raider express

Bad company! They will run you to death.

 

Well, if a passenger account for a month straight OTR means anything, here's what I saw with them.

I spent a month out there with my EX to see if trucking was something I'd like to do. It is. I did everything but drive. We hauled both dry van and reefer. Pretty much all D&H with some live loads & unloads.

Now she had a few months experience when she started with them and they started her at 36 cpm which I thought was pretty good. They will run you hard and the miles were also good most of the time. Many times, so good she was forced to do...shall we say....some very creative logging. Now they didn't "force" her to take the loads but we all know how that works.

For the most part the office folks were very nice but thier interoffice communication leaves MUCH to be desired. Communication between dispatch shifts was pretty much nonexistant. Even on the same shift it wasn't very good. This created a fair amiunt of confusion but in truth, they never took that out on the driver and in some cases, even apologized to her.

The pay was both accurate and like clockwork and never a problem there. They paid the same no matter what. Deadhead, bobtail all the same as loaded. Always cut a comcheck for lumpers without question. Getting in for service was a "challenge" but eventually it got done.

I sent several "need attention" reports about trailers over the Qualcom with never a reply. Now, did they actually address those issues? I can't say. They just never repied so it "seemed" as though we were being ignored.

A freind of hers drove for them for quite some time. That's actually how she got in with them by teaming with him thinking a good relationship was on the rise...lol.

Anyway, he ran HARD for them and mostly at night. A good guy and a great driver with MANY years under his belt. But they were leaning on him HARD about idling trying to stay cool during the day to sleep. He asked them to run him during the day instead. I don't know all the details but he wound up leaving them over this. No APU's that I'm aware of.

They don't hire outside TX and I "think" they want a year OTR to get going. All in all, if it weren't for the hire area and needing a year, I actually thought about approaching them.

I believe the owner (nameless) really does care about his drivers but they really need to work on getting better organized in my humble opinion. Bottom line for me, if they would hire me, I'd give it shot.

Hope that helps some.

 

Well, you've come to the right place for a WEALTH of experience and information on your chosen path. The folks here are great and very helpful. You'll learn quickly to distinguish the few that aren't really here to help.

One thing I will mention that I've heard from more than one of those I respect here is.....Be "a bit" wary of carriers the "schools" recommend. It's been said they get kick backs to do so. Do I know this for a fact? No I don't.

So just do your research carefully and ....USE THE SEARCH FEATURE here. It's an invaluable tool in my humble opinion and in a lot of cases, the answer you seek has been addressed MANY times already.

Although I'm about to get pretty busy as I head off to NC for orientation Sunday morning, if I can help at all just ask and I'll do my best.

I wish you the best and WELCOME to the best Truckers forum on the net!!

 

Some say they will run you to death. Is that not better than waiting a week for a dispatch? I am considering them myself. Might look into First Choice.in Fort Worth as well.