Cole Transport, Bison Transport, Andy Stieva Trucking; opinions and input please

Well, judging by the company profile Cole is a medium size company that runs a lot of short trips across the border or within ontario. Looks like you'd be delivering steel on a curtain side trailer.

Bison is a large company with lots of freight all over Canada and the USA. They most likely are looking at you for their Driver Finishing Program wherein they train you in long haul driving in exchange for a two year commitment - seems a long time.

Andy Stieva has an interesting SAFER rating - a lot of HOS violations. Maybe the gripes about them harassing drivers to be "creative" with their logs is true, maybe not.

Have you tried Schneider, Kriska, etc.?

 

You look at Zavitz or Zavcor? They run from your area down to NJ/NY/etc and back, not long haul so much. Not sure if they take new drivers but the drivers I have spoken to seem happy working there. Bison you would be gone for longer and do a lot of western Canada runs, again their drivers seem to be happy working there.

Maybe need to decide which sort of job you really want to chase, local/long distance, flat/van/reefer/tank/etc..

 

I would be blunt about it. Ask them if they have an explanation and tell them you don't want to be hauled in for inspection all the time. They probably just tell you they have Florida runs because many people think they will get to visit the beach every week. It isn't typically like that. Also, saying you have runs to Florida just gets drivers in the door, they might send a truck down there once a week, everyone else runs other freight and complains about not going to FL and once or twice a year everyone gets a turn. Just a lure to get drivers in the seats.

If flatbed longhaul is your desire then maybe start with Cole if they can send you with someone to teach you about how to chain and tarp stuff down. There is a lot to learn about load securement, things like what is considered legal or illegal ... does the chain go over or under the rail? Working load limits, anchor points, all that stuff ... How to load one coil properly on the trailer so your weights are good, etc. Once you become a master at it you could move on to other flatbed companies if you still want to do the long distance driving.

 

Are you still working for Cole? If so, how do you like it?