Van Wyk Inc.

there's nothing confusing about it , they don't have $15.00 pm loads , where you'll make a killing on just a 250mile trip even at only 24%.
If they book an O/O a 1200 mile load paying 87cpm, and he gets just 70% of 87 , 1200 miles is 2 days driving , son , he'll be in the poor house.
And by the way even as a company driver , @ 24% of 87cpm , do the math you're driving for a couple dimes and a few pennies per mile. You say miles don't matter , here's a news flash , it all breaks down to miles , if someone tells you otherwise they lying through their gums.
When you're dispatched at VW if you ask what the breakdown per mile on the load is they'll tell ya. 87 cpm frt is bull for anyone unless you have your own operating number and book yourself an 87cpm load from Toledo to Portsmouth OH to get you home. That's the rare occasion an Independent will take that crap. And most still won't touch it , if it's not a big deal they get home today. VW has premium frt areas and broker frt areas. You're told when you hire in they try to run you a premium , load then the broker load gets you back to the premium frt area. But when it's slow and the economy sucks , they take anything and everything. AT YOUR EXPENSE , meaning you may do back to back to back broker loads to get back to a premium load. This is why they have beautiful trucks and an onsite Wash bay in Sheldon. They can afford it , because they're not paying an avg of 58 grand a year and managing to get their drivers home 5 or 6 days a month too.

 

Like I had said, they aren't a horrible company, and honestly there are many out there that are a hell of a lot worse. That being said, you nailed it with the lanes! The problem running percentage as a company driver, especially a company with 200 trucks running, is that there are other drivers running in good lanes to make up for you getting a low paying load. Just as you said MITM, they don't think twice about booking a horrible CHR load to pull you back into their "premium lanes", because they have enough trucks running to make up for it. I am green as can be(5 mos), and it didn't take long to figure that one out. As I said, there is some awesome paying freight, but you usually suffer with a lot of downtime for them. A good example...I had a load that went from northern VA out to LI that actually paid in around the $3.50/mi range! Sounds good, right? Here's the problem behind it....I had to deadhead from around the Poconos area of Pa to VA to get it. That was approx 250-300 mi for free. After dropping that load, I had to deadhead back to the Allentown, PA area for a broker load, again for free. While this didn't happen everytime, it happened enough, and as you can see, all those"free miles" add up real quick and bring down what you really make on that load. I found the best way to run for them in my area was to take the cheap loads they would give me heading out west(anywhere from .85cpm to around 1.30cpm, run around the Midwest on loads that paid so so(usually in the 1.00-1.50cpm range), and get a decent long mileage load back home, usually from IA or NE(usually around 2.00cpm). There are guys that do really well there, but it seemed like the ones that did really well lived either near the VA or IA terminal.

 

Hey truckerdo, have you looked at the Schneider Choice program? Honestly, after reading a lot of threads on here and talking to a few guys on it, depending on your home area, you would probably do better with them. Their freight rates seem to be anywhere from the same to a lot better than the ones I have seen with VW, and none of the headaches of running reefer. They also have a lot of Drop and Hook loads.

 

Why are there still drivers that work for either cheap money, or for free? What's wrong with these people?

 

There are some companies that just don't pay well...I wouldn't put VW up there with them completely. With some companies I think it just depends on where you live and the lanes they run. I know I will never run percentage again unless I go O/O and get to choose my loads.

 

1. I'm not gonna put their rates out here but as long as you didn't have an insane truck payment you could do decent over there compared to other outfits, me personally, I wouldn't lease my truck onto a "dispatch company" But to each it's own

2. As an O/O that's been doing this for 3 years I completely understand Van Wyk operating style. Could they do better on the Westbound back out to the Midwest?? Sure, Could the do better on the Southbound freight out of the NE?? #### sure, one problem guys.. competition!! But what else is paying great outside of pulling meat from the Midwest and Ice Cream? Them poultry loads out the southeast sucks... I understand the operation especially with a fleet of their size. Not to mention based in Waynesboro, the competition along the valley is mad cheap. Meade hauls cheap, Crosby usually hauls cheap and Appalachian hauls cheap.

3. Yes, it sucked pulling cheap freight but as a company driver, I'll put my pay and workload up against any other company driver in the state of VA. And more than likely it wouldn't be close. Now I kinda understand the beef from Iowa and between drivers, I would tend to have my worst weeks when I had loads out to the Midwest but them other carriers that surround them in Iowa and Minnesota aren't no better. I think is Johnson Feed, they pay about. 32 a mile. Van Wyk has the freight, especially out there, you lying to yourself and everyone here if you saying you can't run a week full of non broker freight in between Iowa, Kansas & Chicago. I did that for a week and brought home $900 after taxes while waiting for my new truck back in the day. A trip from IA to the NE and back is 4 days at most, you saying they don't offer freight from any points in Iowa to Kansas back to Iowa??? I've done quite a few times...

4. I made $58K my last year there and was home every weekend and majority of the time past 48 hours. Their was another guy who left 3 Sundays out of the month and made $78K... So I'm pretty sure theyre paying well over an avg of $58K a year..

5. And to my other man, I'm not trying to crap on Schneider, but don't drink their orange Kool aid over there.. Rates been in the pits for months, those aren't good, and aren't better than VW's...

6. And you got like $20 to $30 depending on how fair you deadheaded, if you won't getting paid then you should of talked to someone. Was it gonna break the bank?? No but still, you wont moving for free...Never going back to mileage, at my time at VW my pay averaged out to be $0.46 a mile which was about the standard in our area but our freight was much more consistent. Never had to sit more than a day to get load, maybe had to sit on a load for more than a day 3 or 4 times in 3 years.

I sound like a VW Kool aid drinker but they was good to me there and with reading and hearing other guys stories based on some of these trucking companies, I have no choice but to suggest these guys, but if you wanna go start for a carrier and run 2000-2400 mile a week for .40 cents a mile while sitting in a truck stop over the weekend while only getting home once or twice a month, getting screamed at for over idle, have at it.. not my cup of tea.. Good luck in yall future endeavors

 

Been trying to tell you for years these guys aren't like this, especially with you living in the NE but to each it's own..

 

I don't know how long ago you left VW, but they made it very clear that there was no pay for deadhead outside of the fuel bonus. They did take care of me many times with layover and shag pay, but there were also times that I got screwed around. I was once pulled off a load that would of paid me approx $280 for one day of work to deadhead 240 miles to relay a load out in western PA to NJ for $120 because dispatch told me the driver was "out of hours". When I met with the driver, turned out I was doing it because he didn't like to go to NJ. So, not only did I get lied to and screwed out of a good load( which he got btw), it also showed me that they like to play favorites and cater to certain drivers that live near the terminals.
The last straw for me was when I abided by a fleet message sent out to idle the trucks due to single digit/sub zero temps in the Midwest, only to find out I was over percentage and being screwed out of my idle bonus. I always got full bonus and was consistently at 2% idle time, much lower than we were allowed. I was over by 6 percent due to 2 nights of idling at their request. When I spoke to the VP about it and pointed out that I'm always low and only did it at their request, I was told it was in my best interest to keep their equipment running rather than have road service come out and pretty much "oh well" to the fact I was going to lose out on a little over $200 for the two week period. That was the straw that broke the camels back with me.
Again, you could do a lot worse than VW, and I am grateful that they gave me my start. If it wasn't for periodic dishonesty of dispatch and finally getting screwed out of money to keep their equipment running, I'd probably still be there. They have great equipment and pretty much leave drivers to do their job without intervention unless need be.
I am still green and honestly don't have a lot of experience in the industry, but from my experience in other career fields, it seems like they are starting to transition from the smaller, "family run" feel to that of a bigger carrier. They just started installing driver facing cameras in the trucks in Oct/Nov(which I was also told by recruiting they didn't have and would never have when I signed on), something that is more common with the megas than with a small company. I know this P'd off a lot of drivers and may possibly be why their turnover has gone up(from what I heard while at one of the terminals in the office).
Only time will tell...I hope that they go back to more of a small carrier feel that I hear they used to have. I left for a smaller, 20 truck operation closer to me, and it definitely has what I would consider to be a "family feel".

 

Exactly ... % paying companies that hesitate not one second to send you 400 miles for a so called good paying load , makes out like a freaking bandit because they don't have to pay deadhead miles ...
I drive for Poly , and can sit 3 days , run 4 days , and BLOW away what VW would allow me to make over 8 days. I get mile pay and Per Diem of 63.00 daily get pd Hub miles , get home avg 6 to 8 days a month and still do over 50k it avg's out to 48cpm by the hub. If I go and empty in Greenfield In , on a FRi , they can't find me a load and allow me to go home 180 miles to N.E. Ky , it's 48cpm to head home and call them Monday morning.
All miles pd at 48cp , 401k with 100% match on up to 6% , with good benefits that include 80% of up to 1800.00 a year for dental. Mandatory 2 teeth cleaning pd at a 100%.
I tried % one time with VW , in 28 yrs for 6 months will never again do % unless it's dedicated and all predetermined loads so I can know what my weekly pay will avg. cause they do the same thing the same time every day or every other day. Anything less , you may as well play Russian roulette .

 

You talked about how well you did the last year with them , but didn't mention how long you were with them , nor did you mention how long you were with them before you started being well taken care of.
I won't go work for YRC because I'm not gonna do on call next 11 yrs until one day they find a reason to either cut me or make me a regular.
I also will except certain initiation gimmicks. Not one that expects me to spend 2 or 3 days making equivalent to 7.50 an hr. because frt sucks right now. While the guys with a few years there are bringing home 900 to 1200 wkly and going home 3 weekends a month.
Especially not when I hire in with 20yr exp. Forget that with a big ol F. I gave it 6 month , and was getting home 2 days out of about 18 , and back out another 18. If you live in an area where you never have to go to Waynesboro , and can stay right around Sheldon Ia then yes , it's likely you can stay on premium frt for the most part. I hired in out of KS , and lived in N.E.Ky. Now there's a VW driver been there since before 2007 , as when I was there. He live about 50 miles from me along AA hwy in or near Tollesboro KY. Bet you he got 10 yrs with them , I'll also bet you that if the redheaded lil a hole in VA tried booking him 3 or 4 days of broker frt the VP would be calling and tell what's his face to give that to a newer guy not a 10 yr guy. Rightfully so too , he has the right after 10 yrs to tell them I'm not doing that bottom of the barrel stuff , but see I had only 6month with them and told them the same thing. Oh well , take it or quit they said. Buh-bye ... SEEEEEYA