The BEST company YOU have worked for!

Cant help out best co I ever worked for is outta buss. Northstar Eagan,Mn. Transport America bought it yrs ago.

 

Heartland is not the best company around, but they are not the worst either.
I run OH regional out of Columbus.
Starting pay for Columbus regional with 3 years experience is .41 cpm plus .01 cpm if you have hazmat (for all miles, do not do much hazmat). And .01 cpm at the end of the year for a safety bonus.
I average around 2200 miles per week and I am home most weekends. They say 3 our of 4. And many times I do better than that.
trucks are all less than 3 years old. Replacing many trailers right now. None are more than 8 years old and all are serviced regularly.
They are golden under CSA. Hardly ever get DOT inspections.

The negatives.
Not paid for detention. It is rare to be detained anyway, since 70+ percent of loads are drop and hook. But on occasion you will sit for a few hours at docks.
They pay short mileage. So plan to get paid about 8% less than you run.
They do not use the Ohio or Indiana turnpikes. And do not like to pay the extra miles to go around. But I have gotten those miles on many occasions when I press for them.
Inspection bay lines can be long. When going into a terminal between 0745 and 1600, plan to be there for a while.
They are now on e-logs.
A negative that is also a positive. Trucks get an A service every 7000 miles max. They will pull you in after 5000 if you are at a terminal. B service every 28k. This is bad because it takes allot of time. Good because the trucks are in very good shape.

One that I like that others do not. They do not pay perdiem. So you will be able to claim the full amount on taxes. The negative with this is that you will have less take home every week. They take WAY too much out for taxes.
Also the health insurance is expensive. 94 bucks a week with 1000 dollar per person deductible. This is the family plan.

All that being said. They are not the worst company around but not the best either. You could do much worse.
Like any company they are not for everyone. I wish I could find a company that matched every drivers expectations. But they do not exist.

 

How much tax a company takes out is up to you.:smt017

 

Could be worse, mine is $105 a week for the family. More if I smoked.

 

us navy never go home

 

If you lived in the Chicago area, I'd say look up Bob Borchardt. When I was there, he had about 15 trucks, probably 50 flatbeds. Nice equipment, percentage pay, decent place to work for.

 

They have you inflate your expected earnings on your forms when you are hired. So they base the tax they withold on that number.
So they took out several hundred each week for federal.
Put it this way. My wife worked as did I. She has taken from her check just what she has too.
We have no kids.
When I filed our taxes married filing joint. We got back over 3000 this year.
We never get back more than 800-900.
Only 1000 was from my perdiem.

 

I don't know about now,but 4 years ago I left a 8 truck flatbed outfit in Springfield,Mn called Randy Halter Trucking..-#### good man. He was (is)? the owner of the co and dispatcher...EVERY dispatcher I have run across since I left could learn much from him,as he NEVER pushed,always treated (at least me) with respect.,and in return,I ran hard for him,as he could be trusted.. Why did I leave?- Greed..One of the 7 deadlies..NO DOUBT..

 

My wants as a truck driver

I'm not really sure how I want to 'tag" this post. I don't know if I want to categorize it in the section of the companies I'm looking to - or - just simply what I want, in the realm of my own "creature comforts" or what.
What I'm posting here is, a list of companies I'm considering, what I want, and I'm hoping someone will come across this and add their input - both good and bad, but I do NOT want this particular post to become bashing a company. I don't want the bashing because I like one or another - but because thru all the forums I'm on - I see so much 'bashing'. We all hate certain parts of whatever company we work for. That's a given. If we ran "said' company - all things would be sooooo much different - but we don't run a company. I'm looking for info - not bashing. Sorry to be redundant - but this blog in Mine, and I can actually state what I want to achieve, because in the end - I'm trying to help other "Up and coming truckers". They can find all the bashing on the thousands of forums on the web.

My wants:
I want a company that will assign me a tractor, and it's "Mine". I want to be able to take that tractor home, and park it at my house, because I don't want to drive my vehicle to their yard, leave it there for 3 or so weeks, and drive my vehicle home. Whichever vehicle I drove, and left in their yard would be our 2nd vehicle. Well, if I'm on the road - that becomes the alternate transportation for my wife, to do what she needs to do. Sure - I could drive my motorcycle to the yard, and leave it there, but really? How much baggage can I carry to refill my tractor by bringing it down on a bike? Also - If I want to trust a company - shouldn't they trust me as well, by letting me park my tractor at my house, while I'm off for 2 or 3 days? If I have the trust while I'm driving it, along with a $100k+ load - shouldn't the tractor, that I live in for weeks at a time be trusted to me during my "off" time?

I want to be with a company who will pay me for miles driven - not miles that they deem they want to pay me for, because the GPS said this is the mileage. For one - the GPS has no clue what road hazards may be in the way during my trip. I could spend 3 hours in traffic, or - drive 24 miles out of the way to get around it, and only have 45 minutes worth of delay. I hear that companies will not pay me if I drive off-route, but if I stay on route, I'll be paid for those miles, even though it took me 3 hours to drive them. That's not fair to me, nor the company I'm delivering for/to.

I want a company that will let me have my creature comforts - such as a TV, outlets to charge my laptop so I can stay in touch with family and friends, Phone charger so I can talk to them during my down time while I'm away for 3 weeks, I'd like to have cold food - or drinks and to achieve that -I need a refrigerator that runs off an APU or an inverter. Maybe I want to rent a DVD and watch a movie. Why can't I do that, while on the road during my down time? I should Never have to "pay" for a shower, even though a company might reimburse me. Granted - I can buy fuel at a number of fueling stations and get "credits" for showers. It should be able to be charged directly to a company, and any one of the truck stops, or fueling stations shouldn't have to give "credits" for a free shower. What if I'm directed by my company to get fuel at their hubs, and those showers aren't even worth washing a stray dog in? I'm delivering the load - they should take care of "ME". It's a small price to pay for a happy trucker.

I want to be able to have internet. The Qual-Com devices have access, and they can receive and I can send messages from them all over the place. Why can't I have internet for my laptop for my down-time? I have needs, too!

I want to ensure I have an APU (Auxiliary Power Unit, i.e. a generator) so I can run things I want to bring with me, whether it be a laptop, refrigerator, DVD player, etc. Hell - let each driver pay for the gas to run the APU - just provide it for us, since many companies are against having an inverter installed.

Is it too much to ask? I think not! We're away from home, from our families, from our friends, from our hobbies, and from our Life - to do a job for weeks at a time. Take care of us!

Now - on to companies. This is where I need the most input from readers.

These are the companies I'm considering, and after each one - I'll give a brief (very brief) reason as to why I happen to be considering them. I could be wrong, I could be right, and - I could be missing something that I don't know about (which is why I need help, here). This list is deliberately out of order from why I am choosing them in my "consideration list".

Schneider: They deliver in the 11 western states, Plus Texas. I'm not sure why they just don't say "We deliver to 12 states", but that's up to them). They offer .27 cents per mile for a newbie, and I've been told that they go by the GPS that's part of the QualComm unit in the truck so drivers get "actual miles". I've also been told that they pay between 2 to 3 cents per mile driven, as a quarterly bonus, provided you meet their safety, and on time requirements.

Stevens Transport: They assign the driver a tractor, so they have no "slip seating", which means if I were to be "off" for a weekend or a week, someone else would have my tractor, and I'd end up with a different one when I report back, after being off duty. If they assign a drive a tractor, that driver can take it home. By taking it home, said driver can reduce their own personal fuel cost by not having to drive their own vehicle back and forth to a lot, and that vehicle can be used by someone in their family, rather than sitting idle, possibly getting damaged, stolen, or broken in to.

Gordon Trucking: Newer equipment, with high horsepower. Being that the equipment is 2005 and newer, I'm told that there are less breakdowns, resulting in less downtime for a driver. I'm also shown really nice pictures on their website of beautiful interiors, any amenity you can imagine, and comfort to beat all others.

US Express: Their big tout is automatics. They go so far as to show images of drivers with HUGE left leg muscles. Although I understand that's a complete Photoshop job, they advertise as being the most comfortable trucks to drive.

Now - Remember, these are just a few of the companies I'm thinking if - and as I said above - nothing is any particular order. I may have changed things per company, that may not really exist with THAT company, but DO exist thru another company.

This is where I need help. What do I really (REALLY) need to pay attention to? I know what I want (all the best stuff, duh!) and what's the best for me, being number 1 - again - DUH!). But now - let's talk reality. What do I really NEED to look for? I completely understand that there is not one single company who will offer me everything that "I" want, so I need to know what's the most important, and where I should not give in.

Without bashing - What's a good (or better) company to get as close to the reality we all want?

 

That is not going to happen. Even if you stay on a route (which I would never drive for a company that routes me) if you are routed. You still will not be paid for all miles driven. More than likely you will be zip code to zip code and you be shorted miles on all loads.