Lawrence Transportation, Roanoke VA

There a few thing you have to realize about the Household goods business.
1. Claims are a huge problem. Rookie drivers cost companies like United vanlines a lot of money every year in claims. They put you in the warehouse to learn. If they sent you out Now with no experience the customer would take one look at you and send you back.
2. They prefer owner ops because they want us to pay all the bills while they collect the commission.
3. The busy season is not until May. And no experienced driver will want to take you out on his crew because you are a GREENHORN as we say.
4. Hhg is the most hands on job you can do in trucking. Most of you freight guys don't last. That's why many guys on the road don't want to take rme training you.
5. Lawrence is highly diversified. Freight, heavyhaul, special commodities, window installation, even trash hauling.
6. They claim their drivers (o/ops) make
SO MUCH money bet every truck of theirs I see on the road is a pre 2000 FLD PEICE OF JUNK.
lastly I have been in HHG. For over 10 years and I have found that many of these moving companies have to really lie to recruit drivers. Think about it how can they compete against large freight companies with huge corporate accounts, new trucks and almost 100% no touch freight and hardly any claims? Not to mention having to deal with customers in their home (some are pretty messy) and many think their furniture is priceless eventhough they know it's damaged. My advice, stick to freight. You'll thank me later.

 

I'm o/o with Lawrence and I'm not very happy. I bought my first truck last September and they have made it very hard to even make payments. Seems to me I'm only getting random loads that they can't cover with their own trucks. Dispatch is another story and I could go on and on about them. Seems they are doing things old school and one doesn't know what the other is doing. Word to the wise. Do not get on the bad side of them unless you are willing to sit and not work. I'm seriously considering sell my truck and going back to being a company driver somewhere else.

 

Good company for owner operators.

 

I ended up at lawrence when they bought the company I worked for I quit within a year they do not miantain their equipment to acceptable safety standards and forget about loging legal if you want to stay on dispatches good side .