Former Employee
- Apr 26, 2023
The pay sucks. You will be sitting and not making money. The salary portion is all you'll see. A company that constantly replies to all honest comments to save face should tell you something.
Equipment and Maintenance
Former Employee
- Jan 1, 2023
I got hired on right before Covid hit so my experience might be a little different from other's. I went there because they had a salary program where you were guaranteed approximately $65,000/year. They wanted you to run about 300 miles each day as the bare minimum to get that. But, if you didn't reach it thru no fault of your own, you'd still get it.
I never had any trouble meeting that mileage goal. You also had the ability to earn 99 cents per mile after you hit that goal, thru their safety and productivity bonus. I made about $80,000 my first year. I could have made more but even though I was making good money, they weren't "knocking it out the ballpark" once I hit my miles. For example, I hit my miles with a week and a half left. I normally ran over 600 miles per day so I could have made an additional $4200 with the bonus pay if they ran me hard, but my dispatcher gave me a load that had me sitting for the best part of 2 days. I don't think the dispatcher was aware that he was costing me that kind of money. I should have complained harder. I think they'd have listened. Overall, I think that program works pretty well now. It was a thing they were developing when I was there.
I left to go to a company where I'd be home weekly. Otherwise I'd still be there. Basically, I determined my own route, ran really hard at the beginning of a run so I could get there early and sightsee on my day off. They treated me well, kept equipment in good working order. I kinda hated to leave the place. I just couldn't take the being alone all the time. I highly recommend them for anyone wanting to do OTR.
Equipment and Maintenance
Current Employee
- Dec 15, 2021
You are respected from the get-go and if you run into a problem like I did all you have to do is contact your recruiter and it will be taken care of they will contact management and management we'll get it taken care of immediately I absolutely love it here some health issues come about with my hands and I told them I would have to change jobs do to those issues and they said no we can deal with this so they put me on light duty after I was put on light duty I was given a job that I was not supposed to do I did it anyway because I loaded on a weekend and when management found out management took care of it when they got the knowledge of it my second issue was my home time it had been scheduled for one month and halfway through that month I made a doctor's appointment for the next day after I got home then they put a load on me that would not have gotten me home on time I let dispatch know about it then dispatch was told buy a planner was told by planner no that load has to be delivered that's why I contacted my recruiter she contacted management it was taken care of immediately I was home on time like I said the dispatchers and management and the recruiters are awesome the planners are very good at what they do and there are very busy and sometimes they do not take out time and read the restrictions on a driver but sometimes people make mistakes but this company it's willing to live up to their mistake and correct their mistake... as long as my health stays good I will be here hope to see you soon Stubby4567
Pros
If you get the chance to go to work for Smokey Point Distributing it would be a bad bad mistake to pass up the opportunity to be with such a wonderful company
Cons
Sometimes load coordinators get very busy and overlook the restrictions and make a mistake
Equipment and Maintenance
Current Employee
- Jul 12, 2021
Company has changed and not for the better. Over last few years company has become more corporate than when they were actually more caring about the drivers. Benefits keep getting taken away
Pros
Steady pay, decent safety bonus
Cons
Benefits keep changing and not for best, regional drivers are now more otr than regional. Home time has changed to being home less
Equipment and Maintenance
Response from Smokey Point Distributing
We are sorry you had a negative experience with SPD. We put a huge effort into caring for our drivers, from weekly live streams from the main terminal to offering the ability to make $0.99 per mile with our new APP program. Please elaborate on the benefits that have been taken away and I would be happy to look into the matter and see if it was a misunderstanding or miscommunication.
Current Employee
- Jun 10, 2021
The company was good about a year ago, now all you do is sit and/or chase after loads that don’t exist. The pay isn’t good either. It’s near the bottom of the flatbed companies. The equipment is good and well maintained. When they started the new pay program “APP” as it’s called they took away tarp, detention, breakdown, and layover pay away. They state that it is already factored into your salary, but the salary never changed. The home time is ok, if they get you home on time or if they have you leave early for a load. You have to be available for dispatch 24 days a month to get ur full salary and not have to buy miles to even things out.
Pros
Good equipment and a wide variety of freight
Cons
There is too many to list. Ghost loads, extended sitting, lack of communications, bad work environment, horrible load planners
Equipment and Maintenance
Response from Smokey Point Distributing
I'm sorry to hear you had a bad experience with SPD. When we moved to the APP program, every driver got a $0.04 per mile pay increase to account for tarping and other accessorials. We have drivers in the APP program earning 50% more pay than they were before the program began, and with our guaranteed base wage, I'm not sure how you didn't manage to earn more unless you decided to run less miles.