JB Hunt - Lowell, Ar.

at least your home every nite. i am still working with them 4 now.but i always have my eyes open 4 something better. wanna haul food grade tanker but tring to find the right one. its hard 2 find a company that will treat u human anymore.

 

LARM called it with this:

"A lot of truckers complain and talk smack about JB. Now take into consideration that the majority of truckers are the world's biggest complainers and laziest human beings on the face of the earth and it starts to make more sense. If you want to work and work hard, you can make great money with JB Hunt. I'm living proof. I was skeptical, but I found if I got my loads to the receivers as soon as I could, I'd make close to 1000 dollars per week, which is what I'm now making."

So #### true, LARM. I think truck driver laziness and lack of ambition is one reason why turnover is so high at many an outfit. I'm a natural skeptic, and I'm always looking for reasons to explain what I see. I know I bash a lot of companies here, and they #### well deserve it in most cases, but I will bet at least some of the turnover is caused by POS drivers.

I KNOW a guy can make money in trucking if he's a hard worker. I was one of those. I remember doing the fireball runs, absolutely. Sometimes the freight had to be delivered, DOT or no DOT. I saw it as this: "If a guy has to shut his factory down because of a late delivery that is beyond his control, the better driver will try to minimize that loss." A good driver will get the freight there as fast as safely possible. The POS driver will take his good ol' sweet time.

But I also know how bad one can be abused by trucking companies, so I have to lay most of the blame for turnover on the outfits themselves.

This reminds me of when I stopped in at OOIDA's headquarters about 8 years ago. I was told by a higher-up there that he used to drive for an outfit in KC as an O/O. That outfit lost a good contract to Dick Simon, and this guy lost his dedicated. He knew both consignee and consignor well, but that didn't matter when it came to the bottom line. These shippers thought they had it made with SkunkCo, so they dropped him like a hot potato. They danced for about a week before a Simon driver took three days to deliver a load from KC to Omaha, Nebraska. One shipper had to stop his line for an entire day, which cost him over 25,000 bones. He called this OO back in an attempt to win him back onto the dedicated, but the OO had already sold his EQ. He lost the account on a Friday and had sold his truck and wagon by the next Tuesday.

You guys should stop in there at OOIDA and see if this guy's still around. I don't have the foggiest notion of what his name is. I couldn't remember it if my life depended on it.

 

this is something i dont understand, i pulled for jb before, i done realy good with miles and making money. and i agree with you guys that their are a lot of pos drivers. here is my deal, i am like you i del. p/u early everyload. sometimes 2-3 hours early and sometimes del. 2-3 days early. i run and i run hard but this new dispatch blocks all my attempts to get around jb's system and get my own loads from like auto,walmart,georgia pacific. i know most of the load cord. and my old dispatch give me the numbers to talk to them when he would be busy. so i confronted the new dispatch and said well lets try it your way and see how it works. i am now down to around 1800-2000
miles a week. so i confronted him again about miles he is just saying that freight is bad. i told the new guy i needed more miles, nothing happened, so i went to his boss, his boss asked if i talked with the f/m i said yes. he said their was nothing he could do. still trying to get to the bottom of my problem. i dont try to bad mouth companies,dispatch and corporations unless they deserve it. everyone has a job to do. i am one of those drivers that usually stays out 3-4 weeks at a time. if my miles dont pick up i wont stay out but 2 weeks if i dont leave. which i dont want to

 

You know after reading then scrolling, I must admit the Chicago Yard was filled with good people's.I would still be employed with J.B.Hunt if my former FM was there on the weekend.Yet all said and done I was not compensated for the expenditure of my time throughout the 15 month employment with J.B.Hunt.Yet time keeps on slipping into the future.The eagle is flying with the banjo in the wind. America is in turmoil,and I agree with the multitude of you nevertheless disagree in a sense.It would be nice if all D.O.T.Officers were required to drive O.T.R. BEFORE QUALIFYING. Same with the Fleet Managers then we could get America rolling...Nothing like a peace full drive with plenty of time...irregardless of what company your rolling with.That may be part of our problem we all yearn for the simplistic loads.Even more so the lack of compensation for all the meek miles,heavy loads, thus treacherous loads ,and routes. I just want to thank you all for going through the same grief that burdened the expenditure of my time.Just draw a picture of a J.B.Hunt truck with a large RCA attached,along with a picture of the corporate building with men and women out there holding the remote controllers. It may bring peace to your minds.

 

DOT guys would never qualify to be DOT officers because they'd never jump through that hoop. They'd go do something else. Same for trucking company insiders. Many insiders have driven before, but most haven't. These guys claim they love trucking, but the LAST thing they'd do is get a CDL and hit the road. Some would rather quit and go on welfare they hate the thought of having to drive trucks so much.

When I was at Swift I met insiders that had never set foot in a truck cab, yet had been at Swift for years. Many of those had jobs telling others how to drive trucks.

 

You're 100% right, as always, Mack.

 

I really don't know how to do this, but I just needed a place to vent. My husband worked for a short time at J.B. Hunt (until the middle of June). He went to work for them the first of the year...by the middle of June we knew that it was not going to work. He would be out 3 weeks at a time and that is fine if he was given the miles that would warrant that, but he was sitting not making money a lot of that time. At the end of March my brother passed away, so I called my husband and told him on Monday. He in turn called his dispatcher and he told my husband that they would get him home for the funeral on Saturday, except that they routed him in the other direction. When he called the dispatcher (not the same one) they told him to "grow up and quit whining". He did not make it home for the funeral even though he told him in plenty of time. I spent most of my time angry or crying from that point on. I have absolutely no use for J.B. Hunt. It finally became a matter of trust because of being told one thing and then doing another. The funeral was just one of many disappointments, but I will not go into all of it. My husband is of the old school that you do what the company expects of you, but this is carrying it little far. I told my husband that it pretty much compares to working for the "company store". Thankfully, he has gone to work for another company that seems to be professional. Thanks for listening!

 

This is not uncommon for trucking in general. When I ran 48 states, it generally took me a week after leaving the house to get back into the company's "freight lanes" and start making good money.

Then again, the last time I ran 48 states, regional driving was not real common, nor was the idea of staying out only two weeks at a time. Not sure how much the changes in the industry would affect my first paragraph, but that is how it was for me.

I drove for J.B. Hunt, but it was long ago. It was the first company I drove for. I didn't stay there long, not because of a lack of miles, but because I couldn't put up with the fleet managers (dispatchers). Back then, it was a constant battle between me and them in regards to idling the truck. They pushed drivers to sleep in the trucks with them no running, and I refused. Talking to current J.B. drivers, it appears they have really backed off of their stupidity in those and other regards. I doubt I would ever drive for them again (never say never), but I do know people that are making a good living with the company.

 

well like i was saying the first time with jb i did really good on miles and money. but i quit because of an emergency in the family. i had to b home. then after everything cooled down i decided to go back with jb. this new dispatch just plain sucks i have tried talking with his bosses and their bosses but they were tellin me that he is new and that i should stay with him and give him a chance. now i am to the point that i am ready to quit again......i just can seem to get anywhere. but in circles. i am not saying jb is a bad company its just this new f/m that i have.