My journey with PGT begins today

Did your "buddie" tell you about the $100.00 PGT charges O/O's for loads going to Laredo if there on PGT trailers or the $75.00 to off load a load if its on a O/O's trailer? Most every PGT O/O I've talked to says the same thing....they avoid going to Laredo after there first trip once they find out how "things" work at the Laredo terminal.

 

Well all the tuesday buses were booked so settled on the 2am weds bus which all said and done would have gotten me home at 4pm. Well gotta cab from monaca down into pittsburgh and was at the dog house by 1230. Well the 2am bus was booked up with the next bus at 515am. So i got to hangout at the dog house from 1230 till 6. Glad i didnt get the 2am bus bc it didnt leave untill almost 4. Finally got on my bus and left at 6. Once on the road i ended up sleeping through the breakfast stop. On this bus it went from pittsburgh then made stops in frederick md, silver springs md, dc, springfield va, woodbridge va, fredericksbug va, then to richmond. Was supposed to be in richmond at 3 then catching a 415 bus to norfolk. Left dc around 130 and traffic on 95 was a parking lot. Didnt get to richmond till 615. Then finally got on a bus at 730 to norfolk. Girlfriend picked me up from there and i walked in my door at like 1015. Honestly i really wasnt upset at running late. I mean i was traveling on the day before thanksgiving so i expected it to be a cluster. What made it horrible was missing the breakfast stop. All i traveled home with was my phone,charger, and ipod. Left all my stuff at the company being i was coming right back and i knew what the crowds would be like. I have a caffine addiction so without my morning coffee or a redbull and lack of food by the time i got to richmond after being on the first bus 12 hours i had a massive headache and then dealing with those worthless unfriendly people i had enough of it. But i had my girlfriend pick me up with a large redbull, some advil, and a pb&j. Then all was fine lol. Still can only complain so much. Company paid for it.

 

Welcome to how things work at large truck companies west coast, I have seen non-common sense from companies and no one is immune to it. I will say that I have been happy and so has my bank account since I have moved to PGT. And if that is the worst thing that I have found here I'm perfectly ok with it. And just like the other O/O I will not be going into Laredo, besides it's way to #### close to the border for me! And I am to pretty to be going to a mexico prison

 

Most PGT O/Os pull PGT trailers. Did most of "them" that "spoke" to you tell you that? Did you "know" that quite a few companies, like Landstar and Keen and others do similar things? So, who should I trust...a guy Ive known since 2007, whom I met in Laredo, been to his home, ran the bigroad with, met his friends who do the same runs as he in and out of Laredo, or some fearful guy who talked to someone who may or may not know how to truck?

The guy did a lease purchase deal and paid for his truck. At the same time, he bought a house. I met him in 07. At the end of 2008, the economy went to hell. Arrow went belly up. TMC and Maverick were both in trouble. My friend didnt miss a paycheck. They had the freightbase to keep his income rolling OUT OF LAREDO during times when other companies were sweating. How bad was freight late 2008 and early 2009? A friend of mine at Swift, flatbed driver, made $900 for the entire month of December 08. PGT grew!

I could be negative like you. I could say that I dont like the idea of leasing a truck through a company that you drive for, I could say that the cornbinders they drive are ugly. I could say that I dont like the idea of driving a truck without a headache rack, driving trailers that dont have a header board, and how I dont like flats, and how there is this big wait to get into their specialized side. But the guys I know that pull out of Laredo dont mind those ugly trucks, or switching their gear around every time they get a new trailer, or swinging around the header board, or pulling flats, but I wont. If those guys are satisfied, I will be happy for them.

 

Landstar does not charge me to unload it trailer, or for it to go to Laredo. I have no idea where you heard that from???

 

Good luck cjr323! And thank you for your service.

I load next to alot of PGT Trucks every week. The Drivers all seem happy and friendly, the Trucks seem like they are all new ProStars, equipment looks goods from what I can tell, and I have heard that they have one of the best Lease Purchase Programs in the industry. Take your time while loading, do a good job the right way, and be safe out there. I wish you the best in your new career. Perhaps I may run into at an AK Steel or USS someday!

 

With all due respect to your personal opinion, making a little over $800 per week pulling flatbed, with 27 years experience PLUS being paid for training students, is NOT on the way to having "a good year" with only one month left in the year. In fact, that's well below sub-par pay once his experience is taken into consideration, never mind what he earns extra for training students. Using your formula for calculating the pay per mile, at even .50 per mile (you mentioned .50 to .55 cpm) at 37,500 for the year, he's only driven 75,000 miles in 11 months averaging approximately 1700 miles per week. Using the .55 cpm figure, he's averaging about 6200 miles per month for about 68,000 in 11 months or about 1550 miles per week. Now, subtract 2.5% from what he's actually earning and you'll have a realistic annual figure of what you were told you will be earning which equals about what many newbies driving van with all drop and hook can earn at, for example, .32 cpm at 2800 miles per week. Not trying to rain on your parade, just putting it into perspective. Methinks the company is underpaying. For that type of work and all things considered, your trainer driver should be averaging the industry standard, about $44 to $46 (at the least) for driving flat and his experience.

 

I was questioning this as well. In my opinion, an experienced open deck driver should be well over $50K unless they are choosing not to work very hard. You should easily get 400-500 miles per day, especially if most of your runs are 500-600 miles. It could be that there is a little miscommunication going on. Something doesn't add up, though.

 

Well then, it sounds like a good paying company. Congratulations and the best of luck to you. My bad, I missed the "5 months" comment.