Systems Transport

You'll probably have a pretty tough time convincing anybody to let you take your truck to Heron. I live in Sandpoint, so I'm right on the 95, which is our major freight lane into Alberta and Saskatchewan. If I've got a load headed in that direction and the HOS to work with, I'll pull the load to Sandpoint and park for my time off.... it works on a "don't ask, don't tell" basis. I don't ask for permission, but my DM knows I do it. There haven't been any "issues" so far, though. If ever there are, I'm sure my head will be on the chopping block.

Ocassionally on the way back through I'll have just enough hours to make it to Sandpoint and park for the night.... but it's usually late and I'm too tired to even bother getting a ride to the house.

Anyway... I'm pasting your post from the other thread, here. You asked your questions a little differently over there:

I mentioned earlier that they may not be too excited about oilfield and construction work. This opinion is based solely on going to their CDL school (DTS). While there, the instructors and staff strongly discouraged students from seeking work in the oilfields. One of the scare tactics they regularly applied was to state emphatically that System would never hire them if they did so. YMMV

Training at system consists of orientation, time on a trainer's truck and testing for upgrade to solo status.

Orientation is a lot of video watching and testing for hours on end... someone from each department (payroll, logs compliance, etc.) coming in and going over way too much info to retain.... a driving test for anybody who didn't go to DTS for CDL training.... pee test, physical and fitness test.... and the briefest time possible going over a little bit of hands-on securement, chaining and brake adjustment.

Time on the trainer's truck is typically 8 weeks for new drivers and 4 weeks for experienced drivers. What you learn while on the truck is going to depend on the trainer's style, how well you learn OTJ and what loads you manage to get in that time. It's completely luck of the draw. No consideration is given to making sure a trainee gets a good variety of loads to work with. Dispatch will try to treat you as a team truck right off the bat unless the trainer puts a stop to it.

While on the truck you will have a fat wad of paperwork to fill out and turn in.... mostly going over what you're supposed to be learning each week... what kind of securement you're using etc... You'll also be expected to keep paper logs along with e-logs. My experience is that nobody will ever look at this paperwork... but it must be kept in the same order as it was given to you.


Upgrade to solo will consist of written tests, a driving test, a securement test and a logging assignment.

Ocassionally they will send somebody who is weak in any of these areas out with another trainer for a few weeks. If you really suck, they'll just fire you.

When I took the driving test, the guy just before me was handed his walking papers. The first thing out of the tester's mouth when he got in the truck was, "I just had to fire one guy, today. Don't make it two."


As to your need for hometime, that is something you'll have to work out each time you need it. Most likely you'll need to tell them early and often that you need specific days off. They probably won't have any issue working it in... they just won't remember 5 minutes after you tell them.

On the NW fleet it's usually nothing for them to send you loaded or empty to the yard. They're already planning for you to be in the yard every weekend anyway. You'll just have to be careful that they don't give you a load out of somewhere that will keep you from getting back to Spokane in time to make your drill appointments.

On the NW fleet you'll get $10 for pickup and $10 for each drop you make. Tarp pay works the same.


So... I just grabbed a load of coils out of Kalama, WA Friday afternoon. I'll get paid empty miles from Renton, WA to Kalama, WA... Loaded miles from Kalama to Spokane.... $20 for picking up and dropping the load and $20 for tarping and untarping the load.

A tarped load of Moulding out of Moxee, WA with 8 drops that finals in Grande Prairie, AB pays a pretty good chunk of change. $90 stop pay, $90 tarp pay, $100 border pay and whatever you get for mileage.

I guarantee you will earn every penny of that, however.

 

Is the pay different loaded and empty?

 

Same pay for company drivers. That's just the way they break it down on your load dispatch and pay sheet.


BTW I talked to a friend of mine today who's a trainer. He happened to mention that his current trainee is military and has to report for drill. He basically confirmed that there is no issue with getting the required time off... just gotta keep reminding your DM that it's happening, and it's up to you to keep an eye on how they're scheduling your loads that week.

 

oh ok. thanks. Is it possible to request more Canada runs? I saw you mentioned that a two week pay period might only be $800. I would think that would be on the extremely low side. I hope so. I could not afford to live on that. What kind of miles are you averaging a week if I may ask?

 

You can request... just get in line behind all the other drivers who are "requesting" the same thing.

That's one of the inequities of running this fleet. Short runs back and forth from Spokane to Seattle will kill your hours and your paycheck. Everybody hates doing them... and once you get in that lane, it can be hard to get out.

Then you'll run into another driver who's been hauling Genies into Northern Canada back to back.

Don't think that dispatch hasn't heard all the complaints a hundred times over.

I would think they would try harder to balance it out.... but then I don't know what kind of hoops they're jumping through to get loads covered.

I haven't seen an $800 pay check for a good while. They take care of me pretty well.

But I've worked hard to become an A-List driver. I take the loads they give me without complaint. I get loads delivered on time, every time. If I'm asked to work through a weekend here and there, I say I'm happy to help out. If they've got a hot load that must be in Tacoma by 7:00 AM, I work my HOS and get it there. My priorities are sitting at the shipper and sitting at the receiver.... not sitting at the truckstop 30 miles away.

I also try to stay off the phone with these guys. They spend all day putting out fires and dealing with driver's issues. They know I'm out there getting the job done. They know if I have to call them, it's something important.

As to the miles... I never pay much attention to miles. I look at this more like contract work. They're going to pay x amount for a load to get from a to b. The rest is up to me. The sooner I can get the load delivered and get moving again, the more money I'm going to make.

We tend to run the same routes a lot as well. So you get a pretty good idea what the good runs are and when you're going to be hurting.

If you really want, I can dig up a couple of weeks of data.


I will say this, though... On this fleet, you will burn up your 14 hr clock almost every day you work. You will rarely burn up your 11 hr drive time.

 

FwL,

Thank you for all your info. Sounds like I better just stay driving in the oil fields. That amount of money does not even cover half of my bills. Would be in a big hole in a short time. Thank you again to you and all truckers out there every day.

Stay Safe

 

I don't want to discourage anybody from hiring on with System... but I think a guy should know what he's getting himself iinto.

There's a pretty high degree of driver dissatisfaction on the NW fleet. Guys come in thinking they'll be working Monday through Friday and getting rich while doing it. It doesn't take very long to figure out that's not how it works.

Now... don't get me wrong. You can make a decent living on this fleet. I cleared $48,000 my first year and $53,000 my second year... NET... not GROSS. I can dig up the actual numbers if anybody insists on seeing them.

But I have been working on average 14 hours a day, 6 days a week in order to earn that amount.

 

BTW... I'm headed for Nisku, AB this afternoon with a load of pipe. I probably won't be able to respond for a day or two.

 

JwL, thanks again. Looks like you make a decent living driving for System. The hours I have no concern with whatsoever. I work lots and lots of hours in the patch. Its just the pay. 48-53k is not a bad wage at all. But it would be the times as you stated earlier that the pay is not even 800 on a 2 week paycheck. There is no possible way I could do less than 1600/month. seems like there should be a guarantee or something. Hell, the pay is better during the training period (according to $500 a week posted on their site). Maybe I will just keep them in the back of my mind in case someday I am unable to do what I do know and get some ills paid off. They really do seem like a good company. The pay is just not there for me to do it at this point in time.