1. What is the average miles per power unit per week at that company? This leaves no wiggle room and I guarantee you that this is a number well known at any company. Don’t buy the snow job of, “Well, most drivers can get about 2500 miles if they run hard.” It’s ########, you aren’t going to be special, just another truck number. That average per power unit will let you compare companies better.

1. How am I going to stay warm/cool while on the road at that company? If they have apu’s it’s an easy answer. If they have bunk heaters your covered on staying warm. If they have a no idle alternative heat/ac system you might be okay but there seems to be a lot of break downs with those units. If they have an anti-idle program that prevents your truck from idling between say 30-70 outside temp combined with a bunk heater you will not always comfortable but will be okay most the time. If they have an idle percentage limit and your driving as a solo, be prepared to hear about the fact you idle too much. If they say it’s not their problem and their trucks don’t idle tell them to go pound sand.

1. What is that company’s home time policy? Industry standard is 1 day off for every 7 days out but don’t ever assume that’s how it works everywhere. I worked for a company that said home every 7-10 days. You could stay out longer if you wanted but they expected you back in the truck ready to roll after a 34 no matter how long you stayed out.

1. What is the complete compensation system at that company? Of course you want to know what the cpm pay is but that’s just the tip of the iceberg. You need to know if that cpm is paid on HHMG, pc miler, practical route, or hub miles. You need to know if they have forced per deim and if they charge an admin fee per mile for that crap. You need to know if they pay detention , how much they pay, when it kicks in(i.e. after first 2 hours), and if they pay whether they get it from the customer or not. You need to know if you get paid for chasing down an empty or doing a local(no kidding if you drop a load in a yard a lot of companies will demand you do a local for free). You need to know if they pay for extra stops. You also need to know if they pay hourly for line 4. You need to know if they reimburse for tolls and scales and how difficult is it to get reimbursed consistently if they do.

1. Will you force me to team with a stranger? Do I really need to explain why this would suck?

1. Will they coerce me into leasing? I’m pretty sure most companies that have both company and L/P don’t “force” anyone to lease. Although they might as well with some of the tactics they use. Like, “We don’t have any company trucks right now so you can go home and play xbox till you figure out we aren’t going to seat you. Oh look we got lots of these shiny new lease trucks, want one?”

1. What sort of stuff are you going to charge me for? Some companies make drivers put up a deposit in case they damage a company truck. Other companies make you pay for all sorts of needed equipment like cargo straps, kingpin locks, trailer locks etc.

1. What is a companies CSA scores? Pay close attention to the maintenance and fatigue driving scores. They will help you compare companies on two important things. How well they maintain the trucks and on how hard they push drivers to deliver whether they have the hours to or not. Plus a company with high scores will get a lot more attention for the DOT cops, trust me this is never a good thing.

1. What lanes and length of hauls would you run if you worked at that company? If you don’t like snow don’t work for a company that runs to the northern states. If you don’t like short runs don’t work for a company that specializes in regional freight.

1. What do drivers say about that company? The larger your sample of opinions the more likely you’ll have an accurate opinion of how a company is perceived. Driver’s that have worked for that company can give you insight on what the work environment was like. Don’t discount experienced driver’s opinions that haven’t worked for that company. They will often have formed those opinions based on things like the skills or lack of skills exhibited by that company’s drivers as well as the condition of that company’s equipment over the years.

Do not trust a recruiter talk to the companies actual drivers