Menards Inc.- The Good and The Bad

I am a company driver out of the DC in Eau Claire, WI making deliveries to WI and MN. They do company, I/C, and sub contract work to other carriers out of ALL of their DCs. I have now been here for 8 months and this is my review of their Transportation side of things.

As far as equipment goes for company drivers. We have 14 trucks total at the Eau Claire, WI DC 8 are 2011 Cascadia Day cabs with Cummins ISX engines and 6 of them are 2014 CNG Pete 386 Day Cabs with 12L Cummins CNG engines and 10 spd. A lot of people really hate on the CNG engines but they are really not that bad. These new ones are upgrades from the ones we had previously were 9L engines with 6sp autos. These new engines have come a long way. They pull about the same as those DD13 engines if that gives you an idea. They are even coming out with 15L engines within a year. The only downside is that they can only go about 340 miles before filling up. Maybe more but we have yet to really push these bigger tanks. The new ones were supposed to get saddle tanks as well but I have a feeling they cheaped out on that idea.

I believe if anyone is looking at working out of one of the many DCs located through out the Midwest,(Eau Claire, WI, Shelby, IA, Valley, NE, Iron Ridge, WI, Plano, IL, Terre Heute, IN, and one in MI) I/C are paid fairly well for being home everyday with a day cab(something in the high .90/mile plus full fsc).

Now as far as working for the company.... Well all I can say is the pay is a bit rough to say the least. I got hired with them with just 4 months OTR exp. and was started at .26/mile off the hub. Pay cap is a whooping .32/ mile. Stop pay is $5 for D&H, $10 for Live Unload(no matter how long it takes), tarped flats are $20 live unload, and local store deliveries within 60 miles of the dc pay $25 for D&H and $35 for live unload, and there is no breakdown pay. They also have a safety bonus based off your CSA score for the year and it goes from .04/mile for all miles driven in the year all the way down to nothing if your score is 20<. Also there is REAL profit sharing that starts from day one. First year starts at 2.5% of gross and each year it increases all the way up to 15% of gross at 6 years with the company.

Also, 2nd Shift gets an extra .05/mile and everyone gets an extra .12/mile for running on a weekend. I work every Saturday which is my money grubbing day. A prime example would this last Saturday. I did a D&H at our Coon Rapids, MN- Golden Valley, MN- and Winona, MN stores totaling 548 hub miles X .38 = 208.24 plus $15 in drop pay for a total of 223.24, not too bad for being home every day.

When I was hired they told me that I would average 450 miles a day, for the most part it is true. I know I/C can do better since they don't have someone that needs the truck after your shift is done so you can use up your full 14 hrs.

As far as what we do and what we pull: We do both vans and flats to the stores. Flats unload quicker at most places then vans. When pulling flats outta the DC they are already tarped, strapped, and ready to roll for both I/C and company. Sub contracts I believe are live loads. We also as company drivers have to do backhauls. Most of the time they are not too bad getting you loaded. A lot of the places make things just specifically for Menards. The one thing that I really really really really really really really really HATE about this job though is they make us haul containers from a local rail yard in Chippewa Falls, WI back to the DC. It's only 34 mile round trip and only $10 in stop pay. It takes a minimum of 2 hours to do them unless you are a Billy Big Rigger and have no cares for safety or your CDL. Anyways it basically equates to making around $9/hr which is an insult to me. Plus you just kind of feel dirty pulling them, maybe its just me?

All in all if you are looking for a gig being home everyday and live within 50 miles of one of the DCs its not too bad of a job. When you go to a store you are always unloaded first. I have had drivers get mad at me for it. But Menards likes to keep their trucks rolling. If anyone has any other questions about working for them, feel free to send me a pm.

 

03/18/2014

Started my day at 1:30 a.m. today. Did a live unload in Willmar, MN and then a D&H p/u at Performance Seed Co.(a load of bird seed) in Waite Park(St. Cloud), MN. Ran into a lot of snow on the way back so it was all I could do for today. 441 miles X .26 = $114.66 + $20 in stop pay for a whooping 134.66. I was out of the truck by 1 p.m.

 

And your opinion is based on what exactly? It's one thing to say something and back it up with an experience and a whole other thing to just be a troll.

 

And as a side not, I did not start this thread saying that hauling their freight as an outside carrier. I know the they abuse the hell out of contract freight. This is about my opinions and feelings about how things go being a COMPANY or I/C driver.

 

03/19/2014

Started at 3 a.m. Did a live unload in Wausau, WI. Came back for my day of local work. Did a Eau Claire East van, local vendor pickup, and a local container run. Ended the day at 1:15 p.m. for a quarterly safety meeting. 277 miles and $50 of stop pay.