As far as you wanting to be home weekends, most weekends are home late Friday, maybe even early Saturday with a Sunday night restart. That is MOST flatbed companies. LOWES loads ARE hard to strap correctly, because they load them very oddly. For instance, often I would get a trailer with wooden bundles (need to be strapped TIGHTLY) on one side of the trailer, with some pre-cut foam insulation boards at a higher level (strapped VERY loosely) on the other side of the trailer. So what do you do? Strap TIGHT, destroy foam boards, strap loose, load shifts. So you call the guard at the LOWES Dist Center to get a forklift sent to you to get re-arranged. So now you gotta take the tarps OFF to get this accomplished. Plan on 3-5 hours time doing this from time you pull in to time to go. BTW, you need to be at the drop b4 (8am?)(if I remember correctly, maybe 7am?) or its a service failure. They can collect these service failures to DAC you when you quit. KEEP in mind I am only explaining a worst case scenario, my loads at LOWES were anything from an entire load of shingles,(30 minutes MAX to strap n roll), to what I described above. There are good days n bad.

That is worst case for sure. I never had it that bad for the 2 years i pulled for them. Yeah there is some messed up load, but when in doubt throw all straps. If you have foam board on, just climb up there and move it. They are suppose to throw "belly" straps over the lumber, if they are loading "soft"stuff on top. Don't let lowes scare you, just use your noodle and look at your load carefully.

I wouldnt go back to McElroy if they was the last place on earth to work. They are crooks ! Google it. ! Two "high up's" was charged and convicted of embesslement from McElroy. One is the Founders son ! The other use to run BTC, till they fired him for " qestionable bussiness practices" They still work there with a "garnishment" for 10 years to pay it back.

Just thought of another one!! Pre-tarped (pre-tossed more like it) load, in the rain, from Brownsfield,TN to New Iberia,LA. You ALL KNOW when its raining there's a rush to get it done!! Secured, tarped, mind you on an older 45' trailer, down I-55 to I-12, I earned my rookie bull-rider certificate on that one!! Just before MS/LA line, I noticed my load tilted a lil bit to the right at the end of the trailer. Stopped, re-tightened the straps, added 2 portables to it, drove on to the stop. When at the stop myself and the receiving manager took a peek before I removed the straps n tarps. They had loaded a huge bundle of hardwood pieces on top of a bundle of white PVC!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OMG!! WTF!! Nothing we could do but let it fall to the ground. Hardwood landed perfectly, no damage. PVC, 1/3 of the load was crushed. I took pics, they took pics, called safety, turned in camera. Deemed not my fault. What brains at the dist center loaded that?????? LACK OF BRAINS more like it!!

I am not a recruiter, just a driver who a little over one year ago went to a CDL school, got my CDL-A, researched all the companies that hire "newbies" (including searching these forums) and chose to work for McElroy. I have been with them now for a year.

There will always be guys who had bad experiences with any trucking company. I just happen to be one of those guys who SO FAR have had generally positive experiences driving for McElroy.

Don't let anyone confuse you, flatbed work IS hard work. You will find that out if you go with ANY flatbed company. Tarps are heavy and even more so when they are wet or covered with snow. If you stick with it, you will get in shape and perhaps lose weight.

Anyway, this is the first day of my first paid week vacation, so I'm off

my buddy got a pre hire and an a orientation date while in school then in the end they said they couldnt hire him because of his job history, so dont put your eggs all in one basket cause they are looking for what i call zombies

Can anyone give me any recent info on Mcelroy ?
As far as mileage ?
Are they still slow ?
I am talking to them right now the location in Cuba AL

Any info are help would be of great help

__________________
"The game of life is a lot like football, you have to tackle your problems, block your fears, and score your points when you get the opportunity"- Lewis Grizzard.

I live close to Tuscaloosa in Al all I can really tell you about them is that I see about 10 of their trucks everyday between here and Nashville.

The trucks all seem a bit tired and ragged, personally I would never drive for them. I have no interest in pulling coils but thats just me I know plenty of drivers don't care

...and things are slow at McElroy just like everywhere else due to this economy. Having said that, however, I still managed to stay out all week this week. This is typically the slow season for flatbed work anyway, but compared to last year at this time, it is much worse.

As far as how much work you will get probably depends on where you live. I personally don't haul steel, so I miss out on those runs. Because of where I live, however, I get to haul a lot of trash out of N.Y.C. It's dirty work for sure, but good miles.

As for equipment - new guys get older trucks. After a year with them, my old truck broke down and they issued me a fairly new one, it's an '06 with about 280K miles on it.

Best wishes.

Wats-up fella's
I just graduated from ICC/SAGE in Spindale NC and live in a little town called Old Fort NC between asheville & marion. Mcelroy has been # the top of my list from day 1. Im not afraid to work and am ready to get out there and get-ur done. I have read every post on this board about Mcelroy and several others. Mcelroy still stands out to me.

Thanks for all your help on this fnlou88 wish I could message you and ask more questions but I dont have enough posts But thanks anyways be safe out there I have talked to diane alot along with a few other companys some van and some flat and everyone seems a lil slow right now which is to be expected but maybe after holidays things will pick up for everyone but as far as companys go Mcelroy has been one of the better companys I have read about and I have took time to talk to a few of there drivers none really had much bad to say like some of the other starter companys so I start school Jan so I got a few more months to decide maybe by then freight will be a lil better and will help with choice but thanks for anyone that has took time to answer the posts from us newbies

__________________
"The game of life is a lot like football, you have to tackle your problems, block your fears, and score your points when you get the opportunity"- Lewis Grizzard.