Abilene Motor Express....A New Place To Call Home

Still here. 10 years 8 months. The 28th will be my last day here. How do they treat new CDL graduate's? No clue. I just know how they treat long time senior drivers. This company is perfect for a new driver. They let you bang up sheet and keep you on. This company went from a place I was going to retire at in 6-12 months, to one I can’t get away fast enough. It’s not important why my thoughts went this route. For me it’s obvious. But a new driver? Sure, come on over, get a year in, then go find another company that’s not a mega carrier named Knight/Swift Holdings.

 

I can only tell you what I do, and that is not an accurate reflection on what you will do. I ran 121K this year. My gross salary will be $77K. Doesn’t seem like a lot to some folks, but I worked a total of 9 months and was off for 3 solid months. That total includes 3 weeks vacation, all my bonuses and my 401K match. I put $16K in my 401K this year. I will be at $177K invested in it when I transfer it to my IRA in February. Will you get the miles that I get? Nope, will you get the garbage runs, yep. Will you know when to come out of hometime to be in position for the 4200 mile, multi stop runs out in Wyoming, Idaho, Montana and the PNW? Nope. Will you constantly be on your DM to make sure you are preplanned? You better, or they’ll use you and abuse you to just move freight at your expense with no regard to your financial gain. I’m here almost 11 years, I run where I want to, I get my miles, I go home after 2.5-3 weeks for 7-8 days at a time, I’ve made relationships with the few remaining people here that have more time here than I do, run their freight, do some favors once in a while, run to NYC and all of Canada, in all types of weather and, occasionally have to chain up once or twice a year.

All I will say is this, this company has turned into a shell of itself from when I started in April of ‘13. All I will add is this, when the Knight/Swift buyout took place in March of ‘18, it’s taken up until this year to say, RIP Abilene.

My suggestion to you is this, learn the industry, make yourself a good driver, get a year under your belt. After that year if you like it, then by all means, stay. If you have a clean record after that year and want a change, then you can write your own ticket. I just went through all the hoops and hurdles with my upcoming job change, my record, like I told you, spoke for itself. No accidents, no mishaps, no tickets, 1 job in the last 11 years, 2 in the last 15 years. And did my job everyday, safely and on time. You starting new in this industry, need to concentrate on doing the job safely, be on time and learn this industry inside and out the first year.

 

Flatbed? Just thinking of that type of work puts me in pain. Right now I swing doors. On January 2nd, they’ll be a big change in what I’ll be doing .

I too live in the death hole of trucking called South Florida. Abilene will get you home with no problem. In 11 years, I’ve never once had to worry about getting home. If there’s one thing they’re good at, it’s hometime and leaving you alone while home. My complaints about what changed here comes with the 11 years I’ve put in here. I’ve earned the right to biotch about things. I will say this about the company, for a new driver, this is the place to learn. I have a few trainees that I trained here that are still driving here after 5 and 6 years. There’s a couple on this thread that trained here by others and are still here after all these years. A company is what you make of it. Is there worse? Absolutely, is there better, I’m sure there is. For what you need and have at this time of your driving career, putting in a year here would be just fine for a new driver.