Time to start Houffing -- new gig at Houff Transfer

So there I was, minding my own business, when suddenly I got a message from Abilene Motor Express informing me that they were going tits-up, and I had two weeks to get my affairs in order. That was Monday, January 12th. Abilene closed its doors for good a couple days ago.

I signed on with them fresh out of of trucking school. Ink wasn't even dry on my CDL. They're the only company I've ever driven for. My 10-year anniversary with them would've been August 15th, and I had over a million miles driven. So it was with grim resolve that I took my last week of vacation owed to me by the company and settled in to do some research.

But there was a wrinkle, you see. Abilene was (as most of you know) owned by Knight-Swift. And us Abilene drivers were given an opportunity to transfer to Swift. Not only that, but all our miles and our seniority and our vacation and such would also transfer. Instead of being a brand new Swift employee with 0 miles driven and no time on the clock, I would be a million-mile Swift driver with nearly 10 years of tenure. And they were going to let me keep my truck since it was still under warranty. I wouldn't even have to move! And while I was naturally trepidatious at the thought of working for a giant mega, all of the above plus the continuity of benefits was enough to at least tempt me to keep an open mind.

Last Tuesday, I attended the Swift orientation they were giving to us drivers who were making the transition. And that orientation left me with the very firm conclusion that I didn't want to drive for Swift. There were a number of little details that made me make this face --> , but they were things that I was at least willing to see if I could put up with.

But then they dropped a couple of kickers:

-Drivers who take more than "a few" days off will have their trucks reassigned. So if I go on 2 weeks vacation, I gotta move my stuff out of my truck, and when I come back from vacation, I gotta move into a new truck. If I feel like driving for a month and a half and taking a week off, as I typically do twice a year, same deal: Move out of the truck when you leave, move into a new one when you come back.

-Every time I put the truck in reverse for any reason, whether it is to back into a dock, or back into a parking spot at a truck stop, or back the tractor up to hook a trailer, or any other possible circumstance where I might need to make the truck go backwards, I have to send in a macro on the ELD telling them where I am and why I'm backing up. I also have to tell them the license plate of the trailer I'm hauling. Every time. (I double- and triple-checked with the orientation lady just to make absolutely sure I wasn't hearing things.)

And I dunno about you, but I think that last one is absurd. It represents a level of oversight from the company I am absolutely certain I don't want to deal with. So I returned to my job search with renewed vigor and, to make an already long story slightly less long, got in contact with Houff Transfer.

Houff is a regional company. They mainly deliver to the Atlantic seaboard. Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, North Carolina and South Carolina, along with Pennsylvania and Ohio. And they have a terminal here in Richmond, just a couple exits north of Abilene's old location.

Yesterday, I went in for my drug test and my road test. Arrived on site, and the terminal is just a little tiny building with a couple offices, a lobby, and some restrooms with showers. There was only one dude in the whole building, and he was gonna give me my pee test. I filled out the paperwork and dutifully stepped into the restroom to handle my business.

When I emerged minutes later, holding a clear plastic cup of my own warm urine, I discovered that two more people had arrived in the meantime. One was a young black lady, and the other was an older man who looked like exactly the sort of fellow who would work in the trucking industry in some office capacity. And they both looked right at me and my cup of urine.

Awkward.

I set the cup down on the table as nonchalantly as I could, and we struck up a casual conversation. The young black woman was a driver who had also worked for Abilene. She'd spent two years there, but jumped ship four months ago and was quite happy driving for Houff. The older guy was interested in my experiences with Abilene, and any insights I could offer as to why it had gone under. And then he introduced himself with a firm handshake. His name is Zane. He's the owner of Houff Transfer.

The owner of the company watched me come out of the bathroom holding a cup of pee, and still gave me a firm handshake anyways.

We talked a bit about Houff's schedule. Houff has two types of drivers: City drivers, who are home every night, and regional drivers, who drive Mon-Fri and are home every weekend. I told him I much preferred to stay out 18 days at a time and run on recap and not take a 34. He said they might be able to work with me on that. We also talked about how I have a very inflexible sleep schedule and don't drive overnight. He said they'd work with me there, too.

And that's the kind of company I want to drive for. Not some giant corporation with thousands of trucks and tens of thousands of employees. I want to work for a company where there's like two layers on the org chart between me and the guy who signs my paychecks. The fact that he's down-to-earth is a very nice bonus.

After that, I did my road test with one of their drivers. Richmond has been covered in a layer of snow and ice since Sunday, so I picked a great day for a road test. Shawn, the guy giving me my road test, said he'd been with the company for 14 years. Said the owner was a good dude, and the company was a good company.

Next week I travel to their home office in Weyer's Cave, VA, where I will be indoctrinated into their various policies and arcane ELD mysteries. After that, they'll assign me a truck. Not sure what the future will bring, but for now I've got a good vibe about the place.

 

Every other person I've talked to about it in the trucking industry -- including the Houff Transfer recruiter and the owner himself -- reacted the same way: With a snort of incredulous derision, followed by "What?"