Driving after leaving a mega....did it get better or worse?

CFI has a reefer division now.
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No, you’re right it doesn’t matter if they know your name, but when you hear “Yeah <insert mega name> just got here but we’ll get you unloaded first” , it’s kinda nice. Especially when you’re done unloading , you got 700 miles and it’s Miller time. Well not necessarily Miller, but..

 

Yup my first driving job was with may. Truck governed at 55 at the time, my dispatch was a raving class A make even karens blush #####. Constantly yelling at me for everything even if i did what she wanted. One of the worst exoerinces i had as a driver. Didnt help my truck was one step above junk and constantly breaking down and i would get written up for say the fuel pump going out like i was abuseing a truck with 750k miles.

After i left ive found working for mini carriers of 20 or less trucks is far far better.

 

I agree. My company is a little over that on OTR trucks. Plus 7 city drivers/trucks.

Megas... you get idiots trying to make themselves look good before all else. A head of safety was replaced after I left. Another... they just wouldn’t listen to me. Wasted my time. They still don’t know why I left.
This company has far better trailers and trucks than any mega. I never have to build up pressure fully to operate pins/brakes on tandems. Had to a lot with Megas. This truck has none of the mitigation bs. Governed as 75.
My mega trucks was like playing a piano duet with a partner who hadn’t learned and was disinterested. Never drove a truck before that when I pushed on the gas pedal. It said: “well... I’ll think about it.... ok... let’s go.” ... I felt like I was teaching a computer how to drive.

 

I would like to add....
I went through 6 companies in 3 years. 4 of them just plain intolerable problem. 2 was just misunderstanding and didn’t work out. I can’t declare bankruptcy to keep his truck employed. I liked that one a lot though. Then had a small company. He was a complete idiot.
It can get better or worse.
Find what works. I agree with and am at a 20 truck something company.
I do admit. Hauling porta potties sounds like the Mecca of trucking.

 

Especially now days. Smaller is best. IMO. They don't have to make all those corporate decisions, and force them on the drivers. Plus the dispatchers you get to know very well. Again, IMO.

You will realize this as you grow older in Trucking. Just give it time.

 

If megas really want to keep drivers they would pay more and let the drivers pick their loads off a load board. Do away with most of their driver managers, driver dispatch. Hire, Retrain, for Planners, Planners are to be Super Keen, place them in sectors to control available loads to the empty trucks. Not after breakfast, not after break. They are ON IT, and paid well. We already have the No Cams in the Trucks movement. They need to be OUTSIDE the truck, and More of them. Again, IMO.


I would take a job which is out and back in 3 days, 1.5 days off loop, dedicated customer, no need for driver manager, with a mega. 63 cents a mile minimum. No camera, no trailer tails.

 

Started with Schnieder Bulk, typical experience as already stated in this thread. Quit after 18 months and started working for Superior Carriers, about equal size for bulk but without the mega carrier mentality. Went from 45k/year to 70k doing a lot of the same runs, also a fair bit of local and regional out n back. With Schneider it was all otr and never routed near the house until the very last day of your run.

Unfortunately Superior got bought out and the new owners seem to be leaning more toward the mega carrier mentality. I worked briefly for a local company doing a mix of things, but that didn't work out. Pay was OK, hours were terrible.

 

Not a mega company but i started food service with a 100 truck fleet, they treated you just like a number still. Then i went to small mom and pop oilfield company with about 20 drivers that treated us real good making $700-800 more per week than what i was doing lumping food and fighting NYC traffic

 

Thank you for this testimony. Brett. It is not 100% small company but the megas are lacking, alot. Its sad. They have to bend to the will of the CEO and Board of Dysfunction. Its a bottom line and its brutal. The positions they have put their companies in and the drivers, make it a loser 90% of the time for the drivers. The megas hate, that drivers can find a smaller company too. Lets vow to Never Forget that.. Thank you. You will never be just a Truck Number like you are at a MEGA. That's there bread and butter. Keeping the drivers down.