Truck Topics

Is The Grass Really Greener?

Are you an expedited trucking owner-operator leased to a carrier that seems to have fallen on hard times? 

Does the company seem to be losing long-standing accounts? 
Does owner-operator turnover seem to be increasing?
Are you hearing rumors of corporate financial trouble?

Another way of measuring your carrier is through news stories and, for publicly owned companies, stock reports.

Do the problems you're experiencing include slow payments,  broken promises and fewer miles?

Trucking surveys show that a number of owner-operators become dissatisfied, not so much with pay rate but with procedures and policies.  High turnover occurs when contractors feel that management is not listening to them.

Trucking employment experts say that these might be the signs that a move to a new carrier is indicated.  However, these same experts advise caution in any move because it almost always costs the owner-operator in cash and in downtime.

Keep in mind that personal living expenses have to be paid whether you’re making money or not. The same is true for fixed trucking costs, such as truck payment and insurance. 

Furthermore, unless all costs, fees, revenue and work volume are accurately assessed, both short-term and long-term, a switch that looks like a winner could become a loser.

Ellen Voie, Manager of the Recruiting and Retention Program at Schneider National says that drivers are not always aware of how much a vocational move costs.

An owner-operator needs to consider:
The downtime during the transition from old to new, including orientation;
Learning the new carrier's culture and procedures;
Building experience and credibility with new dispatchers.

Another downside
Before considering a change of carriers, review your employment record.  Carriers try to avoid chronic job-hoppers. If it’s your second change in twelve months, you might want to forgo a change at the present time.

It hurts your employment record to be changing jobs regularly.No matter how good a driver you are, job-hopping could mark you as an owner-operator who’s difficult to work with.
 
Communication
Unless you’re a problem driver, your carrier wants to keep you, so first make sure leaving is the right thing.

Call the carrier before quitting.  Find someone with authority to speak with, and attempt to solve the problem. Every carrier wants to reduce turnover, and communication is the key.

If you’re leaving in anger, give yourself some time to cool down and regain your composure.  Even though you have no intention of ever working with that carrier again, don't burn your bridges.  When making that exit phone call, conduct yourself professionally.

From the company side
John Mueller is the Director of Safety and Recruiting for the Toledo, Ohio-based Premium Transportation Logistics.  He says, "Don't base your decision to leave a carrier strictly on revenue, because in expedite, there are peaks and valleys.  You can't necessarily measure your success on a weekly basis; it's probably better to gauge it by monthly or even quarterly figures." 

"Remember that the grass is not always greener," he adds.  "One of the most frustrating things I have to deal with is the guy who terminates his lease on Monday and is back on Friday because the grass wasn't greener at his new company."

Mueller adds that you shouldn’t leave your carrier without another job to go to and without investigating that new company.

He says, "The problem with quitting in anger is that you’re less likely to do the research needed to fairly compare your lease with that of another company."

So, you've taken the necessary steps and have made your decision to leave.  How do you find the new company?

In addition to the usual employment resources, experts say that you should talk to drivers with the company you have your eye on.  Owner-operators are quite often a good source of information about a company and they will typically offer the unvarnished truth about the carrier with whom they're leased.

Ellen Voie offers this bit of wisdom:  "A tip that I learned from a driver is that when he walks into the truckstop, he acts like he's already with the carrier he's investigating.  That way, the other drivers don't try to recruit him for a referral bonus and they are very honest about their carrier."

How big?
Some owner-operators believe management is more responsive at smaller companies while others believe that the bigger the company, the better, because it has more freight opportunities.

"I know that with our smaller company, management has to be more responsive," says John Mueller.  "We're pretty selective about our owner-operators in the first place, so we don't want our people to leave.  We have an open-door policy, so if someone is upset about something, he can walk right in and talk to the owners.  We address a problem right away."
  
Mueller continues, "A lot of drivers come to trucking (whether it's truckload or expedite) and they ask, 'How many miles am I going to get?' 

"At least in expedite, it's not about the miles, it's about the revenue.  I think the driver needs to focus on the average revenue for his vehicle size and out of his area.  He has to consider whether his prospective company has freight back into his area as well as the freight the company has leaving his area."

Research
Some questions the owner-operator should ask of the prospective carrier includes:
 - How many vehicles do you have based in my area?
 - How many loads do you have on a daily basis (load to truck ratio)?
 - How will it impact my revenue with your company if I don't want to run in Canada or NYC?
 - What are the out-of-pocket start-up costs with your company?
 - What MVR violations on my record would disqualify me?

"Ask for a copy of the lease and the carrier should be willing to provide it.  Too often owner-operators don’t read the contracts before signing them."

"Owner-operators need to ask a number of questions before leasing with a carrier. These questions would include areas such as the deadhead pay, average length of haul, escrow, insurance, revenue projections and a host of other items."

"If you don’t understand the contract, get someone who does. Do your homework and you'll save yourself some grief later on."