Keen Transport

Well I have been back at Keen Transport now for about 4 months. To give you a quick recap....I drove for Keen for two years and loved the company and the freight we haul (we do alot of oversized loads), but with the economic down turn last year, things finally got to the point that I decided to leave, so I could meet my financial obligations. I.E. bills, child support, etc.. I kept in close contact with the powers that be at keen, and was called in late December of last year and asked if I would be interested in coming back because freight was picking back up.
Over the 8 months that I was gone I kept in contact with several drivers that were still there, and they had all assured me that freight was indeed looking up. So I gave the company I was driving for my two week notice, and set up an orientation date of early Jan. They brought 8 drivers back in that first orientation that had either been laid off or quit on good terms like myself. (let me have a little sidebar here...for the newer drivers in this industry it is important to not burn bridges I don't care how unfair you think you are being treated always try and give some type of notice when leaving. It will come back to bite you in the #** if you don't. In this industry it will follow you on your DAC, and the perfect example is that when I quit I gave notice, but a friend of mine quit about the same time with no notice. Well I was rehired and when he tried to get back on here they said "no thanks. When you left before you didn't give a notice" So now he is stuck driving for an inferior company making about .12 less a mile.)
Since being back I have stayed busy, and made great money. The base pay is .48 per mile plus $35 additional for an over sized load. On average an overosized load pays me about .51 per mile. This is by far the best company I have driven for, the equipment is well maintained, if you have maint. issues they are taken care of immediately. They give you the cleaning supplies that are needed to keep the truck clean i.e. papertowels, windex, armour all, lubricant for your binders, they reimburse you up to $100.00 for a pair of steeled toed boots once a year. Little things like this make a difference to me. The drivers here are a pretty tight knit group, and I really missed that during the months I was gone. If stuck for a weekend somewhere, we will usually break out our grills and have an impromto cook out.
We are the main carrier for Caterpillar and that makes up the majority of what we haul. We normally haul from the Cat plants either to a dealer, the ports for Export, or to a coal mine somewhere. The nice thing about hauling this type of freight, is that most of the time the customer is glad to see you, and for the most part there are no appointments You get loaded, give your travel agent (dispatcher) an eta for delivery as long as your get it there in a reasonable amount of time there are no issues. Occasionally you will have a set appt. at a coal mine or select customers, but those are few and far between.
Now there is a down side to hauling over dimensional loads. Curfews around larger cities, having to run designated routes that are on the state issued permits, in most states if over sized you can only run during the day light hours.( there are a few exceptions) You must have patience to haul this type of freight because you will have to wait on permits to be issued from different states. You can't just run when you want to...you have to abide by that permit of face extremely high fines.
I will try and update this thread on a weekly basis, if anyone has any questions, don't hesitate to ask.

 

Wysrob, Since being back I have averaged about 2700 miles a week at a base rate of .48 per mile. we do most of our running during daylight hours. In some states you can run at night depending on your overall dimensions.

 

Mike, Yes they do allow riders as long as an insurance form is filled out. They do not have double bunks and the passenger seat isn't air ride, so it makes for a rough ride for a passenger.

 

They expect you to stay out a minimum of 3 weeks, right now they want 2 years experience with some flatbed or heavy haul experience.

 

Well just a quick update of my last couple of weeks. Each of the last two weeks I have had 2353 mile week and 2850 mile week. Out of the eight loads I pulled in those two weeks 4 of them were Over sized loads and 4 of them were legal loads. I usually stay out for 4 weeks at a time, but I picked up a load Friday in Clayton N.C. that can't deliver to Brimfield Ill. until Tuesday at 0800, so instead of sitting at a truck stop somewhere over the long weekend, my travel agent said I could swing by the house. Now granted, I would rather be out over the long weekend racking up miles and being productive, but im stuck on this load so I guess some unexpected home time isn't a bad thing. I will leave here early Monday morning and shoot for our yard in Morton Ill. Monday night, from there I will only be about an hour from my delivery Tuesday, and they already have me preplanned with a D6 dozer loading in Illinois going to Syracuse N.Y.. One thing I can say is that over the last 3 months there isn't much waiting on a load when empty, if your not already preplanned on something before your empty, you usually have a load within 30 minutes of sending in your empty call.
Now on another note...I knew it was only a matter of time before it happened, but the company has selected 15 drivers to do a "test" with electronic logs. I know within 3 to 5 years the govt' will probably mandate "e" logs in all class 8 trucks, but I was hoping Keen would hold out as long as possible. I have two pretty good friends that are involved in the "test". One seems to like them, and the other guy who usually runs hard despises them. This test period is supposed to be 90 days, but I fear that once the kinks are worked out it will turn from a test to company policy. I guess only time will tell.
In closing on this Memorial Day weekend I would like to say "Thank You" to all the former military who have served this great country and paid the ultimate sacrifice.

 

Groundpounder, they had a hiring freeze on for over a year, because of the economic slowdown, but about two 4 months ago started bringing guys back that had been laid off, and are actually hiring drivers with heavy haul experience again.