"Ladies and gentlemen, you can make a very good living as a lease operator. You can also lose your ass." These words opened the five-day orientation required of new "associates" as we are known at New Prime, Inc.'s headquarters in Springfield, Mo. The comment is impressive in its bluntness; it is also the absolute truth.

Considering a lease or a lease-purchase with one of the growing numbers of trucking companies offering in-house deals? All I can tell you is, "Come on in, the water's fine... but you darned well better be able to swim like a fish and hold your breath for a long, long time."

I entered into a lease agreement with New Prime and Success Leasing (Prime's leasing company) on May 25, 2000. Signing that sheaf of papers was the end result of dozens of phone calls, scrutinized advertisements and face-to-face discussions with drivers and recruiters. Among some of the companies polled were Melton, Anderson (ATS) and Burlington. Each had its own drawbacks and unique advantages. Prime's program best met the needs of my wife and me.

Everyone has a reason for wanting to be an owner-operator, which is, in essence, what a lease or lease-purchase contract provides. Most folks who have been around a while would steer clear of a company-based lease.

I climbed behind the wheel in the early '70s and still remember some of the scam operations that specialized in selling trucks to eager, unsuspecting drivers. As they neared the end of their contracts, loads would suddenly dry up, the trucks would be repossessed, and the company would resell the rigs to new victims.

So I'll admit, I'm one of the more skeptical operators out there, and yeah, I'd like to say over the last 28 years, this kind of operation has disappeared. Unfortunately, like logbooks and lot lizards, unscrupulous operations are ever-present and continue to prey upon the unwary. It is still a "driver beware" situation.

Yet, not every outfit that offers to lease you a truck is crooked. Company-based leases and lease purchases can and do work, though they certainly aren't for everyone.

Look at your circumstances

Over the years, I've been both a driver and an owner-operator, and normally, a lease would be the last thing I'd be interested in, but that is the whole point. Circumstances may dictate that a lease is better for you than an outright purchase or even going to work as a company driver.

Our situation indicated a lease would be in our best interests. A little over two years ago, I had surgery for cancer, then radiation treatments when it was discovered the cancer was still there. The cancer dictated one of our three top priorities. First and foremost, absolute control over the truck -- not so much to get home regularly, but because I have to make those follow-up cancer exams and know from experience that this demand is unlikely to be met if you are simply a driver.

So, why not buy a truck outright and save $2,000 a month? Very simply, if the disease intensifies, if I become unable to work, I can walk away without being hounded by finance companies.

This brings up our second priority: money. Pardon the expression, but I don't drive for my health. I expect to make money, and the first rule for making a livable income is you have to be loaded. It consistently amazes me how many O/Os don't understand this.

"If it don't pay at least $1.50 a mile, I won't pull it." It's nice to have principles, but the hard, cold fact is: Only loaded trucks make money. As I write this, my rig is parked in front of my house like a giant purple pigeon roost. I figure that in the last 24 hours, it has cost about $134 for me to have slept in my own bed, eaten from my own larder and showered in my own bathroom. Pretty steep bed and board.

Prime guarantees 80 cents a mile, loaded or empty. Now, that is cheap freight, especially when you consider that the cost of leasing is 50% more expensive than buying outright.

However, this includes every authorized mile, loaded or empty. In addition, Prime has a slick way of enticing a driver to stick with it. Every 100,000 miles, if you are running on a flat 80-cents-per-mile option (you can choose to run on percentage at 72%), the rates are reconciled.

So, if the overall average is above 80 cents, Prime pays you the difference. In our case, that's about $2,700, because we have been averaging just under 83 cents per dispatched mile.

It's still not great, but if you subtract the approximately three weeks I've been off the road between June and the first week in January, the mileage amounts to about 3,300 per week, and that has been very consistent. I run out of logbook long before I run out of available loads. In short, Prime keeps us loaded.

Good equipment is a must

This brings up priority number three: Good equipment. If the truck doesn't run, you are renting an extra bedroom for about $800 a week. Our objective was a late-model rig in excellent mechanical shape. Because of my physical condition (the surgeries and radiation took a sizable toll), we wanted a stand-up sleeper and basic creature comforts. This included decent seats, a good suspension, cruise control and fully functional climate controls.

At the time we signed the lease, Prime had all Freightliners, mostly Centurys and a few Classics. All were used, but none was over three years old, and we were told that the shop had gone over each one after it was turned in from lease. True or not, some of those tractors were in rough shape, while others were pristine.

Prime keeps its tractors for about three years, or 156 payments, which is also about the life span of the major component warranties. When a tractor is turned in, the price and length of the lease is determined by the tractor's age and the number of lease payments remaining.

Our original plan was to find a tractor that was nearly at the end of its Prime service -- maybe three to six months left on its lease -- but in good shape. That way, if we weren't satisfied with the fleet, or it turned out I could no longer handle the work physically, we could complete the requirements and just walk away.

It didn't work out that way

It is more or less the luck of the draw how many tractors are available for lease at any time. Prime maintains a fleet of about 2,000 trucks (and growing) and there is a tremendous turnover among "associates."

The day we selected our tractor, there simply were no "short-timers" left. We finally went a full 180 degrees against our original plan and picked a 2000 Freightliner Century with just 45,700 miles on it -- for all practical purposes, a new tractor.

The downside, of course, was a lease contract with weekly payments of $695 for 39 weeks, $675 for the next 52, and $655 for the final year. In other words, a tractor with 143 installments remaining for a total of $96,265, then a buyout of $56,000 if you want to own the thing. Ouch!

You own it, you pay the bills

The lease payment is just the beginning. (Odd, you never see this in any company's ad.) There are charges for tire, escrow and repair funds, excess mileage -- the list goes on. I calculate my weekly outlay for my tractor, including $94 a week health insurance for my wife and myself, to be about $834, or just short of $120 a day.

You are considered self-employed at Prime, and as such, you pay for everything, from $65 trailer door locks to Fed Ex-ing bills for settlement at $8.75 a pop. These various charges to the truck over the term of the lease constitute the basis of a current lawsuit being pressed against Prime by the Owner Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA).

OK overall

So, is Prime an OK company? I'd have to say a qualified "Yes," because so much depends on your personal needs and desires. For instance, I can no longer fingerprint loads, and it galls me to fork over $120 or so to some lumper to pay for somebody else's freight. Yes, Prime will pay you to unload your own load (not, of course, what a lumper would charge) but why should you? At what point did that become your freight?

This issue is one of my two major gripes with the company. A 25-year-old driver may not be affected at all by breaking down his own load. But he might be financially crippled if he doesn't get a check each and every week, and believe me, gaps can and do happen. Because I am more financially secure today than I was when I was 25, we can weather that storm.

No, I don't like it, I scream bloody murder about it, but it doesn't leave us with bill collectors at the door. Your settlement can be affected by any number of things, including weather, the need to go home, or delays with loading and unloading -- my second major gripe.

My time is worth money, and Prime is the first company I have ever hauled for that doesn't raise the roof over applying for detention time. That is, they submit it, but leave it up to the offending company whether to pay it, how much and when!

My expenses are charged to me the week after I deliver. When a Smithfield Foods or Alliant holds my load up for a day, and finally sends a check for $46 for detention time (from which Prime deducts 28% for its trailer), I get cranky.

The unhappy recipient of my ire is Ryan Summers, my fleet manager, Prime's term for dispatcher. In spite of my outbursts, he does an excellent job of putting my rig in the wind and keeping me rolling. It's in his interest, since, as I understand it, Prime pays dispatchers based on loaded miles.

Something else that impresses me is that when I call, Ryan recognizes my voice. To me, this means that Prime is not overloading its dispatch staff.

Other positives

Prime's facilities are top-drawer, with an in-house cafeteria, TV lounge, computer access, excellent showers, a few private sleeping rooms, and even a gymnasium and workout facility. A company store offers good-quality, moderately priced essentials and goodies, and the company regularly hosts parties and barbecues at which the drivers are welcome. Also, there are shops around Springfield that can supply detailing, outside repair estimates and other services that supplement Prime's on-site shop.

Prime offers choices in operation, including reefer, flatbed and a new tanker division. Teams are encouraged, and there's a driving school. Though my wife, Nancy, runs with me, she doesn't drive. Instead, she keeps the books, does paperwork (another peeve) and hands me coffee. She was set up as an authorized passenger from day one.

Dispatch is available 24 hours a day, as is road assist, and they are pretty good at supplying you with help and advice when you need mechanical assistance.

It is in the long-term where Prime really shines. First of all, if you complete your lease, a large amount of the expenses you have incurred -- excess mileage, tire fund, and other fees, including a 1.75-cent refund for every authorized dispatch mile run -- are returned to you in full or in part. Prime is pretty proud of that; if you drive by the yard in Springfield, you see names on its electronic billboard of drivers who have completed their leases and reaped the rewards.

In addition, as you near the end of your contract and if you decide to remain with Prime, you have the option of buying your current truck (for about $56,000, which Success will finance) or leasing a brand-new rig put together according to your specs.

This, by the way, is one of the aspects of Prime that appealed most strongly to me, since the memories of those scam operations that would cut off an operator's loads as he neared the end of his lease are still fresh.

Prime would gain absolutely no advantage from such tactics. You don't make a down payment, lease schedules are set when new tractors arrive, and ownership of the tractor is not what most operators want. There is no reason to undermine a driver as he nears the end of his lease. In short, Prime wants you to continue, wants you to order that new rig, and wants you to keep hauling their freight.

Prime offers other incentives, such as safety, sign-on and mileage bonuses. Perhaps the most interesting is the recruiting bonus. Tell the recruiter who turned you on to Prime, and that driver gets $500. Some operators have made a fair amount of change this way.

So, that's the story, or at least one driver's opinion. Talk with a dozen drivers and come away with a dozen varying viewpoints. Prime can be reached at (800) 224-4585 and, oh, yeah, mention my name.

Before you sign that lease...

• Profitability: Make sure you can make money with the lease package -- be pessimistic.
  
• Satisfied operators: Talk to a lot of drivers, both those who have left and especially those who have completed their lease.
  
• Even playing field: Company-owned trucks always have priority. The best situation is a company with few or no company trucks/drivers to compete with.
  
• Dependability: Make sure the truck isn't some worn-out fleet truck the company wants to dump.
  
• Cost vs. Perks: Leases are more expensive than outright purchases, so factor in such available benefits as national fuel discounts, company-paid lumper fees and company-sponsored health insurance.
  
• Load availability: You can't make money without loads to haul. Make sure your company can keep you busy and find out if you can find your own loads if dispatch comes up dry.
  
• Compatibility: Meet with dispatch, look over the operation and make sure you are comfortable with the in-house rules and regs.
  
• Self-employed vs. company driver: Most lease contracts consider drivers self-employed. Make sure you know your status, and prepare for extra taxes and some fairly complex tax filings.
  
• National, regional and dedicated: Match your lease with your preferences, and make sure those preferences are available. Some fleets with both company and lease drivers offer dedicated or regional operations only to their company drivers.
  
• Long-term commitment: Are you sure you want to work for this company and operate this truck for as much as the next three to five years?
  
• Lifestyle change: If you have never been an owner-operator, make sure both you and your family are prepared for a lifestyle change, especially when it comes to time off. No matter what you expect, it will be less, not more.
  
• Volatility: Be financially prepared for both ups and downs. You may not see a check every week.
  
• Warranties: Check warranties offered; make certain the truck can be worked on nationwide and not just at company terminals.
  
• Pre-Qualify: Get a copy of the lease, and go over it thoroughly before signing. Make sure you know what you are getting into. (The OOIDA will review leases offered to its members; call 1-800-444-5791 for more info.)
  
• Disaster clause: Know before you sign under what terms and conditions you can break the lease.