Home time policy is 1 day off for every 7 out. You can save up up to 4 days off for 4 weeks out. Talk to your dispatcher and they can make other arrangements if a longer vacation is needed. Some dedicated accounts will have you home every night, some everyother night. Depends. Also around the holidays (TurkeyDay, Christmas & New Years) you only get to take one off (we do have a lot of freight running thru the holidays and GTI actually feeds you).

We at GTI have those kind of days too. Its rare but has been increasing lately with the economy. In Nov & Dec, I've had 4 days layover (2 days were a customers mistake and I agreed to sit around and wait it out)

A fair job with fair pay. Your gonna have +s and -s everywhere you go.

I think we do hire drivers out of Ohio (not positive), The longer you stay out, the better, because they can plan you on the longer loads which for you would be to the Left Coast. I dont think we do any solo freight to NJ or VA but I could be wrong, not real familiar with Mid-West Ops. Terminal for Mid-West is in Green Bay, WI and I think their trying to start a yard in Indianapolis. WE DONT TRAIN ANY FREIGHT (In the 5 years I ve been with GTI, the only time I've seen a GTI trailer is on a train, is if its brand spanking new being delivered to us, or we got a ton of mt's somewhere that need to be somewhere else.

You can run as legal as you want to. No conflicts there. Occasionally with some drivers, they'll beat us up with "hot" loads that got to be there yesterday. But there policy is log what you drive. If your a legal driver, you wont have any problems.

For Ohioans, you would be covered under Beech Street PPO, Its alright, not the greatest. Check with your/hers docs to see if there preferred providers. Its the standard 80% until you meet all your deductibles for the year and then they cover 100%. I think you sign up for it, during your orientation, and I think coverage begins after 90 days. Again this would be a recruitment office question for a firm answer.[/quote]

Our hiring freezes I think are on a weekly basis. Call recruitment. I should start a GTI Ask the Recruiter Thread in here, like the Peanuts cartoons, a little booth with a sign "Psychiatrist 5 cents"

GTI policy is 1 day off for every 7 out for OTR. Dedicateds are different. As for trucks going home, general policy is to park at a terminal, drop lot or an occasional customer lot.

GTI payday is once a week. You have 2 options. Either Comdata or Direct Deposit into your bank account. I have Direct Deposit at WaMu (yikes, not WaMu ) and its there first thing Monday morning, or Tuesday if Mondays a holiday.

Hey LVNV I would like to know if you guys forsee any major slowdown in the next couple of months..I ask only because I hear other co's have a hiring freeze because it's so slow right now.I am going to attend S/West truck school and will start in Jan or Feb. and if it picks up more in march I will go later then sooner. I chatted to Dave in recruiting and he said that living in L.V. is good place for drivers to be in.Take care...

yes, I think you will be able to take your truck home with you living in eugene. there terminals are n portland and medford. that's to far to drive your pov.

I drive for gordon and will be home on both thanksgiving and christmas. I will not be on the road. I have been here 2-1/2 year and have not mist one yet and I won't. That bs to think a driver going to be trucking on those days. No that's retarded. aint happen.

The winter slowdown is traditionally a yearly thing between Nov & April for some areas of trucking. Christmas ordering is completed and stores are living off of inventory on hand. With the economy the way it is some sectors are experiencing large slowdowns. We too are slowing down, and to me it seems its been worse this year then last. But the winter here in the NW has been brutal this year so far and has made any attempt for ontime trucking and keeping customers happy a joke. (As I type Im being buried by a blizzard here in Spokane). As for living in LV, being a good thing, well it used to be a whole lot better. I keep hearing that good things are coming to those who live in the desert SW (LV / PHX), but have yet to see any progress. A large refrigerated dedicated acct I'm on from Henderson has all but evaporated, they say it should pick back up in Feb (keep my fingers crossed).

For some, it works out that way. Me personally I choose to work the holidays for a couple of reasons 1) I have no immediate family, why take a holiday off that usually is a family holiday. 2) Its usually quiet and never have problems finding parking, even late at night. 3) I save my time off for New Years so I can party with friends and colleagues 4) Its one of the few times a year we get anything free from GTI (holiday meal).

I've got a friend whos been with GTI for just over 5 months now. She went with them, because they were one of the few companies that would hire her, right from a cdl school.
Anyways, she has an older (26??)truck with over 500,000 miles on it, no APU. Been getting yelledfor idling at night when she's trying to sleep, where the temps are either cold, or during the summers where the temps are HOT.
She went to the Dir. of Safety, and complained, How can i get a restfull sleep if im always having to start the truck up to cool/ heat, because my Dispatcher told me i better not idle, or i'll get fired.
Dispatcher has been told to back down, drivers will idle when needing to.

In the 5 months, she has seen mostly i-5 with a few trips east to Idaho/ Utah, and just recently, got a trip out to Oklahoma, and back to Washington.
Once her year is up with them, and if her truck doesn't get an apu, she says, she will leave them. Can't leave or they won't cover the cost of the tution she paid for cdl school.

I agree with what you have to say about the "Let's stick it to the driver" policy changes that have happened the last few years. Every year these companies are passing their cost of doing buisness on to us. I hope the marketplace takes care of these issues fast because I am tired of my wallet getting slimmer. I also don't like the way GTI is constantly slamming us for idling when we don't have apu's on all of our trucks and none of our heavyhaul fleet has them. I am in the heavyhaul fleet and I will idle my truck when I need to so I can be comfortable and I don't care who gets their panties in a wad. They can put an apu on my truck or live with what little idle time I get. I hope I never get questioned for it because I will take it to the top if I have to or I will just stop driving if it comes to it.

gordon is no differant than any other company. its just what you make of it. so if you have a great attitude you will do good at any job you go into. well most, there are some nightmares out there.

Well I have finished my training. We sure did get a lot of winter driving in. I think we drove in snow all three weeks. I got to chain up in Oregon driving on 26. The people of Oregon need to be told about salt, it works wonders on ice and snow. I could not believe I5 was a sheet of ice with cars and sport utes flipped in the ditch. The training went extremely well, which was due to the trainer I got. He is great guy and will be getting phone calls when I have question. I go to indy on the 30th to finish orientation and get my truck. I am hoping for a non smoker truck. [yea right] I hope you all have a great Christmas and New year. Be safe and I will see you on the road