Time to start Houffing -- new gig at Houff Transfer

The day finally arrived. That day being yesterday. Which, if you're reading this, already arrived and left and has probably migrated south to warmer climes.

My expectation was this: I was to show up at Houff's Richmond terminal at 3:00pm, whereupon I would catch a ride with one of their drivers to Houff's main terminal in Weyers Cave just a couple hours away. There, they would put me up in a hotel for the night, and I would spend the next day (today) going through orientation. All good.

I showed up at the Richmond terminal at 3:00pm. Went into the building. The dispatcher there handed me (A) a paper logbook; (B) a bill of lading; (C) a plastic seal; and (D) the keys to a truck. They weren't wasting any time. They figured since I'd already passed a road test, I was good to haul a trailer to the Target DC in Stuart's Draft.

And, I mean, they weren't wrong. I've been to that Target DC many times.

So I filled out my paper log and made it current in the unlikely event that I got pulled over. "You got your ELD, driver?" "Not yet, Officer, because technically I ain't even been assigned a driver code. But I do have this fascinating paper log for your inspecting pleasure."

Dropped the loaded trailer at the Target DC. No empties, so I was instructed by dispatch to bobtail up to their main terminal. Got there and waited to find out where I'd be spending the night. At which point I found out that they have four bunk rooms in their terminal for drivers to sleep in. No hotel.

They ain't bad. The walls are a mix of 1970s Wood Paneling and Institutional Painted Cinderblock, so they ain't gonna win any Home Decorating awards. But everything was clean, and the linens were freshly laundered, and I slept the Sleep of the Just last night without difficulty. I got no complaints.

Got up this morning, started orientation. Some of the things I will now relate I already knew and just didn't bother mentioning in previous posts. Other things I learned today. In that latter category, I found out that Houff's fleet totals 105 trucks and about 680 trailers. Smaller even than Abilene when I started working for them (they had 400 trucks and 1000 trailers in 2016).

They have an old school system for turning in paperwork. Send in packets every week with your bills for that week. They also have you take a picture of them with the tablet they use for their ELD, but they still want the originals for redundancy. I approve.

They have some accessory payments to go along with their CPM. The one that I approved of the most was the $10 payment for double-swapping trailers. They pay you for getting live loaded and pay you for getting live unloaded, and I thought that was pretty cool. And that's in addition to any detention you might earn. They also pay you for sweeping out someone else's dirty trailer.

The tour of the shop given to us by the shop manager was what really convinced me I'd made the right choice to come here:

-All equipment is given a full inspection every 3 months.
-All trailers are given a quick inspection when you drive them onto the main terminal in Weyers Cave. Lights checked, tire pressure checked, trailer swept out if it's empty, etc.
-Oil is changed every 30k miles, because this company wants their equipment to last.
-While they do use some recaps, most of their tires are new.
-They don't stint on important safety equipment. Brakes and windshield wipers are the spendy top-of-the-line models instead of the cheapest they can find.
-All trucks are provided a pushbroom and a crowbar, so nobody can say they couldn't sweep out their trailer or pull nails due to lack of proper equipment.

Really, the guy running their shop exuded an aura of competence and brisk professionalism, and he made it clear that he knows the OTR drivers live in these things and all the drivers rely on having good equipment to do their job safely. Me and the other guy going through orientation both agreed that the shop tour, more than anything else, really sold us on the place.

I mentioned in my first post that the OTR drivers for this company work Mon-Fri and go home on the weekends. And when I talked to the owner of the company, I mentioned that I actually preferred to stay out longer. Well apparently he took that to heart and emailed the entire company to let them know that I was signing up and I was willing to stay out longer than 5 days. Because literally every person that came in today to explain some particular part of the company, whether it was the finance guy explaining pay and retirement, or whether it was the HR lady explaining benefits and time off, or whether it was the OSD lady explaining how to deal with detention and damaged freight, all said the same thing when they found out who I was: "Oh, you're the guy who wants to stay out longer." So I guess the owner wasn't just blowing smoke when he said he was willing to work with me on staying out longer than 5 days.

The truck they're assigning me is a 2026 Cascadia very similar to the 2024 Cascadia I've been driving for the past year and a half. Current plans are to be bright-eyed and bushy-tailed tomorrow at 4:00am, and do a ride-along with one of their other drivers. I am told that they like to do their best to use up a driver's full 11 every day, and that I will be going to Frederick, MD; Monrovia, MD, and another stop or two before heading back to Weyers Cave. Then I will get in my new truck and drive back to Richmond. Then get all of my crap out of my car and into my new truck. Then take the weekend off, then be back in the saddle come Monday morning.

Further updates will be provided as events warrant.

 

They drive a mix of Freightliners and Internationals. Also drive a mix of manual and automatic. So if you like a stick shift, they got you covered. They asked me if I could drive a stick. I replied "Poorly". I was trained on a stick in CDL school, but I joined Abilene as soon as I got my CDL, and they were a fully automatic fleet. It's been 10 years since I drove a manual, and I never drove one much to begin with, so there's a lot of rust to knock off those pipes. So I am happily ensconced in an automatic Freightliner.

The Freightliners have Detroit engines in 'em, same as my last Freightliner. Dunno what the Internationals have in 'em. Eaton transmissions for the sticks and presumably the autos.

No electronic kingpin release from the inside of the cab. Gotta pull the latch manually. Also no air latch for the tandems. Gotta slide those manually too. Looks like I'll have to invest in a pair of vice grips.

The Freightliner I have is slightly less opulent than my last one. Houff doesn't run teams, so I only got one bunk. They've got some overhead storage where the top bunk would be. They also have smaller cab versions for the regional drivers (who are home every night). I spent all day in the truck yesterday with one. Had a bunk that was right up against the back of the seats. No fridge, no microwave compartment, no closet.

They pay 52cpm if you don't have a hazmat endorsement, and 59cpm if you do. That's not "they pay 59cpm if you haul hazmat". That's 59cpm if you have a hazmat endorsement, no matter what you're hauling. They do require all their drivers to have a hazmat endorsement, or to get one within 90 days of hire. They will reimburse you for doing what you gotta do to get the endorsement.

$24 for every live load. $24 for every live unload. So if you get live loaded at the start of a trip and live unloaded at the end. you get $48.

$5 for every drop-and-hook. Not much of a big deal for an OTR driver who might only drop and hook once a day. But the guy I rode with yesterday changed trailers three times.

$5 if you sweep out a trailer that was left dirty by some other driver. They want their equipment clean.

Detention is $25/hr after 2 hours.

They apparently like to run their drivers. Guy I was with yesterday had to go into his 16-hour exception to make it back home. He said they try to get the full 14 out of their drivers each day, and the drivers who go home every night are encouraged to be back in the truck as soon as their 10 is up. Dude I was with yesterday put around 480 miles on the clock, and said he averages about 2700 a week. Which ain't bad considering he's only out 5 days.

Remains to be seen how they're going to handle me. Gonna have a chat with them about it here in a bit, I suspect. I would rather run on recap every day and not take a 34 than put 14 hours on the clock every day. They still get a full 70 out of me and I get some extra downtime at the end of the day to decompress.