Anyone have any Feedback on Smithway

from what i was told from another driver that works for them it sounds like a pritty good company to me i am tring to decide between arrow and smithway and its not very easy

 

I think Smithway (SMX) is a horrible company. They have merged with Western Express if that tells you how things will be in the future. My husband had an accident while w/SMX, he was rear-ended. They told us to come to Ok City and they would look at the truck, once there they fired him. They told us to get out of the truck ASAp, we had out pet and all of our stuff. We had to pay for a hotel for that night and then board our pet, catch a Greyhound home, then go back three days later for our pet and the rest of our belongings that were stored there. Bad company in my opinion.

 

I have a hard time believing that your husband was rear-ended,and got fired for it. There has to be more to this than what you are telling us.JMO

 

Well the story I told you is the truth believe it or not. I was there with him in the truck and I know what happened.

 

I'm currently in their fllat division. IMHO, they are not the best, but certainly not the worst. A good starter company if no other option is available.

As for truckerswife1, I don't know the particulars of your case, but I do know there are some very fickle people in safety.

 

My husband works for SMX; and to tell the truth; prior to Western buying Smithway; he was very content. At this point, he is looking to get off the road, but I am not sure if all of that is the company or if he is just ready to try being home every night

 

I highly recommend Arrow trucking for a new driver. I researched every flatbed outfit that hires new drivers before I decided on Arrow. Nobody beats the pay (.34 a mile and after 3 months .36). I have been with them for 8 months OTR and I make in excess of 1K per week. 3K miles a week average is a good estimate. I run about 500 miles a day, sometimes more if I have to. I am content with 3K a week but I probably could be getting 3500+ if I really hustled. However, I like to take in the sites and occassional sporting event when I am able to. SMX is not getting the miles and average length or run is less than 1K miles from what I have heard. Arrow's average length I would say is 1,500 which means you make 2 runs a week and you made your $1,000.00. I am happy to answer any questions you might have so reply to this message or send a message to me if you have enough posts. Good luck.

 

I recently was hired by Smithway as a western 11 regional driver. I did my research including searching this site to see if I found anything NEGATIVE about this company. I didnt. When I hired on, I had no clue Western Express had just bought them out and I had no clue of what to expect from them.

Here are a few things I found out AFTER I hired on with this company. (I was told by fellow drivers)

Shortly after Western took over.... ALL of the seasoned driver managers, load planners left the company. The replacement hacks dont know beans about managing and dispatching drivers. They should take a course in Map reading for starters as they loads they plan out are rediclous at best.

Western dispatchers are assigning SMX drivers their loads...these loads are screwed up...no clear cut communication which leaves you guessing (this is from personal experiance).

Drivers, both seasoned and fresh are quitting in record numbers! I lasted 6 weeks with this company, not that I couldnt cut it but because of the fact that what they promised and what they delivered was two different things.

As I stated earlier, I was hired to work 11 western states. After orientation, I was sent to Charleston, Edison NJ, Brooklyn, and Syracuse NY. I figured that since I was with a trainer, ( driving experiance, no flat bed experiance) and I figured thats just how it is in training. Well after training, I was sent to their Phoenix terminal. I was assigned a POS truck (Piece of Something) which needed attention however they said nothing was wrong. The driver would know immediately if something is wrong with the equiptment not the guy on the phone half a country away!

I ran the western US for exactly 2 weeks, thats when things started changing....QUICKLY!! I was given these crap loads of 30 miles at 3 in the afternoon. Problem was the reciever closed at 4:30 and I had to drive into Los Angeles to make the delivery! With traffic I made the delivery at 4:28 just by the skin of my teeth. Another load I was given I had to have it there by 2:30PM. Problem was I that I was in Phoenix and the load delivered in Tucson and it was 1pm and the load needed to be tied down before I could move. There was no way to complete this run in the alotted time. I made it to Tucson, attempted the delivery only to be told to return the following day. I made a whopping $37.00 bucks for my efforts.

Another example of their inept behavior was the load I was given at 2PM on a Wednesday after I had been on duty for 12 hours. My load appt was 3pm and I was again in downtown LA and my pick up was in Ontario. I made it there on time, however I had to shut down for 10 hours before I could move again. This load was to deliver in Dallas at 10AM on Friday!! It is impossible to travel 1500 miles in that amount of time....not if you are going to do it legally anyway. I drove my legal hours and got to Dallas on Saturday afternoon. I had to layover there and deliver Monday morning.

Shortly after I was given a load to CHICAGO!! I was hired as a western regional driver. I told the Driver Manager that I was concerned about going to Dallas, and he reassured me that I would be turned around there and brought back to the west coast (a lie). When I objected to the Chicago load, I was reassured again that I would get turned around and brought back to LA. He asked me to go and pick up the load 90 miles away and he would see about getting another driver to take the load (another lie). Being new at this company I didnt want to come off as being unreasonable so I complied with his request (big mistake).

I drove to Waco, picked up the load and returned to Dallas expecting that he would have found another driver to take the load onto Chicago. When I got there, i called the driver manager. He said that he had not come up with anybody to take this load, so he asked me if I would take the load on to the first of 5 stops and make that first delivery. I reluctantly agreed, the first stop was 78 miles north of Memphis TN.

I was told this whole time that they were feverishly working to get a midwestern driver to take this load. I got a message on peoplenet that they had found a driver and to deliver the load north of Memphis and then they would arrange a meeting between me and the other driver. Well...I made that first delivery, then sent a message to dispatch that I was waiting for direction on where to meet this "driver". I sat from 7am to 1:30pm waiting when I get another message which said basically...."take the load to chicago!!" I sent the dispatcher a message asking him to get me a plane ticket from Memphis to my home instead. I also asked him to call me. His response...."I have been arguing with 8 people over this...I dont want to argue with you too!"

When he did finally call me, he told me that his last day was on the 29th and that he couldnt take the bull and the way he was being treated. Nor could he lie to the drivers as he was being ordered to. He basically admitted to me that he was stringing me along the entire time in an attempt to wear me down in hopes that I would cave in and just do what they were demanding. I had agreed to travel 11 western states, I never agreed to travel east of the Mississippi yet I found myself there. I also never agreed to run East Coast yet I found myself there also.

The dispatcher also informed me that even though I was hired to run Western 11, the company had done away with regional drivers. He said that the reason they had not announced it was they didnt want for the drivers to quit in droves.

I was basically given an ultimateum....take the load to chicago or else.... I told them to get me a plane ticket back to my home town and they could take their truck, 48 foot trailer and load of pipes and shove it!! When I told them this....they had a driver to replace me in 10 minutes!! 6 days had passed when this entire thing started. I was lied to being told that they were working on replacing me and getting me back to the west coast. The truth was revealed that they had never even looked for a replacement driver until I told them I quit! Then... the terminal manager calls me and is talking to me calmly...calling me buddy and friend.... and tells me he is getting another driver to me and he will be there in 2 hours to switch loads and he is sending me to NASHVILLE!!

I sat waiting for direction from 7am to 1:30 that afternoon. I was then told that a driver was coming...that never happened. I finally heard from the driver at 9:30 that night. Turned out that when dispatch called him...the told them he was out of hours and had to shut down. I would have been sitting there until 3AM waiting for him....however I drove back to Memphis to find him in a truck stop.

I had had enough of the being jerked around...I drove the truck to the Western Express terminal in Nashville and turned the truck in.

There are certain things a driver expects when he hires on with a reputable company.

1.If you say you are going to run me in a certain region...run me in that region. If you must send me out...give me options and let make make those decisions.

2. Dont lie to me....I would never lie to you and if I make a mistake I will be the first person to either call you or face you and tell you the truth...I expect the same from you.

3. Dont crap on me and ask me to be loyal to you. It dont work that way. Like a dog, I will be as loyal to you as you are to me. Dont beat me and I wont bite you....mistreat me and I will and somewhere else to call home.

4. COMMUNICATE....COMMUNICATE....COMMUNICATE!!

It would do Smithway reps....And Western Express to read over their core values that the Smith's stood upon. Perhaps they need to be revised. The core values spoke of respecting the driver and treating him with dignity and respect.

I was treated with anything but..... Thus I found work elsewhere.

Some might say that I am doing nothing but whining.... to those I say walk a mile in my shoes....you would have done the same thing.