justwant some people to know about prime, I have seen a lot of posts from different forums about there lease program. writing this cause I came over here about 2 months ago just to try it out. a lot of people told me it was a very good way to make money, not own your truck, just keep releasing it. well the fact is for me and 5 other people that was in orientation, that I still keep in contact with. 1 out of the 5 is doing ok he clears after ALL expences around 900-1200 per week. he runs back and forth across I 80. the other 4 of us well not so good. I average after all expences 3-500 a week, not good. the other three are in negative all week every week. now this lease program wasn't to bad for the first 3 weeks, I mean u get a hire on encentive program, guarantee to get 1,000 per week on top of what u made and the first week is no payment. the second week is a deferred payment, so it really looks good. now my truck is a 2013 peterbilt the other 4 have kw's and freightshakers. but the third week when the full payment and all the other costs (hidden) come in to play, your so called 866.00 payment jumps up to 1,200-1,300 perweek. we are all running 55-58mph,so we know its not that. kk here goes, prime pays a percentage for freight, its supposed to be 72% of what the load pays, well if u look at it, its is fi you count the fuel surcharge and the tarp pay (only tarp pay for us flatbeders) so anyways when your supposed to get a percent of the load that don't mean you count the other pays that go with it into it, it means your line haul pay is 72%. now the reason they prosper so well is they want you to be a trainer(especially the ones with experience). they want these young people (male & female) that are just starting out to jump right into there lease program with the words (be your own boss) (go home whenever you want)( its your business ), these are all right,but< what they don't tell you is the hidden cost( like go home for a weekend ) its your business but there payscale isn't set up to go home its wednesday to Tuesday so when you go home for a weekend don't expect to get a check the next week or the week after because it wont happen, even if you go home for just the reset. it puts you behind the week you go home plus the fallowing week you go behind because you missed the truck payment so now you get the interest charges the fallowing week for that truck payment plus anything else they said wasn't paid. now if you train you don't do to bad, if you can handle someone in your truck with you every second of the day. I cant I tried it. now I question Prime about my settlement(what they say) is ohh your really doing good your getting 3400-3900 miles a week( sounds good don't it) WRONG PEOPLE YOUR A LEASE DRIVER YOUR NOT GETTING PAID FOR MILE your getting paid a percent if you run over 2500 miles a week your really doing bad (that's were the extra (hidden) fees come into play. YOU DONT WANT MILES YOU WANT GOOD PAYING LOAD, and that don't happen , why would they give you them good load and make good money, that's what the company drivers are for, so they get them good load so the company makes more money to keep training you people (new unexpierenced drivers) that a really thinking this is a good lease program. now im not being hard on you new drivers I was there once and so was everyone else (18 years ago) so there is my story on primes lease I hope it helps some out to see what my expierence WAS . no longer there by the way, wasn't and couldn't make enough to pay, ohh by the way when I tried the training , my trainee made more a week then I did (GO FIGURE). well hope some of you that are there and doing ok the best of luck, and the ones that are just starting out, it don't do any good to check all them companies out, there all the same, just bad things hidden in different ways, well good luck to you all .

I might as well ask... What is the one doing right to be making money with them? If that person is doing well consistently, there is a reason.
As for expenses, how well is this spelled out in orientation? Do they say how the pay is structured in terms of when each load gets paid versus when it is hauled, as well as when the fuel surcharge is paid? Is it possible to bring in an outside truck (one you bought/leased on your own, outside of their leasing program) and haul their freight?
The percentage pay actually sounds like a good thing to me, although I realize that most drivers in the industry today think only in terms of mileage, instead of money.

I've been in this now for 6 years or so. It didn't take long to realize what a sham the lease program truck is. It's been here for years. Story after story. GMAN has posted on it for years. This was a good post but there's probably 100 lined up to do it. I had a bunch quit on me about 6 months ago. They got trucks, not even did the lease program, and leased on to companies and I think they are all gone now and lost their truck.

People need to remember, this is a business. A truck is a tool just as a hammer is to a carpenter. I run over 30 and am pushing to get up to 40 soon and I completely despise trucks. I won't even drive a pick up truck. Now I did drive as a company driver first and found it to be a great experience that I'll never forget. I got to see the country and used my time wisely and visited places etc. But the money wasn't there (I had no complaints with the company per se, they did the best they could to keep my happy) so I bought my own and have a sense of dealing with money so survived.

Our drivers can take a week off with proper notice and while they don't get a paycheck they aren't incurring any expenses. It just doesn't make sense to pay a company to drive their truck.

Anyway good post.

Common sense is not so common...

You need to either train,

or make referral money.

Otherwise, it will be very tight, money wise.