Don Hummer Trucking

I started at Don Hummer the end of July and my experience has been a positive one.

I'll start off answering your questions and then give you my personal opinion.

When I started in July I was assigned an '07 International. The miles were up there and alot of guys would probably scoff at having to run an "old" truck. But don't worry, they are almost all gone now, they put me in a 2014 Cascadia 2 weeks ago. The fleet is almost all 2012 and newer now. They have a little of everything to be honest Prostara, Pete 387 and some new 579's, Cascadias, and Volvo 670 and 780's. Most are autos except the 2014's which are the 579's and Cascadias, they are 10 speeds.

Freight lanes are mainly from the Cedar Rapids or Davenport area heading east. I've done alot of New Jersey since starting here, but I don't mind because 9 out of 10 times you come right back to Iowa. Occasionaly we get frieght down south but it's not nearly as steady as the east coast variety. Although I just ran from W Liberty IA to Laredo and got a load out of Pharr TX to Indy for Monday, a nice 2600 mile round trip. Average length of haul for me has been right around the 700 mile range.

Benefits I can't help you with that because I'm not eligible until the end of this month to sign up for them.

My personal thoughts on Don Hummer are if you can manage your time and trip plan you can do very well here. They will keep you running if you're willing. If you have any other questions just let me know, i'll answer them the best I can, or i'll just ask my Dad who also works here.

 

We do some D&H but it's mostly at the customers around Iowa. Loads are mostly truckload. We do have one shipper in Muscatine IA that ships multi stop furniture loads that are usually 3-5 stops but thats really all I've seen as far as ltl goes.

Orientation is pretty straight forward. Wiz quiz first morning then to the office in Oxford to meet Greg the head of safety. Hes a really cool guy, ex DOT/Sheriff. If you really want to get him going, ask him if the big tank under the reffer is where the DEF goes. Day 2 is DOT physicals first thing in the morning then back to Oxford for more classes. After lunch you'll head to the yard in Homestead (yes the office and yard aren't together, they're about 3 miles apart.) For road testing and a shop tour. You'll probably have your truck assignments by then so you can check out your new ride by then. You may even see me there, delivering in Ames IA tomorrow then heading to shop to get the qualcom fixed. If i see you guys around i'll come over and introduce myself.

 

I spend 4-6 weeks out at a time, my choice, when it's time to head home i've never had a problem getting there on the day I requested. Dad lives in the same general area of NY as me and gets home every other weekend no problems. Alot of times he'll get home a day earlier than requested. Lynette will be the DM everyone gets out of orientation, she'll go over everything about what macro to send and all that when she sees you all on the morning of the third day before you get your first dispatch.

 

Arcade ny? That's not too far from where I live, I used to pick up loads out of the feed plant going to Iowa when I was with GSTC, and I've ran into a couple of ex drivers from there that now drive for hummer...

 

I've never picked up at Blue Seal, but I know my Dad has gotten loads into there to get him home. Where abouts in NY are you?

 

im from Jamestown just tossin it out their lol