Owner operator looking for new home

I saw you replied to this thread already and it was removed. Any idea why?

 

Talked to a recruiter at Freymiller and they are definitely a no go for me as an owner operator. They offer about the same pay you get from the bigger dry van companies and only promise 2500 miles per week. They might be a good company to work for as a company driver, I don't know. All I know is $1.17+fsc is not enough for me to deal with reefer stuff.

 

I'm really leaning towards JS Helwig out of Terrell, TX. They pay $1.50 plus the fuel surcharge which is currently $0.61 for a total of $2.11 per mile. I can't seem to really find anything bad about them on the internet and there are no red flags that I can tell from my research and talking to the recruiter. Obviously recruiters are known to tell you what they think you want to hear, so who knows.

Here's what they've told me so far:

• No forced dispatch, you can run as hard as you want or not run hard if you don't want to run hard.
• 2800-3000 miles per week.
• 60% drop and hook
• Plates and permits are completely covered by Helwig
• Reefer fuel covered by Helwig
• Wex fuel card with discounts
• All tolls covered by Helwig
• No fuel surcharge on empty miles and you only get $1.10 on empty miles.

The only thing I will say is that they could not give me an average discount for their fuel card. I don't think they have many O/O at Helwig so it's possible they weren't prepared for that question. The recruiter did say she'll try to find out for me.

 

Thank you guys for the suggestions. I tried to call dot foods twice with no answer. They had an option to leave name and number, so I did that. I did look at the positions available on their website and the only position in Oklahoma (Ardmore) requires hazmat. I don't really have time right now to go through the process of getting hazmat so if they call me back I'll talk to them but I'm probably not going to pursue that any further.

Still leaning towards Helwig but I'll probably make a decision by the end of the week since orientation is typically on Mondays.

Edit to add: Helwig updated me and they're (apparently) running the numbers for me to get an average on their fuel discount.