there isn't a lot being said about the smaller companies. i have worked for three OTR companies, the largest of which had maybe 130 trucks. one screwed me out of time and money, one was decent but not perfect and one was quite good.

this one is out of fargo, nd, though they will consider people to hire from a fairly wide area. almost all trailers are dry vans, they have a small number of step decks. they run all 48, i usually had a number of runs to choose from on outbound and split my time between going west, southeast and the occasional run to NY state.

i drove for midnite express for 2.5 years, 1 year's worth in there as a regional pseudo-dedicated (the routes were not dedicated, but it was freight being hauled from and back to the same customer, with various places being delivered to in the region) i never heard too many complaints from others about them and i had no particular problem with anybody there. equipment was well-maintained, shop personnel did their job; dispatch and higher-ups also approachable and decent people.

miles were the norm, i once did a blatant over hours run, towards the beginning, just to show my dispatcher that if i say i can get something done i can. (c'mon people, this over hours crap isn't so hard to deal with, a lot of it boils down to, are you a door mat or do you stand up for yourself? a lot of people in this business will show you some respect if you clearly tell them what you are or aren't going to do for them) never really came across that sort of situation again, and they really didn't push over hours running (i didn't hear anyone else complain about that, either). i did once have to sit as long as a couple days for a load, but for the most part, reloads were ready either before i had unloaded or within a few hours of unloading and most of them were their own, though i did run across a few brokered loads.

benefits/pay were decent, they have a few different kinds of tractors, none of which they keep much past 400k miles, they use peoplenet but aren't terribly big brother about it. they prefer to use a particular fuel network (pilots, loves, flying j's) but beyond that don't care where or when the truck gets filled. only thing i did not like was that when i started, trucks were at 70 mph, now they are running 65. however, the tractors do all have thermoking tri-pac APU's.

i was usually out 10-14 days and then home for a good 2 days, maybe 3, depending on how many miles were put in. i was never hassled for taking too much time off, and i don't think they mind too much if you hit most of your bonuses (if there were no issues, there was a safety bonus every month, i managed to get most of mine, i think the cut off is about 10k miles for the month; i don't remember the particulars but it amounted to about an extra 100 bucks a month. they did not look for reasons to screw you out of it)

i do not currently work there because i wanted a change of pace from OTR driving and started working for an LTL company, local driving, that is affiliated with them. they did not want me to leave, but gave me a good reference. (midwest motor express, also a decent company to work for, if you like local stuff) however i am considering going back on the road and becoming and O/O, and i'm thinking about working for midnite again in that capacity.