORCED to do exactly the opposite thing and avoid fueling in Canada altogether.

[tracer]

Originally Posted by Bigmon

Tracer,

Most leasing companies have a grace period. Just call them and tell them what's going on. The reason banks won't take your money is because of all the money laundering that goes on. BTW...Monday is a banking holiday in the US because of MLK.

Yeah, I found they treat you much better when you actually TELL them about a possible non-payment before it happens. I once just put a stop at the bank and the financial company got pretty pi**ed off. "You were supposed to call us," they told me. But I don't expect this to happen again because after this run is done, I will stay in Mid-West and South-East the two areas where I shouldn't have problems getting return loads. This way I'll be in Canada every few days and can always deposit cash from my Comdata into my Canadian bank account or use Comchecks. Everyone wins, especially shippers and brokers in the Chicago area. Here I come.

[Steel Horse Cowboy]

Originally Posted by tracer

Insurance is cheap (cheaper than it was at MacKinnon). I see actually less deductions from each paycheque.. The only thing I don't like is that the fuel surcharge is much smaller than what I had at MacKinnon. Landstar just pays on the cents per mile' basis. MacKinnon used this only for vans. Flatbed guys like me had much higher payouts. I guess the fact that Landstar is a US company and fuel prices here are lower has something to do with it. When I was at MacKinnon, I alwayd made sure my tanks were full before leaving Canada. Now I am FORCED to do exactly the opposite thing and avoid fueling in Canada altogether.

Just so you know, you can negoiate the FSC with each broker..... I was doing some local stuff for a agent on a daily basis. 15mile load, paid $500 to LS so i got about $350 a day. I asked the agent if they could bump up the FSC part (which u get 100% of) so she showed $75 a trip instead of $35 on the FSC so I got $40 more paid directly to me on each load. The customer was only paying $500 but thats how ya do it!!!

[tracer]

Originally Posted by Steel Horse Cowboy

Just so you know, you can negotiate the FSC with each broker

Yes, I know ... brokers offered to do this when I asked them if the shipper could pay more and 'bumping up' the FSC portion of the freight bill was the only way to get more money. The thing is that when you do this, the agent (broker) will make less money too, so I'd rather get a higher payout from the shipper. Then everyone is happy.

[Steel Horse Cowboy]

Originally Posted by tracer

Yes, I know ... brokers offered to do this when I asked them if the shipper could pay more and 'bumping up' the FSC portion of the freight bill was the only way to get more money. The thing is that when you do this, the agent (broker) will make less money too, so I'd rather get a higher payout from the shipper. Then everyone is happy.

I believe the fact that they are making ANY money off these loads that WE do all the work on is being nice. To hell with them making less, $50 for sitting on their ass and calling a place is too much.

[tracer]

My gambling with Nevada was finally over this morning when I left the Flying J in Winnemucca on Highway 95 and headed north to Boise, Idaho. It's one weird highway I"ll tell you that. You pass through 3 states (Nevada, Oregon, Idaho), you lose 1 hour due to the time zone change, and you drive through 3 speed limit zones: it's 70 MPH in Nevada, 55 in Oregon, and 65 in Idaho. All on the same highway. There's hardly any traffic and because you go through huge hills, the cell phone signal is spotty. I saw 2 or 3 signs "Chains Required when Lights Flashing" but I got lucky as the temp was above freezing. I had to watch for ice though. The Oregon section was quite hilly and in one spot there was a downgrade and then a sharp turn to the left. As expected there was a tractor-trailer in the right hand side ditch, with the truck totally folded backwards, and now pointing to the direction it came from. I guess it was icy early in the morning and he was going too fast down the hill - was probably loaded too - and the truck just glided into the ditch when he tried to negotiate the sharp left. In my International, the outside air thermometer is right above my head where my CB is. I got into the habit of checking it often when the temperature is close to freezing, like it was this morning. That's one way to avoid ending up in a ditch..

I didn't see any truck stops but in Jordan Valley OR there is a Shell where trucks can stop on the right shoulder and right next to it is a small espresso coffee shop where I got a perfect 16 oz double shot Americano.

I now have a Chevy 4x4 pickup truck on my deck and of course the broker never bothered to tell me that I'd need loading ramps to get it on! The "shipper" where I went to pick it up in Boise was a regular OFFICE building and the truck was just parked in the parking lot. The guy with the paperwork came out of the office, we chatted for a while and then he called a tilt-n-load tow truck (rollback) who put the pickup on my lower deck for 60 bucks. The guy paid

I"m not sure how I'm going to load the bigger truck (Ford F650) on Monday and how they will take the both vehicles off in Canada. But my Pick 2 is at a CAT dealer so I hope they have some kind of a dock there... I'll have to unload the pickup truck and load the big F650 first and get its front axle somehow on the upper deck: otherwise I won't have enough space. The Chevy has 12 feet between the tires, so it's appr. 14 long from the front bumper to the rear.

For now I'm taking 2 days off - the Ford is not ready to be picked up till Monday and it's just under 4 hours between Boise and Pocatello.

[allan5oh]

Yes they'll have a dock, use the dock for the double drop loads. It's awesome watching one of those big cats just crawl off the trailer onto the dock.

[sjmay]

Hey Tracer,

Wells Fargo should transfer money to your account, I've used them before, never really had a problem.