JB Hunt

I share a story. JB decided to code me over to dedicated for the weekend, for Walmart so the regular drivers had their weekend off. I bumped the corner of a roll off box backing into a dock at a Walmart store. When asked "could this have been prevented?", I replied "sure could...I shouldn't have been under that trailer to begin with". They didn't think it was too funny, but I sure did. I was an OTR driver. If I wanted to be dedicated, it wouldn't have been all the way in New York, when I lived in Texas.

 

nah...BS...i woulda went low, and told him so.

i'm based.

 

To be honest, I made good money with JB Hunt.....at first. My first full year with them, I worked about 90 hrs/week, kept at least 2 log books going at all times, and cleared just about $60K that year (this was 35+ years ago). Got an ulcer the next year, and decided to ease off the throttle a bit; first took a "Northeast dedicated" assignment, then later a "Canadian dedicated" assignment, and did most of my next 2 years hauling automotive freight to either the Ford plant in Oakville, ON or the Camaro plant in Ste. Therese, QC., crossing the border usually daily, operating under Canadian laws most of the time.
Back then, you got yearly 1 cent/mile increases, but on year #5, it went up by 2 cents. As soon as it did, my dispatched miles dropped.

Looking back in my tax records, year 2 I made more like $50 (even with the hospital stay for the ulcer), and 3,4 and 5 were each slightly smaller than the previous year, finally ending at year 6 making barely $40k. Realizing that the deck was stacked against me working in a mega-carrier (and also knowing that my health problems would make it impossible for me to be a road driver someday), I eventually made plans to go back to college and get my degree. If I hadn't, today I'd probably be one of those ancient, bent-over and toothless old coots who always had good stories in the driver's lounge at any truckstop...