GP Transco??

I have heard really good things about them from...like... publications. And yet they are from my area, but I have yet to meet one of their drivers.

 

Im glad i got out of ohio a over the weekend . Was starting to snow when i left chicago tuesday morning and turned into rain all the way til mizzou, think ive got the upperhand now headed westbound out of texas. Sunshine morning here . Yall be safe

 

That's because they are experiencing driver bliss and don't want to be bothered.

 

Ohhhh, gotcha.

 

As a former employee of GP Transco I thought it would only be right to throw out a drivers point of view of the company. Seeing as this is what this site is all about after all. Normally I would list the pros and cons, but I thought of a slightly different approach and not to sugar coat anything. Tell it like it is so to speak. Here it is:

Trucks/Equipment etc: The trucks are all leased out, freightliners and Volvos. Automatics, Apus, 1500 watt inverters, volvo at the time was the standard 670 verison. Of course now I believe they are the 760s (but don't quote me on that). Trailers are in good shape, the doors are those special ones where they "clip" in instead of using a chain if you know what I'm talking about. Also the trailers are equipped with the air button for the tandem sliding. Which was a plus, and easier on the body but more on that in a moment.

Location: They are based in the "great" city of Chicago, and they love Chicago, they love driving in and all around Chicago. So if you live near Chicago this company will suit you well because you will see a lot of Chicago. Just how much of Chicago will you see? Weekly! Yes even the Over the road guys see Chicago on a weekly basis.

OTR/Regional: In the GP world, both are exactly the same thing. You'll run a TON of WI, MN, ND, IL, IN, IA. You'll also see states like...NY, NJ, PA, (basically all of the northeast). If you're looking for the southern states or out west past the Rockies, please don't hold your breath as you'll end up turning blue. Oh and Florida? No, no and no. You might see Georgia once in a blue moon, but mainly nothing below interstate 80.

Dispatch: I should write a book, but I'll throw out the highlights with Dispatch. 80 percent of your dispatchers are NOT in the USA. Let that line sink in, they are NOT in the USA. So where are they located? Lithuania, which for a global region that's next to Poland. If you are wondering how large that country is, Lithuania is a few miles smaller than the state of West Virginia. This is the main reason they like to stick close to Chicago, they think 300 miles is REALLY far for a driver to travel too. But that's another chapter all together. Which brings us to loads.....

Loads: What kind of loads would you expect this company to be giving you? Does heavy loads, Live loads, no drop and hook trailers sound fun to you? If so this company would work for you. They do BROKER loads. Seeing as much of their staff is over seas, this is how it goes down. Dispatch says they have you a load (lets say Quaker oats). Broker calls driver, and tells him/her all the information you need. You then get to sit at a dock for 4-12 hours while they load your trailer. You then take that trailer a whopping 300-400 miles through the mountains and you guessed it where they get to live unload you. You repeat this process over and over and over again. Only Broker loads, loads of paper/beer/batteries/UNFI/anything that was rejected by another carrier because it wasn't worth their time you are bound to get. Hence there "unlimited selection of crap" to put plainly. With that being said, when you do pick up a trailer, make sure you spend a good 45 minutes checking it from top to bottom. Lights/etc etc everything, because you get married to that thing.One last thing, average load weight? 40,000 pounds. Be prepared for 40-44 thousand on a typical outing.

Ipass/prepass: They do have Ipass, it gets you by the toll roads no problem. However you should know that interstate 76 in PA is completely forbidden. They don't tell you that in orientation but yes it's not an approved toll road. Also being a "foreign carrier" you'll be a target for the DOT.

Home Time: HA...………...be sure to go home often because I made the mistake of staying out for 5-6 weeks and was only granted 32 hours off. They thought that was PLENTY of home time. Not even a reset I mean do I need to explain more on that?

Routing: You route yourself, they use Pilot/Flying J accounts. You can put as much fuel in as you want when you want. Obviously with the whole "heavy loads" You'll have fun balancing that out each day. Just know most of their loads are considered "Out and Back" so for example if your over the road like I was. Say you get a load to NY, the next load will take you into either IL or IN. Or say you finally make it out west, the very next load will take you back to IL or IN. Same with TX. They LOVE those areas so just be on the cautious side.

Just thought someone might like to hear the good and bad sides before jumping in. It might be okay with some people, but others aren't fans of live loads. Remember your dispatcher isn't in America. I mean the guy I was assigned too thought Philadelphia was farm land. Boy was he shocked when I took a photo of that city and sent it to him. Nearly knocked him out of his chair. Lol.

Best of luck to anyone and remember drive safe out there!

 

There had to be a catch.

Or several.

 

Thank you for the awesome reply, and thanks for welcoming me to the forum board! I appreciate that. I always liked information and liked to be as detailed as possible when telling my experience with a company that might have not been up to par.

Drive safe!