The Little Guy

Just do not try and do the GW at night, the last few times I have tried were between midnight and 3am. Every time I sat for a good 45 min.
They have been closing the lower level and only running 1 lane on the upper, for repairs at night.
Did it at 1500 last week and flew all the way.
I do not like large citys. NY, LA, Chicago, Dallas, Atlanta etc. They could all burn away and it would not bother me at all.

 

MVT in Nashville is a larger company with 1000 trucks. I can't say how often you'll get home, but they require 14 out. I know the boys in El Paso get "through" regular as that's the home terminal. Nashville may be the same?

I should add the Nashville terminal is pretty small, but they do have shop, showers, & a great couple of truck washers that'll have ya shining bright & on the road in 20 minutes.

 

CD, you and me both man. I came across the 695 from Boston to Farmingdale. I think my old boss, fellow member MBL took the 495 out as he drove out. I gotta give it to the drivers who go to NYC all the time. They have my utmost respect.

KH

 

I took a chance and hired on with a guy that runs 6 trucks here out of Klamath Falls. Best move I ever made. He doesn't like to make his drivers wait. I went to Salt Lake City last sunday and unloaded monday morning. All ready to roll by 8:30 am, bosses broker started screwing around on the back haul and finally boss called me at 10 am and said just bring it home and we'll reload hay here. That hour and a half was the longest I have ever sat waiting for him. I wasn't complaining, I get paid for every mile the truck runs. Plus little companies seem to have trucks that are specced alittle better sometimes. Mine is an 05 Columbia, 550 hp C15, 13 spd, and 3.42 rear gears, no limiters. Alot of fun actually.

 

My last company had 25 trucks.
Mostly International 9900's a mix of 9900i and 9900ix. All were very clean and very well maintained.
Most had 550+ hp cats, the newer ones had Cummins and would not go as fast. But still the slowest truck in the company would run 75.
All were Eagles. And I loved my truck.
I may have to go back in the spring lol. They have more freight now and I can go back when ready. But I wanted to put a year in with this company first, I do not like job hopping.
And I noticed that they fixed there safestat rating recently. Passed an audit, and only 2 OOS violations in 24 months. One for a bad strap and one for log.
Not bad at all. And the pay was fair.

 

My last job was with one of those little guys and I don't think I'll be doing that again.

I had to use my own money to put fuel in his truck. (Smarter drivers would sit at the fuel island waiting for hours until he called back with the money to pay for fuel.) He paid "bird-miles" on the loads ($.30 a mile and won't hire anyone with less than 5 years OTR). Threatened to fire people if they didn't falsify their logbooks. And I'm still waiting for my last paycheck from trips I ran 6 months ago. (At this point it's being handled by the state as I filed a claim against him for non-payment of wages.)

In spite of not paying me yet, he's offered me another load and acts shocked that I turned it down. And the most recent voice mail was some sob story about why I should drop "this thing with the state" because of a death in his family. In previous months it's been: breakdown, have to pay permits and insurance this month, got sick (never could decide if he had a blood clot in his leg or a stoke though... gotta wonder when they can't tell the same story twice in 5 minutes), and then (after getting so sick) he's out of town having to haul his own frieght because all of his drivers have quit.

Gee, I wonder why?

So many of his excuses to me, and to other vendors I overheard on phone calls start out with "I'm just a little guy..."

From now on, I think I'll stick with the big companies. I'd rather be a truck number with a paycheck!

(WARNING: don't work for J-Mar Kustom Transport out of Eugene, OR)

 

1) Law of averages. Big companies are going to get more attention because more people work there.

2) It might just be that the good, small companies don't get talked up because the drivers either a) know there aren't any open trucks to fill and/or b) don't want to create a big fat demand for the very job they love so much.

Also, in the way of real advice: if you trawl around the internet and try to dig into unconventional places (both online and in the real world) you might dig up some of the smaller carriers that don't advertise/aren't online. Then, with a little more investigation, you can figure out their CSA score and get at least a preliminary idea about how high-quality they might be.

CSA scores searchable here

 

i like the smaller guys, most of them can relate better because most of them been there. most of them treat you like an employee and a person. and most are more family oriented cause they have families and have delt with most of the same problems. and most appreciate what they have more cause they worked their arse off to be able to be your employer. as far as logs go everyone has to "cheat" once in a while .