Driving for JB Hunt

Discussion in 'Questions From New Drivers' started by Wheeler246, Jul 13, 2022.

  1. Wheeler246

    Wheeler246 Bobtail Member

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    Jul 13, 2022
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    Has anyone a great experience driving for JB Hunt on the west coast?
     
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  3. DRTDEVL

    DRTDEVL Road Train Member

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    Jan 27, 2013
    Austin, MN
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    I don't think you will find anybody who has had a "great" experience driving for any of the large carriers. Trucking is not "one size fits all," but that's exactly how the large carriers look at it and they treat the drivers accordingly.

    Will some fail? Sure. Will some succeed? Definitely. Will many be happy? Depends upon the person.

    Finding a company is like finding a shoe. Some people like Nike, some like Reebok, and dads like New Balance (LOL). Will a size 12 fit a size 12? Sure. Will it be comfortable? For one guy, yes, for the next guy, maybe, and the third guy says heck no! This is how you need to look at companies. Trucking is trucking. Its what level of BS you can tolerate in what form that determines your fit at a company. None of them are perfect, but one might be close to perfect for you.
     
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  4. Blu_Ogre

    Blu_Ogre Road Train Member

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    Jul 14, 2013
    Out west
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    I would say my experience was mostly good.

    There are a couple of business divisions that I am aware of in JB. Containers, final mile, and Dedicated. Container division up here would be a big NO for me. I have little interest in local delivery like final mile does. The dedicated folks up here were good to work with. Local Management did a good job of balancing the work between drivers and made an honest attempt to assign them to the loads the drivers preferred, and not give them the loads they didn't want to do. They did a good job on keeping me busy and a reset at home every week. Business structure made sense, Account manager was also dispatcher and everything else administrative, The office was in the production facility with a pass through window to the facility manager. He reported up to a an active regional manager who was responsible for several similar types of accounts. On occasion we would help out other accounts that had people out sick or could use a bit of extra capacity. The different accounts had gross income goals for the drivers. They tracked these to make sure no drivers were being left behind financially, unless that was the drivers preference.

    Where things fell apart. During the Covid scare, I needed to get my medical card renewed so ran up the road to a certified NP that works out of her home. Although the State and feds were good with this, JB came back and said I must go see one of their approved clinics in a bigger city. Since I do not like clinics/hospitals or bigger cities (or a corporate entity dictating my health choices) I chose to stop driving for them when the old medical card expired.
     
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  5. rockeee

    rockeee Medium Load Member

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    Apr 22, 2015
    Kalama, Wa
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    What's great for Joe might not be great for Sam. J.B. is a big company and they do have good benefits and (I think) their pay is fair. But along with those benefits are all the little nit picky things you will have to put up with driving for a mega. I was there for 16 years but this was some time ago. Left in 2006. 11 of those were intermodal out of Portland. For the most part I was treated fair but not great. There were times when I was treated great and they went above and beyond and what I expected. Then there was the other times things were pretty sucky but that's probably the same everywhere. Each terminal has their own "manager", who has tons of say in what goes on so even though they have to follow corporate policy, they have a lot of leeway in what goes on. If I was a new driver I would not rule them out.
     
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