Anderson Trucking Service (ATS) reviews

Know what you are getting into!!! The lease trucks are 9 speed they detail the inside leave the outside dirty you wash it. The interviewers kinda make their minds up before you get to them they are all young. If you get called into joes office its to send you home not work things out if they have any feeling you will not stay for the year and let you go if you don't know you are out 21plus days in case your recruiter doesn't tell you

If you like Flatbed and travel around the country, some people have done very well with Anderson Trucking Service from St Cloud MN. They have a lease program that starts with a used truck and after a year will put you into a new one. They also own the Freightliner Dealer in St Cloud MN.

Q: I have a few questions Rooster.

I've looked into ATS and heard they are hard on hometime. How much control do you have over what loads you take: do you pick them off a load board or are you given choices by a dispatcher? How often do you take hometime and do you receive any flak for it?

Do you have any idea how thier dry van division compares in gross earnings compared to flatbed? And is it run the same way?

Do you have the freedom to fuel where you want or do you have to fuel on a set network? If so, what stops are included in the fuel network?

A: I will try to answer these in order for you. 

1. Complete control over loads. I take only what I want. Dispatcher sometimes gives opinions some times, but never pressured. 

2. Loads are offered over the QC. Usually between 3 and 10 depending on where I am. 

3. I usually stay out for 3 to 4 weeks, them home for 7 days. Sometimes as much as 10. I don't get any flak because my FM knows I can easily work my way out of the hole. She and I have a good relationship. 

4. I don't know much about van. Lease is the same as flat and I know they get 67% of the gross line haul. I don't know about all the extras like stop and such. 

5. I can fuel anywhere EFS is taken. However, you do have to wait a couple of hours between fuel purchases. I normally stop at loves. Best discount. For instance loves in pueblo CO yesterday was .40 off per gallon. 

Hope this helps.

Lease operators go to St. Cloud, MN. Company drivers go the Gary,  IN.

I currently hired on with ATS flatbed division and am loving it. Absolutely nothing bad to say and Texas freight has been pretty d*** good in my opinion.....just saying. 

Been working for 4 weeks and I have lucked out and have been able to see my family every weekend. I have not asked for home time it's just seems to be in my favor they have a lot of loads in and out of Texas where I'm from

Q: Ok guys I have 5 years experience running flatbed. To be honest I'm looking to lease a truck and run my own authority. You know finally get out from under the man.........I know. I know it's not that easy. 
I've researched and researched and 8th talked to around 70 recruiters over the last week and I've got to say I've narrowed my options down to roadrunner cause of their marine division and ATS because of their good reviews. I was just wondering what you guys thought and who you would perfer. Thanks in advance.

A: Both work with where I live. Roadrunner has a dedicated run out of my area In their marine division paying very well. The jobs mine as soon as I decide to pull the trigger.
ATS also works well with where I live. And to be honest I just like the way their drivers talk with me. Every one of them seem happy and well paid. 
My biggest concern is ending up with a company that I do not want to invest my time in. I love driving and I don't mind the hours and weeks out. But I also expect respect. And I'm thinking that these two companies are Def respected

Q: I was wondering about ATS and there o/o program. I know that with them you can do dry van or flatbed. I live in Ohio and I was thinking of doing flatbed because Ohio is very good with flatbed. Is ATS the right company to go with? Also what is home time like? I own my own truck but not a trailer. Thank you.

A: I know it may be a little different, but not a lot different driver. I was a lease there for almost 4 years and what I learned is that they want each truck (o/o or l/o) to make a certain amount of revenue each week/month and at the same time, they don't want you to go over a certain amount of revenue. They limit your earning potential and they have to much control over what you make. It may be a little better as a o/o because you shouldn't have as many fixed expenses being deducted, but trust me, they still count your revenue throughout the week/month. I've been through it and I have a few partners that's still there with them that's trying to get out of there, but it's been hard for them to leave because they can't get ahead financially to leave.

Q: I'm looking at coming to ATS in May. Was wondering if anyone on SE regional could give any info. Doing lease. Was wondering about home time and mileage/percentage. Good bad or OK? Thanks in advance!

A: I personally am doing really well over here. I am also lease and run to Canada and am averaging 1.94 all miles here. I am picky on my load choices but will not sit for toooo long neither. 
As for company drivers, I have a bunch of friends that are company and love it here. They are always running and make good money. If there was a way for you to get a hold of me I can put you in touch with them. You can shoot me your number on pm if u want and I can call you. 

As for SE regional van. I had 4th of July where I smoked a bunch of stuff and there were several drivers that were stranded and I invited them over. The one guy that was on it said he was mainly doing walmart runs. He said the one to try to get on is pad wrap. He said he is doing well but could do better.
Hope this helps.

Q: Hi, I am an O/O and currently use a small company in SD for my loads I heavy haul, I am looking at ATS. I have seen both good and bad reviews and would love some more from O/O's. I would not lease from them. I have my own tractor. Just looking at my options. Any and all reviews appreciated.

A: If they have a load that pays good, haul it. If they don't, haul something else.

A: We get some loads thru them once in awhile, they're like anyone else, they try to farm out the junk and keep the good stuff for themselves. But they do have some stuff with good rates that they can't cover.

Q: Looking for various experiences of Company Drivers who've worked for ATS. I am strongly concidering a move to them in March. I've read multiple experiences for the O/0's and L/p's but have yet to find anything for C/d's. 

What is the reasonable avg weekly milage? 

Same as above but Net Pay?

How much down time have you had on the road? 

Where are you running predominantly? Cities? States? 

Do they get you home on time? 

Do you get the full hourly value of your time off or does 5 minutes count as a Day?

How accessible is your Driver Manager/dispatcher? How many times and frequency have you met him/her face to face?

Do their trucks have APU's? If not what do they offer for comfort and not idling?

A: I am a lease driver with ATS. I cannot speak directly to some of your questions, as I am not a company driver, but I noticed that you had no responses, so I will tell you what I can.
From the c/D's which I have spoken to/ran with, they are happy. They seem to be doing well with pay. We run all 48 & Canada, but Canada and any oversized loads are optional. 
ATS has open door policy. You can see your fleet manager/dispatcher any time you are at the Saint Cloud terminal.
ATS is very good at working with all drivers to meet your needs, your desires, and your desired pay.
Super company. 3rd year with ATS. Wish I had found them years ago!
Hope this helped.

A: most of us at ATS don't get on here much. We have a private Facebook page that is highly active though. The rest of the time we are driving. Ats is a solid company I've been here since March and wish I had came here years ago. Try catching some of our drivers at a truck stop you'll have better luck getting answers.

Q: Let me start off by making it clear that I have zero intentions on moving over to Heavy haul until next January at the very least, more likely around march of '16 if anything. I just moved companies back in August and don't even want to think of packing this truck up.

I spoke with an ATS recruiter, two actually. I gave both of them just a verbal description of my experience, driving record, ect and both responded that they would likely place me in either tier 4 or 5.
I am currently a flatbedder but have only been one since August- it's going well. Been a driver for what is rapidly approaching 3 years now. 

With that in mind, both recruiters did explain there tier system, and I got the gist that every five loads on one tier, you come in to "test" out of that tier and into the next one. Both reps made it sound like this would only take 10-14 months all the way to tier 10. I ain't buying it, frankly. How do you take someone with only a year of flatbeding and only a little over a year later he or she is pulling windmill turbines? 
It's not that I don't have faith in myself, but rather that sounds like a lofty promise that I doubt they can follow through on.


short and skinny-

how does the tier system work. What would I pull between tiers 4/5-10, or rather what sizes on the individual tiers.

How long does it really take to get up through the tiers. 

How is the lease purchase situation, I heard something about the owners of ATS going to bat on financing for the truck at the end of lease for balloon payment.

don't want lease bashing talk here, take it elsewhere.

A: First things first...I want to make sure you are as successful as you can be every company has their system. You have to learn their system and their freight lanes. The freight lane changes as you move up in class. Are you leasing one of their trucks? I myself bought my own truck in. Because of that, I didn't have the weekly expense that the majority of their drivers do. The thing is, some of their lease drivers do pretty well AFTER they figure out the freight. You see them advertising how much money you can make here, and yes, you can make a bunch of money, but 1.) you have to be the sharpest knife in the drawer 2.) no one in the office can tell you how. You are thrown to the wolves.

You have 168 hours a week to make something happen. Time is more valuable than money. Whether you sit or whether you move, your expenses are still going to hit at the end of the week. If you pick your loads on location alone (moving from good location to good location), you will do fine, you will make money. If you're doing a lease, you have to move. I can run up and down 35 and 55 and 65 and do just fine. However, I will not run northeast and northwest for the same money. Do not run out to Colorado for the same money that you go to Indiana. Freight is extremely cheap in dead zones. If you go to Laredo, they will have loads going to Davenport,IA and Peoria,IL. Take it! Great locations. You can make that run in a day and a half legally, and unload and reload. 1-2 punch. Don't sit in Laredo...move! 

In order to move up in class quickly, you will have to stay under an Rgn. That's really hard to do when you are starting out on the bottom. You will not see the load offer for the bigger loads. What I did to move up quickly was hang out in John Deere territory and move combines. Combines are cheap, but if you want to jump 2-3 classes in a month, that's how you do it. 

To get to class 2, you're going to have to take a test. Open book test. Bring whatever you use to do the job in the office. They give you some hard to read maps, a handful of permits from drivers that screwed up and hit bridges or went way off route, and you have to highlight the correct route on the map. Easy, right? Well, they turn the pressure up on you. Your dispatcher calls you with a money load that has to be picked up by 3pm, and the pressure is on to finish the test. A third of the drivers fail the test. 
Another part of the test will be about loading a multi axle and pilot cars. You will find a driver that will give you all the answers to the test, but after you finish, the guy that keeps looking over your shoulder to check your progress is going to interview you and go over your answers. He doesn't really care where you got your answers from as long as you can explain to him how you came up with that answer. If you can't explain it, you don't know it, right?
i know it may sound tempting to get the answers and speed through the thing, but I don't look at one load, I look at all the future loads. You would only be cheating yourself, pulling a load that you know nothing about. See, after class2, you start pulling loads that require escorts. You're thinking, "hey, I have a pilot car! This should be easy!" Read up on pilot cars in the HeavyHaul forum. If your pilot car screws up, it's YOUR ticket! I have never seen the pilot car that didn't screw up. If your permit is voided, those tickets are HUGE! 

If you're ever in a restaurant, you will see a heavy hauler sitting in there. You will hear drivers talk about heavy hauling, but you can instantly tell the real from the fake. As you move up the ranks, and those loads get bigger, wilder and more expensive, you learn patience. You're not chasing miles anymore. It's no longer " I gotta go go GO!" It's Tuesday, and you have a Friday pickup (which means if there's a problem with permits, you don't move out until Monday) and you don't panic. A real heavy hauler is patient. Has to be. Part of the job. The people in the office know this much. Just keep that in mind when dealing with the desk jockeys.