Do not work for knight transportation!!!

I have to say that even though I did enjoy my time with Knight, what you say about them is absolutely true.

1. Maintenance facilities do not like working on trucks from other terminals. You will go to the non-priority parking way at the back. You could be there for days; weeks if you trash talk the mechanics. Hours if you bribe them. Take your pick.

2. Doing minor repairs is good for you, but do not ever tell your company you did so. The liability becomes instantly yours. Do not tell them. I cannot stress this enough. Do not tell them.

3. They don't want you to idle; and yes, the tractor only idles for 5 minutes. If you befriend the mechanics that maintain your terminals' trucks, they will tell you what combination of switches or buttons to hit to disable the 5 minute limit on your particular model of truck. It's usually the cruise controls. Even then, the truck will still shut off if the outside temperature reaches certain limits. About 50F or above for heating, 80F or below for cooling.

4. Driver is not allowed to pull over to read messages. True. Do it anyway. I never saw them following me to enforce this rule, and even if they did, I wouldn't care.

5. Detention pay only starts after you've been waiting 2 1/2 hours at about 12/hr. You are better off leaving for another load. That is something I did to them constantly; if a load was not ready when it was supposed to be, I would call a different dispatcher and get another load. Of course this behavior pisses off your assigned dispatcher, but time is money. If he can't pull his head out, I'll pull it out for him. It didn't take long for mine to get with the program because he saw that it made us both more money.

6. Breakdown pay? You won't get anything. My suggestion: Don't break down. Ever. Take care of your truck. It's your moneymaker.

7. Lay-overs? Same. Don't do it.

8. Not getting paid for loads you delivered. Yup. Takes a couple of weeks and all the correct paperwork to get it back. Didn't always work out in my favor. Most of the time it did. One short-haul and one long-haul load I didn't get paid for at all.

I ran with them for about a year in Western States, Central, and South East, but not by their choice: I don't take loads to the north east. I don't take loads to Canada. I usually stay away from loads going north of the I-80. Even though I ran for them from Las Vegas, NV, I mostly stuck to Texas and California. But you gotta hustle: I would always take L.A., Oakland and San Francisco loads and even loads going to Florida. If your gonna get stuck somewhere, it's best to be somewhere that has good entertainments, not some ****hole in bum-****. Alcohol alone does not qualify as enough entertainment for me.

Basically what I would do is, if a load came through the Qualcomm with any of the "I Don't's", I would call another dispatcher (local or regional, wherever you're at), get a better load, then Qualcomm back that I was already assigned, and physically attached to another load. Works best near 5 o'clock when they are leaving to go home. Use Night Dispatch as often as you can. Yes, they get mad. No, I don't care.

They want you to be cattle: docile, subservient, happy to be taking it in the butt. That is the American Way my friends. If you want it to be different, you have to be an owner-op.

They did eventually fire me in December of '08, in pretty much the same way they did you, but I think it had to do more with having too many drivers on the payroll and not enough loads. In the end, it was all about money. I'm not happy about it, but I'm OK with it now.

 

I was taught that if you didnt have something nice to say, dont say anything. So I wont.

 

This is the American way. Some companies, like Knight, are so blatant about getting their "more than fair sure", it's amazing someone would willfully work them. But their are some pretty good bosses out here, none of which can be found at Knight, if your willing to look for one of them.

Knight sure was a j-o-b alright. One of the few places I have been in life where no one gave a flip...about anything. I made them some money and I made some too but the antics, attitudes, games, and dishonesty are just unnecessary and are in place for one reason, to create turnover. You don't need to be an owner operator to feel like your doing a worthy job necessarily. Drivings what I do, I just can't believe I drove for Knight.

 

i agree w/u seawind! my hubby worked there for 2 wks! the recruiter did paperwork to have direct deposit. on qual comm came the payroll msg. we went to knoxville to buy a truck and then go back to work for knight as an o/o but we were never paid! his tire on trailer blew 275+miles from our yard (charlotte nc). memphis pm dispatch said no bring it in. yes they do have idle control! in fact most companies are going to that! he stayed out for 2wks and was paid under $300. he has driven for over 20+yrs and is very experienced.

 

Another unhappy ex Knight driver EAST of the Rockies. LOL

 

Are you implying that there are any happy drivers east of the Rockies?

 

Maybe he is implying that west coast drivers are okay cutting themselves short by working for FREE. No matter how you slice it, their still not paid for ALL miles driven and probably have to beg for any accessory pay. Theres no way all west coast drivers are averaging 2500 miles a week. Knight turns over drivers out west just like they do everywhere.

There's no denying it, Knight hates a driver that won't leave.

 

I can't believe it either. It's obvious by your posts you need lots of hand holding and hugs from the outfit you work for. Knight just did not do it for you.

But I still don't see how someone who is supposedly working for another outfit, and so happy still feels the need to basically repeat what they have already posted.

Why not just say knight sucks and please read my 8 quad-zillion previous posts on why they suck?

 

I don't need my hand held, just plenty of miles.

Why do you equate seeking honesty with needing a hand held? You need to butt out and allow others to simply explain that Knight doesn't pay what they claim, does not pay for all miles driven, and actively employs kiddos that believe that dishonesty is how to get freight moved. Your a known fool around here, just give it up already.

 

I've met quite a few knight drivers from the east coast Driving out west, they don't seem to be as happy with knight as the drivers on the west coast. That's what I was implying. I guess I wouldn't drive for knight if I lived east of the Rockies, based on drivers opinion (face to face).