Dick Simon Trucking doesn't exist anymore. They went bankrupt, but they weren't sold off in "parts". Swift bought the whole outfit and simply called it by a new name--Central Refrigerated or something like it.

I'll say this much about Dick Simon--it sucked. That had to be the absolute worst company in Salt Lake back when the skunk trucks were rolling along terrorizing the highways. Their "training" system was famous. It was about what Swift is today--young, inexperienced drivers were used as trainers. It was no surprise there were many accidents involving at-fault Simon drivers.

And of course, Dick Simon's help wanted ads appeared daily in the Salt Lake Tribune. I think every day I was in Salt Lake, an eight-year span, there was a Simon ad in that paper. If the ad wasn't in that paper, you knew it was x-mas day and there was no paper.

Sometimes Simon would go above and beyond the "normal" however. About once every 6 weeks, the Salt Lake Tribune would be peppered with Simon help-wanteds advertising all kinds of jobs ranging from janitors to terminal managers. Don't know what was going on, but it looked like LOTS of folks were getting pissed off at Simon and quitting in droves. And the drivers were only some of the quitters. One of those people who once quit was a driver trainer who protested the fact Simon "kept on" a nut-case driver Simon had hired. The driver later crashed his truck into the California State Capitol building and roasted both the truck and himself. Simon was sued by the state of California for millions. I assume the mormon church helped bail ol' Dickey out of that mess.

I'll say that if Central really IS owned by Swift, I'd avoid that company. I'd avoid them as well if they have help-wanteds in the Salt Lake Tribune every day of the world like ol' Dick Simon's skunk ads were.

This company is called Central. Jerry Meore bought and owns this company. Swift has nothing to do with this company. Jerry was the prez of swift at one time. He now is a share holder. Central is a growing company and is a good company to work for.

Ahh, my bad, Jimi. I thought Jerry and Swift were still together. This is why I thought Swift was associated with Central given that Jerry bought out Dick Simon.

Simon was a bad apple. Is Central? I guess the Salt Lake Tribune's help-wanted ads will tell me that, as will Central's weekly orientation class sizes and terminal lots (as in LOTS of empty, cleaned-outs). As soon as I get back to the SLC area, I'll check the paper and do a drive-by of Central's terminal. My eyes will tell me if they're good.

They have a school there in Utah. And just by driving by isnt going to tell a thing. My brother -In- law is a OO for them he has no complaints.

If I even do the drive-by, I'll do it on a Monday morning around 7:30. I assume Central's orientation classes begin Monday mornings at 8. I'll count all the new hires going into that week's orientation and decide what that means. I may not even have to do a drive-by. Central may have a help-wanted in the Salt Lake Tribune every day of the world just like Simon did.

Swift is a public company, in that they sell stock on the open market, but make no mistake, Jerry Moyes still OWNS Swift, and is the largest shareholder, unless something has changed since I last checked. It is still HIS company. He did step down as CEO in 2004, and Robert W. Cunningham is now the hired and appointed CEO of record.

Moyes additionally owns or controls several other Motor Carriers. These are Central Freight Lines, Inc. of Waco, Texas (32% controlling interest), Central Refrigerated Services inc., of West Valley, Utah (formerly Simon Transportation Services, Inc.), and Jaguar Fast Freight (folded into Central Freight lines, Inc. in 1999).

Ownership does have it's privileges. Jerry Moyes made a one day purchase of Swift stock last year, then sold it at the end of the day, making him over 1.9 MILLION dollars on that one day. If memory serves me correctly, he bought 455,000 shares at a little over $16.00 a share, and sold it for slightly over $20.00 a share.

Sounds like he exercised a stock option for reasons of his own...

I cant say that Dick Simon Trucking was a good company or not. Both my mom and her husband(ex now) worked there. The husband worked there for over 10 years. He was the Shop Foreman. My mom continues to work in the trucking industry. She now works for Central, so does her bf(see a trend here?). Anyway. I've met the Simons, and the owner of England and Pride. My mom recruits for Central. I can tell you for a fact that they have a good amount of people comin in for orientation weekly. My husband works for them as a local. Yeah, I have a family full of truckers and people that work in the transportation industry. Dick Simon had their bad drivers, so do other trucking companies. You cant get after a company when they only have so much control over the drivers. My friends dad inventing a new system that will probably be a "must have" in big rigs within the next 10 years. Its like a GPS system that can shut down your truck or lock you out of it if need be. I know the government is tryin to get their hands on it. Anyway, all companies have their people have screw up now and then. Alot of companies have been sued over it. It sucks its life. No need to bash the company.

Most Central Ref drivers I've talked to like the company very much.

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Was it Central refer the company that Moyes put his daughter in charge of? I thought I read something along those lines a while back.