Please, anyone, show me a good company with more than 100 trucks! 5 trucks? 1 truck? I have been in this business for a long time and have worked for a couple of good companies, they are out of business now, drove out by the larger companies that drive down freight rates and make up the difference in revenue on the drivers backs. Hometime? 2-4 days off a month is NOT home time. Sleeping in a truck with no A/C when it is 85 degrees in the sleeper is not rest or sleep. Pay that has risen by 1/3 while prices have increased by a factor of 4 does not make for a decent living.
There are a few decent companies left, very few and they are small.
I know of good drivers with clean records being let go from their jobs simply because they have topped out in pay and the company wants new drivers so they can pay them less. Safety? Give me a break. Family atmosphere? Right!
If a company wishes to be what they claim respect the drivers that make your paycheck. Allow them to spend time with their family, pay them for what they do, treat them like a human being, and reward them for a job well done. Do not put shareholders first while breaking a drivers back.
Lastely no, I have never and will never drive for those companies of which I speak, and you all know who they are. I have done almost everything in this industry there is to do. Safety, training, accident investigation, owner/operator, and company driver. I have seen it from both sides, some of you may know me. I have worked with thousands of drivers in all aspects and am known as being very pro driver to the point of placing my job on the line when I worked in the office. I quit and went back on the road once the company I worked for was bought out and the new owners expected me to lie to my drivers when they were stealing from them. So take it as you will.

I'm new here and it seems like for every good post about a company, there are two that say "stay away...they'll screw you over". Doesn't make a guy like me very comfortable about my decision to get my CDL and hit the road.

There are good things and bad things about every company, it all depends on your needs and desires. It is harder for older drivers such as myself because we remember what it was. Not that all was good then, there have been some major improvements. Now what we dislike is the companies attempts to control every aspect of what is done. From speed restrictions, to telling a driver they must log 15-30 min for a pretrip (D.O.T. says it takes 4). The money we made 20-30 years ago compared to today in buying power has gone down considerably. The companies nickle and dime drivers to death and drivers take it. Why? Mainly because most are pretty new under 5 years, which is becoming the norm. By the 5th year most have had enough and leave, that is also about the time they top out in pay IF they stay with one company. Most had had 10 or more jobs by then. I have had 5 jobs in 23 years. I left one after the company was bought out. One when I married and moved. The other three were s##t companies that I did not stay with very long.
Some drivers prefer to be gone 3-5 weeks, others like being gone for a couple of months, then there are those such as myself whom prefer to be home more. Toi each his own. My probles is with companies requiring all their driver to be gone a set number of days and EARNING 1 or 2 days home. Excuse me but my being able to visit my family is not something I EARN. My pay is what I earn.
Most new drivers seem to fall into 3 catagories, one are those whom have a romantic notion of the open road, seeing America and all that. They tend to leave fairly quickly. They find no glamor in the long hours, log manipulation, crappy shippers and consignees. The second group are low paid labor who deem $40,000 a year as good pay. They stay around longer, mainly because they feel rich, stop shopping at wally world, buy a new pick-up and caddie and generally find them selves in so much debt they have no option but to continue. Then you have a small minority of older drivers who actually like this business, have been in it a long time but hate what the companies have become.
As faw as a new driver looking at these boards? I would suggest you take them for what they are, a sounding board. Yes the big companies are driver mills. Small doesn't mean better, just different. The industry as a whole has gone down hill. But so has the American industrial base as a whole. All politicians are corrupt, corporate America is all about the stock holder, a truck strike will never happen. I have been listening to talk of one for over 20 years, it is always scheduled for vacation time and the only ones who "shutdown" are setting at home drawing vacation pay.

I work for a co that has 1500 trucks and they are by far the best company I have ever worked for. I get paid well. I drive nice equipment and I get home almost every weekend. They dead headed me about 8 hours to get home for thanksgiving. They got me home when my daughter needed surgery. Last week when I got home and found a water leak in my house they sent a driver to my house with a empty trailer and he delivered my load last monday so I could work on my house. I am happy with them!

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My childhood dream of becoming a truck driver turned into a nightmare!

I drove for a large company for 2.5 years (600 trucks.) they treated me very well, never gave me any lip, and got me home every weekend. I worked for a small company (10 trucks) a couple weeks ago. I worked for them for 3 days. they paid 5 cents LESS per mile than the big company, NOTHING for deadheading, NOTHING for unloading 70 pieces of furniture, NO vacation, holiday or 401K pay. and they practically DEMANDED that I run illegal. so I don't buy your argument.

it doesn't matter how long you drive for a company, if you have a wreck or citations or don't perform, they SHOULD let you go. they simply can't afford it. even if they retire older drivers at the top of the pay scale and bring in new people who will work for less - SO BE IT. laying off more expensive employees and replacing them with newer guys is NOT exclusive to the trucking industry. you have to compete with other people for money. employees have to compete, AND companies have to compete. and NOW, we have to compete with mexicans and chinese and indians and brazalians and every other excuse for a country on the planet. you better get used to your wages going down as long as people buy foreign junk at sprawl mart.

nobody said trucking was going to be a pie job. if you can't cut the mustard, get out of the kitchen. nobody is forcing you to work at gun point. I don't think your company will miss you too much. as we've already discussed, there will be someone else in the seat of your old truck before you get you belongings cleaned out. yes, it WILL get harder and harder to make a living in this country. the greed of rich people isn't helping. but that will not change. the "little guy" has to accept a lot of the responsibility for what's going on in the country and for allowing it to get to this point.

On the one hand you support the corporations screwing of the American worker and on the other you blame the workers for allowing it to get so bad.

By the way 20+ years in trucking for myself. I think I can handle it.
You? looks like 2.5 years. If thats the case you have not been driving long enough to know where the heat is coming from.

Wal Mart drivers I've talked to seem to be happy. Private fleets, like Steelcase, Herman Miller, etc, never have a driver shortage. Small company? Borchardt Trucking, out of Wisconsin. He has about 15-20 trucks. Top notch equipment, great pay, and home every night. Kingman Dedicated, out of Elkhart, Indiana. Good equipment, decent pay, if you want a road job.

Those that keep applying with the same ol' companies like CRE, Werner, USX, Swift, will get the same ol' result most of the time.

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Go, and beat your crazy head against the sky.....

Most private carriers are good.

landmine,

Very interesting post. You are right in that most (99%) of large companies are driver mills and go thru drivers like crap thru a goose. That is evident by the many posts on this site. These posts are just a small picture of what happens in the real world. Remember, not all drivers know of this site. All of us had to start somewhere. Unfortunately, most have started at large companies where they are treated like second class citizens. This site is here to educate these people. If they still choose those same companies, it is nobody's fault but their own.

There are a few drivers who enjoy those companies and are successful but for the vast majority, failure prevails for a lot of reasons. These companies are always advertising in magazines. Has anyone ever thought as to why the need to advertise? Do you think it is because they cannot keep up with the freight demand? Or, do you think it is the way they pay their drivers, provide benefits and generaly treat their employees?

I work for a company that has 791 tractors as of this date per FMCSA. Yes, it is a private fleet. Although I cannot speak for other distribution centers, I can speak for mine. We make anywhere from $60k to $80k per year. We are home every night and work Mon-Fri during the day. Our health insurance (medical, dental, optical and prescription) are paid by the company. Retirement is also paid by the company. We also have vacation days, sick days, holidays and jury service that is paid by the company. There is a lot more.

There are good compaies out there if you do your research. All drivers owe it to themselves and their families to find the best company. Yes, they are still out there.

Drive safe

I work for a company that has one of the largest fleets of trucks in the U.S. - a vast majority of their commercial fleet are the 6-wheel trucks with 24 foot flatbeds, but we have plenty of semi's, too. Family oriented is the name of this company's game. They are TRULY family oriented. Safety? They gave me a bonus in February - a full week's pay - for driving the previous year without any accidents or tickets or "FMCSA" roadside citations. If something's wrong with the truck, they fix it. Period. I don't have to beg people to get things fixed, and I am rewarded handsomely for safe driving. ON top of that, if a main branch and it's satellite stores go for X amount of days without accidents, we get other rewards. Homemade breakfast, gift certificates, and as time passes if no accidents/injuries are recorded, much better prizes.

There are still good companies out there, is all I'm saying, and I will stand testament to the company I am working for as one of the best there is. But then again, they aren't a trucking company, they are a wholesaler that has their own fleet of trucks to deliver the goods they sell......