Variant reviews

I’ve been here roughly 11 months now. Everything before they were brought out by Knight/Swift was pretty decent…$1500 checks, 2500 weekly miles, always home on time, never any problems with my truck, no dispatchers micromanaging me. But now it’s honestly a disaster. I’m lucky to get 1000 miles a week, and luckier to see a check over $400. Before, they’d assign you a load and only call if it was high-value…now they call every day, and will hound you until you answer regardless of whether you’re on your 10 or 34 and sleeping. It can feel like harassment at times, because why would I wake up out of my sleep to answer your call when I just worked a 14 hour shift and I’m exhausted? If you’re delivering a load that drops Friday, you can expect to take a 34 because you’re going to be sitting the whole weekend without a load. The planners are very inconsistent. Some weeks you can go entire days with no loads. Some you can go the whole week with nothing but 100-200 mile loads. And others, they’ll put loads on you while you’re still under a load and reprimand you for not being able to pick up the pre-assigned load on time because you’ve ran your clock in a way that benefits delivering your current load. They expect you to work around them and adjust to them, when they’re the ones assigning you the impossible. If I already have a load that delivers tomorrow at 5 pm and I’m 6 hours away, why would you assign me a load that picks up tomorrow at 7 pm that’s 4 hours away from where I’m delivering…then not only reprimand me for missing my appointment time, but also get on me for running out of hours and having to shut down for the night? Management can be a joke sometimes, and it’ll always be their word over yours. I was 4 hours into my 10 with 2 hours left on my 11 before I was assigned a load that picked up that same day 30 mins away from where I shut down. They called me, woke me up, and told me I had to go get it. I informed them of the heavy traffic conditions because there’s been a wreck, and told them I wouldn’t make it. Instead of trusting my judgement, I was told to try anyway. And predictably, I didn’t make it. I got nowhere close.

THIS COMPANY IS A JOKE!!!! Don't bother wasting your time nor career dealing with incompetent individuals. So many good things I heard about this company in the beginning but as soon as your realize that you are still dealing with the parent company (US XPRESS), you can expect the worst outcome. The equipment isn't terrible but if you aren't put into a brand new truck, expect lots of complications. Not only are the 2021's are falling apart, the NEW 23' Kenworth's have been seen in the shops multiple times for transmission issues. They will try there best to have shippers sent you out 78-81K on weight and then wonder why you haven't gotten moving yet. Remember, they can careless about your CDL. They are willing to pay any ticket right then and there. You will see it deducted out of your next week's check so don't expect anyone at VARIANT or US XPRESS to care about you but YOURSELF. Even the culture of meeting some of the drivers. They will see... and don't see you nor will most be willing to help with anything. Never seen that kind of attitude within a trucking company before but it's really divided for some reason. So you can imagine there is a lot of figuring things out on your own. Managers, community leaders, HR....are impossible to deal with. If you have an issue, not only do you have to explain it to the first manager, but you have to explain it to about 4-6 people to possibly get a solution. Community Leaders act as if they have never step foot into a truck before but somehow they are still in charge of telling the managers what to do about your issue(s). So with the type of leadership that you have, you can expect not to get the miles you deserve. Majority of the loads are backhauls but its the driver's fault if you do not have enough time to complete the drop within there projected timeframe. They try to have the computer to setup your next load depending on location with could be a good thing but also bad. It's only set for perfect conditions (no traffic, weather and infinite HOS). You would think the company would get better with merging with other companies but all I have experienced is US XPRESS!!! (which is the major problem) Sorry with this being so long but honestly DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME!!! If you thought this isn't US XPRESS, you would be wrong. Everything you do in the company is US XPRESS and they do not care about any driver at the end of the day!!!

Equipment overall pretty good t680s and cascadias. Miles are inconsistent week to week. They have always gotten me home when I've asked to be, but cap you at 7 days off even if you spent 11 weeks on the road. So called driver "Managers" are useless nothing but middlemen with no power

Variant was a very good company when they first started out but it turned to be usxpress all over again . They have been bought out by Swift and night don't think they know the mistake they made

great pay miles ok idk how the new dispatchers are working out since the company sold but not liking it so far, but gonna give it a little time to see if it gets better but it’s was good before that. Trucks are great