What a bunch of incompitant morons. I have not got one good thing to say about any of these losers. I came here right out of school because they had regional runs out of Houston and I would be home more often, boy was I wrong. It started out pretty good, got descent paying loads going to Garyville, LA and they always had something waiting on me to deliver in Houston, that was good for the first two weeks, I was sleeping in my own bed at home 2-3 nights during the week and off all weekend. During those two weeks, my checks were about $750, not bad for a newbie getting home that often, then Arrows true colors started to show. I got a load of pipe from Houston to Lone Star that only paid $90 then it was off to Oklahoma city for $50 Tulsa to Conway, AR $60 descent load from Blytheville, AR to Lonestar $200 down the road to Ore City to Seminole, OK a whopping $40 sat for 48 hours in the middle of the week only to get more cheap loads spending two weeks out and earning for those two weeks $800. I have been here for almost 3 months and things are getting worse.
The latest in my string of cheap freight and bad luck was a load from Houston to Walker, LA ok pay, get there unload after waiting at the gate for 4 hrs, set at the Pilot all afternoon asking them to deadhead me back to Houston before I ran out of hours, watching all the trucks that unloaded after me getting the OK to go back to Houston. An hour before my hours were were going to run out they tell me to go to Houston to pick up a load at 0800. I waited til I got my hours back and went, was not able to get to the shipper til 1000 did not get loaded til 1500. the load was going to Oklahoma city. after unloading there I noticed the top of my cab was covered in oil, checked the dipstick, no oil. So there I was with more oil on top of my truck than in it, called breakdown, told me to go to the TA. TA shop took 6 hours to tell me that my turbo was shot and they could not fix it there. called Arrow back, stayed on hold for 45 minutes only to be told i would have to get with my DM this morning to find out what to do.
I tried to call my DM from 0700-0900 could not get him on the phone, breakdown told me to go ahead and take the truck to International here in town and get a room. dropped off the truck called the hotel to pick me up. I waited in the hotel lobby for 4 hours trying to get my DM on the phone.
Why should we have to go through all this BS. It can't be like this everywhere, can it?

You might apply at TMC and Maverick. They might be willing to hire you now that you have a few months experience. Saw 3 Arrow rigs in Boyd the other day. 1st one was new and looked really sharp. A 1/2 mile behind were 2 real dogs clunking along trying to keep up. Sounded like yours. More oil on cab then in engine and rears. Good luck.

I have been driving for Arrow for 10 months now. I have nothing but positives to say about the company excepting what I say in all my posts that you are treated like a number. I will offer you my advice based on what you stated above.

Regional was your choice and you are not going to make anywhere near what linehaul does. I only take home $900 a week on average as a linehaul driver. I would set your expectations to 500-700 a week takehome as a regional driver. Thats about 31K a year on average. I average 3000K miles a week and stay out 4-6 weeks at a time for that pay with a week off at a time.

As for having 2 days off a week (weekends?), nobody told you that was going to be the case. Its clear that regional is 7 days on 2 days off and those 2 days may be Mon-Tue.

In my opinion, regional is not what a new driver should be doing if you want to make money for your family. You need to bite the bullet and run linehaul for a year or two (preferably) and then go find yourself a local/regional job that pays well. Small sacrifice to pay in my opinion.

As for layovers, you are paid $50 a day for that (not getting rich but better than nothing. Detention is paid by arrow after 4 hours from your scheduled delivery time. You need to tell your DM and make sure shipper/receiver signs the detention at bottom of your trip sheet.

As for truck condition, it sound like you didnt check your oil regularly from how you stated the problem above. I highly recommend that every day you check your oil, tire pressure, depth, and look at your brakes for oil or dusty/oil buildup, look at engine and see if belts tight and any signs of leaks. This takes me less than 5 minutes and I do it every day. Also, whenever your in the TA for repairs have them do a courtesy check of the truck (this alerts you to any problems that may pop up) and they usually will just adjust your breaks for no charge if they are not correct. If your in the shop all day call your dm and ask for breakdown pay ($50 a day).

Well, hope that helps you. Like I said I am very happy with Arrow and the only real complaints I hear are from regional drivers. I believe that they just had unrealistic expectations. Also, when I get to a yard, I see regional drivers hiding from dispatchers to avoid loads. To me it seems like there are a lot of regional drivers that prefer to hang out in the lounge, have BBQ's and BS instead of run.

thanks for your reply dcedlr. you are right that I should check the oil everyday and dont, I check the oil everytime I get fuel. i had not been losing oil, when the seal went out in the turbo, I am assuming it happened after I left Houston, I blew the oil out of the exhaust. I really was not complaining so much about the breakdown so much as the lack of effort from my DM to help me in this situation. Of all the people I spoke to at Arrow noone could help me except him, and he was not there when I needed him. He had emails from breakdown about my situation, and would not take the time to call me after I left many messages for him to do so.

As for being home every weekend, that is not an issue, It is just that when I do have to be gone, I want to be running and not sitting, and when I do run, I want fair pay for what I do, not too much to ask for. I do not think that I had unrealistic expectations where money is concerned, I expected $700/wk with the occasional $500/wk, but when you are in Oklahoma and sit for 2 days in the middle of the week and only end up with 3 loads for the week, I will not come close to that. You don't see alot of BTC, Maverick, TMC, Melton, or Boyd trucks sitting around truck stops very long without a load. All I want is to stay busy when I am out.

As for as regional drivers not wanting to work, I do not fall into that catagory. I beg for loads. Sure some may be like that, but not me.

thanks again for your advice, and stay safe.

Sorry to hear about your lack of loads running regional. I would recommend you talk to your DM's supervisor if your not gettin loads and communication is lacking with your DM. I forget her name but just call operator and ask for your DM's supervisor. Have u considered running linehaul for a year or two and then move to a good paying local or regional job? You will definitely take home $900 a week if u run 4-6 weeks at a time. Anyway, good luck to you.

still broke down. left oklahoma city saturday to bring the truck to tulsa. checked the truck into the shop here saturday afternoon, they still have not even looked at it yet. one guy in the shop said i needed a hotel room and not to run the truck til they fixed the problem, called them today and had to beg for a bed slip to stay at the hotel. really frustrated. I am not a quitter but they are really testing me.

Well here is what I do but thats just me. I would kick back in the motel and watch the tube, relax, and enjoy my days off. You will get $50 a day for sitting there and take the van for at least one meal at the training center. I look forward to a little time to relax because the times dont come to often. Usually your running your ### off. If during my 4-6 weeks out I get a couple days waiting for a load I just roll with it and enjoy the time not running. I think you need to RELAX because once your truck is fixed you should be fine. If not, call your DM's supervisor. One thing I have realized in this business is to relax and look at the big picture. I know from history that I am going to average take home $900 a week, so even if I were to sit for a week waiting for a truck repair, over the long run its going to average out. Getting pissed off is only affecting you and if you let those feelings out on others in the company you will really not be doing yourself any favors. Arrow is no different than the Corporate world (believe me I left it), you do your job and keep your mouth shut and you will be surprised how far you get. Or, at a minimum, how much more enjoyable it is. Anyway, I hope that helps you calm down a bit. I assure you Arrow is a good company but your going to be treated like a number (again, in every post I say this). In my opinioin there are no better companies out there to work for than Arrow for a driver with less than 2 years experience. Put in your two years and cash in on the high paying local job. Hell, after a year you might be able to find one, but with 2 years you can write your own ticket basically. Again, good luck to you and if there are any questions I can help answer just post here or send me a message.

still no truck, called shop tonight and they said there was still 1 more truck in front of me and when they do get to my truck, they will fix all the little stuff then send the truck back to international and have the injectors worked. looks like another weekend at the hotel and off the road.

Aaaahhhh, Southwest Regional. That is EXACTLY why I left. (Well, that and their beat the hell out of antique equipment) No freight at all in that region and what little freight they had was cheap as hell. I hear the OTR folks get paid better, but I don't know for sure.