"Corporate" driving vs. the Trucking Company

Large Mega-Carriers, Different, not so better, you're a number

Smaller ones, sometimes they go belly up and leave you stranded to find your way home.

Smaller ones, if family owned, you'll have more bosses than Good has Apostles.

larger ones, can offer more benefits, retirement,etc.

smaller ones can as well

in the end?

flip a quarter, best 3 out of five, then decide.

 

The both have their own pros and cons. I wouldn't worry so much about the size of the company. Focus more on what the company can offer in terms of pay, miles, equipment and benefits.

 

Are you referring to private fleets like Walmart or Nestle?

 

Most here don't know what wawa is..... Lol. Only us lucky folks.

 

Summa the best darned coffee I ever had was from WaWa. And the number of pots available!

 

In my area the private fleets seem to have a better overall package...pay, benefits...and their hiring standards are higher. LTL is the only thing that can exceed or come close to them. So many variables in this industry though that it is hard to say...being that what is a great job for me might not work for you.

 

I prefer private fleets, if they are well run and managed by people that know and understand the transportation industry.
Currently I am in my last few days at a private fleet. They are not bad but a ton of physical work unloading, and 6 day per week schedule, sometimes 7 days, then a random day off when you run out of hours.

My direct supervisor has some understanding of the industry, but it is limited to what he learned driving for this company, and reading. He cares allot about the drivers and wants to do everything he can for us.
When you get a step over him you are in the HR department. They just look at cost. To them and to upper management we are a neccessary evil. They tried outsourcing our deliverys to stores in the past, but it did not go well. So when they brought the trucks back they lowered pay. And based pay on what they can find reported from company's. They see our pay as being as good or better than most in the area, so they will not raise it.

The problem is that they are doing what many drivers do. They just look at the CPM. And the yearly gross earnings. Yea, our pay per year is pretty good for south FL. But we have to work 6 and sometimes 7 days per week to get what the others are doing in 5 days. They see OTR as making allot more, but fail to realize that many of those drivers are off 1 day for each week out. So are really not working any more hours than we are. Since a restart every 6-7 days is mandatory to run our shifts. We are always out of hours at the end of the week. Well before day 8.

This would not happen if anyone above my supervisor knew anything at all about the industry. My pay is fine, for 5 days per week. It is not fine for 6 days.
Anyway, that is just a look inside a small private fleet lol. They will be raising pay soon, they just do not know it yet. But they have to hire 20+ drivers in LaGrange GA, in the next 4-6 months. And they will realize fast that they will not find the good experienced drivers that they want in that area at our current rates, with unloading required.

So if you go for a private fleet, make sure it is large enough to understand the industry.

 

Whats the saying? "Look for a job from a company with trucks and not a trucking company."