I fell for the gimmick like most other drivers who have gone to Wil-Trans (aka Transportation Logistics). It is a very small company that is leased on to Prime Inc. Given a choice of a company driver or their lucrative (cough cough) lease program, I and 2 other friends chose to lease a new truck. Three of us went to orientation in August of 2013. We were the only three in orientation.
First of all, the cost of leasing through Wil-Trans is $1305/week. Yes you read that right. All three of us would never have even gone to this company had we known this information ahead of time but you won't find that out until you are in your first day of orientation.
Second, your dispatchers do all of your planning & routing. This is much like most company driving positions and most lease driving positions as well. However, herein lies the problem. They have total control of your truck. Which load you are sent, which direction you head, when you pick up & deliver and so on. Ok so you are thinking so what? This is just like every other company, why am I complaining right? What happens is that this company chooses to have your truck sit idle for a minimum of 2 days/week and with such an expensive lease, you will go "in the hole". In other words, you will not get a paycheck at the end of the week and will in fact owe them money. Sometimes this obviously cannot be helped. Let's face it, this is trucking. It isn't called "the freight is already there". But what this company does is use this as a tool to control you, control your pay and/or force you out of the company. I stayed at this company for one year because that was the committment that I made to them & I honored my committment.
Let's do some math. I believe that no matter how much a lease costs, you can make money if you manage a truck properly and the truck runs enough to cover the expenses. I am a former business owner of a very successful business and I assure you that I understand how this stuff works. As a company driver you should make roughly $800-$1000/week in most any company in America. If you're going to lease, it needs to be worthwhile since YOU pay the taxes as an independent which will be roughly 33-40%.
So, you're lease is $1305 your fuel is roughly $1500 and you want a settlement of minimum $1800 (1800 - 38% (684 tax)= $1116). As you can see, $1116 is barely over what you'd make as a company driver. $2000 should be your target minimum but I used $1800 so you could see how this works. Let's add up these figures. $1305 + $1500 + $1800 =$4605. In order to reach an $1800 settlement you'll need to gross $4605/week. And if you do, after taxes you'll make $1116 and your fuel could go as high as $2000 so keep that in mind. That's $657.86 you'll need to make everyday in a 7 day work week. I have also worked as an independent booking my own freight and I can tell you, that is a tough number to meet regularly.
Wil-Trans pays you 70% of the linehaul. So, if you get sent a load that pays $2000, your share is $1400. Rounding up the $657.86 to $700, you'll need to make each day, you can see that this load need to be done in 2 days. (1400/2=700). If you pickup this load on Sunday night & deliver on Thursday morning, you lost 1 full day & you lost $700 earning potential. If this happens twice in 1 week (and it will) you lose $1400. You are now in the hole. After you deliver, you most likely won't get another load until Friday, thus losing yet another day & another $700 earnings. This load should be delivered on Wednesday morning and you should have reloaded on Wednesday. Another way they cheat you is they have a Tuesday payday cutoff. So, this load wouldn't even be on this week's settlement. You'd lose Monday & Tuesday anyway toward this week.
Wil-Trans does these things intentionally. Darrell Flake watches your truck's gross income to regulate you so that you stay where they want you. Wil-Trans is a dishonest, deceitful company. Save yourself the hassle & look elsewhere.
Wil-Trans Reviews
I fell for the gimmick like most other drivers who have gone to Wil-Trans (aka Transportation Logistics). It is a very small company that is leased on to Prime Inc. Given a choice of a company driver or their lucrative (cough cough) lease program, I and 2 other friends chose to lease a new truck. Three of us went to orientation in August of 2013. We were the only three in orientation.
First of all, the cost of leasing through Wil-Trans is $1305/week. Yes you read that right. All three of us would never have even gone to this company had we known this information ahead of time but you won't find that out until you are in your first day of orientation.
Second, your dispatchers do all of your planning & routing. This is much like most company driving positions and most lease driving positions as well. However, herein lies the problem. They have total control of your truck. Which load you are sent, which direction you head, when you pick up & deliver and so on. Ok so you are thinking so what? This is just like every other company, why am I complaining right? What happens is that this company chooses to have your truck sit idle for a minimum of 2 days/week and with such an expensive lease, you will go "in the hole". In other words, you will not get a paycheck at the end of the week and will in fact owe them money. Sometimes this obviously cannot be helped. Let's face it, this is trucking. It isn't called "the freight is already there". But what this company does is use this as a tool to control you, control your pay and/or force you out of the company. I stayed at this company for one year because that was the committment that I made to them & I honored my committment.
Let's do some math. I believe that no matter how much a lease costs, you can make money if you manage a truck properly and the truck runs enough to cover the expenses. I am a former business owner of a very successful business and I assure you that I understand how this stuff works. As a company driver you should make roughly $800-$1000/week in most any company in America. If you're going to lease, it needs to be worthwhile since YOU pay the taxes as an independent which will be roughly 33-40%.
So, you're lease is $1305 your fuel is roughly $1500 and you want a settlement of minimum $1800 (1800 - 38% (684 tax)= $1116). As you can see, $1116 is barely over what you'd make as a company driver. $2000 should be your target minimum but I used $1800 so you could see how this works. Let's add up these figures. $1305 + $1500 + $1800 =$4605. In order to reach an $1800 settlement you'll need to gross $4605/week. And if you do, after taxes you'll make $1116 and your fuel could go as high as $2000 so keep that in mind. That's $657.86 you'll need to make everyday in a 7 day work week. I have also worked as an independent booking my own freight and I can tell you, that is a tough number to meet regularly.
Wil-Trans pays you 70% of the linehaul. So, if you get sent a load that pays $2000, your share is $1400. Rounding up the $657.86 to $700, you'll need to make each day, you can see that this load need to be done in 2 days. (1400/2=700). If you pickup this load on Sunday night & deliver on Thursday morning, you lost 1 full day & you lost $700 earning potential. If this happens twice in 1 week (and it will) you lose $1400. You are now in the hole. After you deliver, you most likely won't get another load until Friday, thus losing yet another day & another $700 earnings. This load should be delivered on Wednesday morning and you should have reloaded on Wednesday. Another way they cheat you is they have a Tuesday payday cutoff. So, this load wouldn't even be on this week's settlement. You'd lose Monday & Tuesday anyway toward this week.
Wil-Trans does these things intentionally. Darrell Flake watches your truck's gross income to regulate you so that you stay where they want you. Wil-Trans is a dishonest, deceitful company. Save yourself the hassle & look elsewhere.