SAIA

I'm not with Saia, but I think a lot of this is going to be terminal specific. If you run local P&D, then obviously you will be home daily, but linehaul runs vary from location to location.

 

I spent 8 glorious months at Saia. Started out taking home almost 1000 a week doing linehaul, but by the end, after they deleted a couple runs and a couple more senior drivers came back, it was down to about 750 take home a week.

But yes, there were some hotel stays, particularly at the end when they at times used me as a systems guy. Otherwise it was *usually* home every night. But yes, depends on location. If you have any more questions I may be able to answer them.

 

Drop by the terminal and ask directly. You'll find out whether you want to work for that TM and if you do they'll answer your questions.

 

If you are hiring on as systems, yes you will see hotel stays, there is no way around that, and it's best just to think that way going into it, another scenario is if you happen to land a bid that is a layover, then yes you will have a layover, every other day, if you are put on bid that is meet turn, something may come up, that you may have to go through and layover, they do issue you a CLC card for hotels, I have been running systems over 16 months now, and I pack for five days, however I have only stayed out 5 days only three times now, usually it runs anywhere from 1 to 3 days max out, but you never know, and as the others pointed out, location plays a part in it too.

 

I am out in the west, we always build and break our own sets, but depending on the run, you may get assigned a set that is already together that is a relay, they pay 15 minutes for doubles, and 30 minutes for triples of your hourly rate, tractors are assigned to bid runs, so bid drivers always have assigned trucks, systems drivers however is a different story, you may be able to get a assigned truck depending on availability and location, same goes for slip seating, depending on situation, p&d drivers do use the linehaul power if needed.

 

As far as turnover, yes I have heard the same thing, but where I am domiciled we don't have it.