LTL Companies

Rank them based on whatever is important to you. Want to avoid dock work at all costs? Stay out in hotels all week as a road driver? Free healthcare? 70mph trucks? Overtime after 8/40 hours?

Most drivers will say the one they work for is best for themselves, otherwise they wouldn’t work there.

 

[QUOTE="HiramKingWilliams, post: 10571946, member: 257213" the way you’re treated varies a lot.[/QUOTE]

The company that I work for is good....... But not the terminal that I work out of due to the Youthful terminal manager that we have. All of the management experience is retiring from the company and being replaced by people in their twenties even though there are plenty of people in their 50s that could do the job better than the person that they promote at 29 years of age.

 

Really a huge open ended question with many variables.

So, I'll rank companies based on what I know about them looking at things in the general "overall" perspective without giving too much weight to any one aspect that you could prioritize. Of course, any single one of these is a YMMV especially when you add the whole seniority and freight volume aspects.

But dollar for dollar and pound for pound, FedEx Freight reins king as far as I'm concerned. Their insurance, while nowhere near top tier, doesn't gouge your pockets for coverage. City and Linehaul payrates are excellent with only a 3 year pay progression (many terminals topping out at 1 year due to the difficulty in retaining drivers). O/T after 8 OR 40 hours for city work (whether you get past those thresholds is very terminal specific though), outward facing cameras only, good retirement benefits (new hires don't get the pension anymore, but the 8% 401k match is untouchable by competitors to my knowledge). Aside from the individual impact, there isn't another LTL company in the country that has the footprint or volume that FXF does.

BUT... that comes with a big price... being under the FedEx corporate umbrella. Beholden to shareholders in a corporate conglomerate that has many fingers dipped in many pies around the globe (many of FX's financial shortfalls of recent years has and is continuously being blamed on the TNT acquisition which was a dud from the get go), and as such, operating variables are VERY much at the whim of the shareholders, NOT to the employees. Need proof? FedEx didn't give a second thought when Watkins demanded to dovetail their employees into their respective seniority lists during the acquisition phase of Watkins Motor Freight.

1. FedEx Freight
2. UPS Freight
3. Saia
4. Old Dominion
5. ABF Freight
6. Estes
7. R+L
8. XPO
9. YRC
10. Central Transport

I didn't include the regionalized carriers like Dayton, Pitt, SEFL etc. in my ranking.

 

I guess if you want a ranking that’s biased by my experiences and opinions, it would be this:

1. FedEx Freight
2. Old Dominion
3. XPO
4. Saia
5. Estes
6. ABF
7. R+L Carriers
8. UPS Freight
9. Central Transport
186. YRC

Some of the regionals would be very high up on the list if I lived in their service area. A Duie Pyle and Dayton Freight come to mind.

 

Ahh my 2 cents... I started with YRC. They trained me to get my CDL. Ran sleepers for 9 months then went to XB. Couldn’t live by the phone 24/7 or continue the sleeper life style so I moved on. It’s not bad place to get your feet wet in the LTL trucking world. I’m glad I started with them. Got to see the country west of the Midwest. Did some real truckin...throwing chains in the winter to get thru Wyoming then theres good ole Loveland pass, cabbage, and donners I’ve had all the fun to experience those places in the winter. Made 83k my first year of trucking. Almost went to CR England before YRC. Sure I would of went back to my old line of work if I went to CR. A year of safe driving from ANY LTL will be a stand out on your app to get into a better LTL. Gotta start somewhere.

 

Just out of curiosity why is SAIA ranked above OD on your list?