Flatbed Company Recommendations (Southeast)

Hello all, brand new to this forum as of 5mins and hopefully this info hasn’t already been posted or I’ve accidentally read over it.

I’m looking into good companies to consider going with once I get my CDL. I recently got out of the Marines after 17yrs and getting my CDL next month through The CDL School, covered by GI Bill. I live in Southeast Georgia and looking into companies and man... it’s hard to get anything from websites so I value you guys’ opinions straight from the horses mouths.

Prefer to be home weekends. Parents need help with things here and there along with grandparents, same thing. I’ve already been looking into TMC and Cypress... I even hit up a cat on YouTube “TruckerBrown” and he was a prick.

Who do you guys drive for and what are your thoughts? Any recommendations or opinions are welcome.

 

For being in that area...I don't know if TMC has expanded their "home every weekend*" area beyond I-20 to the south, but if they have, then depending on where in SE GA you are you should be okay with the weekend hometime thing.

That said...right off the top of my head, Jordan Carriers, Boyd Bros, McElroy, Hornady, and Montgomery Transport are all based down in that part of the country (along with P&S). I'd think you'd have a little better fortune with the weekly hometime thing with one of those outfits, though admittedly I don't know the ins and outs of all those guys.

Of the ones mentioned, I believe Jordan Carriers would be your best bet. They tend to stay mostly down south, from what I've observed, and they do a lot of oversize (steel beams and rebar). I do see them as far north as Indiana and some Chicago, but i very rarely (except for the wind guys) see them any further north than I-80 or west of I-35. From the couple of guys I've spoken with who roll with Montgomery, they get paid rather well, something to the degree of .60-something per mile--but they don't take greenhorns fresh out of school; they require I believe a year or so of experience. TMC is not necessarily bad, but having rolled with them for four years, let's just say they have way too many ticky-tack micromanaging rules going on, and I doubt that's changed since I left there five years ago. That said, their flatbed and load securing training is top-notch; I still use it to this day as a baseline reference.

Hope some of this helps.

 

Met one jordan driver and it sounded like a good gig.

 

Thank you! Already checked on Jordan, outside of their hiring area.

 

P & S Transportation seems to be a good company. I got a friend who works for them now. He gets home every week most of the time. I'm not sure if they hire students but I would call and see. He worked for Montgomery before coming back over to P & S. He said that base pay would be around 47 cpm. They would pay bigger cpm for oversize loads but the issue he had with them was that those oversize loads didn't go too far. Maybe Melton or Maverick for an opportunity to gain experience? Also call Builders Transportation in Memphis

 

Really? Wow, sorry to hear that! What did they tell you their hiring area was? And where in SE Georgia are you located? That seems strange to me that you would be outside of their hiring area.

Last I knew, P&S required a year of OTR experience. I went back and reviewed TMC's hiring zone and man have they expanded! Back when I was with them Atlanta-area drivers were home every 2nd or 3rd week; now they've expanded clear down to Tampa and Orlando. (They already had two or three dedicated accounts in the area with Home Depot and Lowe's with a third up in Palatka, closer to Jacksonville, so I guess they picked up more business down there.) What I still don't know is whether that'll mean 46/52 weekends home for you or every "17 days", as they used to call it. Being that Harrold, the owner, is a retired Marine, he (& the company) LOVES military veterans. (I'm one, too.) I think you can actually still tap into your GI Bill with them as you drive, too--but they can let you know all about the specifics of that.

That said, check out Boyd Bros, too. They also have a good reputation and I'm pretty sure they offer weekend hometime as well. They're based up in north Alabama with another terminal in Cincinnati. You'd probably earn a little more with them, as they train students, too--without all the ancillary ticky-tack stuff that TMC has going on. (And you probably won't tarp as much as you would with TMC, but please believe you still will be tarping well over half the time. This is flatbed, man! )

Hope it works out for you, whichever way you decide to go! Keep us updated on your search.

 

Try cypress.Good hometime and decent pay.

 

Thank you and will do! I’m down closer to the Brunswick area about an hour and a half from Jacksonville. I spoke to the lady at Jordan and she told me I was just outside of their area. I’ll hit up Boyd Bros and Melton and see what they say too. Looks like Montgomery requires 1yr exp from what I read. I got a friend of mine, a brother we deployed together back in the day, hauls for TMC for the past 2yrs bringing home 1400avg every week... I was swept away at that kind of money as a company driver with zero overhead. Said he puts in work and home with the kids on weekend and mentioned a little bit of the ticky-tacks too.

Looking forward to putting in a little work especially when the pay is worth it. Preferably I’d like to get on with a company that 2-3yrs down the road I can buy my own and lease on and stay with them keeping continuity... but that’s only “preferably” a target sitting out in the distance lol.

I appreciate all of your scoop and I’ll take all that I can get so keep it coming lol whatever you know, send it to me.

Backwoods, if you don’t mind could you shoot me your contact info because I’d definitely like to pick your brain on Cypress too. Thank you!

 

What about decker

 

Good stuff! Yeah, one can do worse than TMC--i started out with them and stayed for four years before transitioning to local work. I still to this day utilize the training I learned there and of course have since built upon that. I enjoyed my time there overall...really the only negative I can think of other than the 62mph governor was all the ticky-tack stuff and the going ham on appearance stuff. Other than that, yeah...they'll run the mess out of ya, but once I got settled in, I found enjoyment in it. If you already have a buddy running there, that would help you slot into their operation that much better. That said, if/when you speak with recruiting again, make sure you get a clear answer on what type of hometime to expect for Brunswick. Being right on the coast like that, 46/52 may be difficult, but it may not necessarily be impossible.

I know nothing about Cypress other than the being based in Jacksonville, so hopefully someone has some good info for you from there.