Smith Transport

Hello all who type here...I am thinking hard about taking the otr position at smith transport my question is for guess who....What can i expect from smith and how is it going to be once i wheel out of orientation??

 

Guesswho the whole time you were beefing up Smith. I wish you still worked there so you could tell Randy Calcagino to shove it. Tell em how it is if ya get hurt on the job. I live in Ga. I messed my shoulder up one day on the job and seen their Doctor who put me out of work for 3 months after the MRI. I was put in physical therapy for 90 days. If that didnt fix it I was looking at surgery. The whole time Smith wanted me to stay at the Spring in one of them jail cell rooms away from my wife abs kids. I refused to stay away from my family during treatment. I went home for it. And because I didnt stay at the Spring and went home. They cancelled my insurance. Terminated my employment. And left me in the cold. If ya dont believe me. I got court documents to back me up from my lawsuit. Smith expects you to live at a terminal when hurt going that all I went through away from your family. Bunch B.S. By them stopping my insurance and mailing a seperation notice after I went home helped the Judge make a quick decision in my favor. Thanks Smith for pre paying for my kids to go to college.

 

I just got out of orientation with Smith this past week and is home for the weekend. I can try and be of help but I am still kinda feelin them out myself....

 

okay...The pros: Nice trucks...I am assigned an 09 Peterbilt with 455 cummins 1550/1750 torque..The truck are set at 65 but if u take their defense drivin course they will turn up to 68+Miles you pretty much run like you wanna...They dont mess with you just make sure ur fuel stops matches up...Mostly preplanned and drop and hook.....
The cons; The pay,,,,base pay is 32cpm if your home weekly 5/2 and 35 cpm if your doing 12/2. They have short haul pay on load miles 0-100 35cpm extra 101-200 7cents extra and 201-300 3 cents but thts few and far. 10.00 weeks escrow for the truck until u reach a balance of 500. They worship their trucks here so make sure u put every scrape bump or dent you see when your a assigned tractor. Orientation was long and appalling..You have to do a dot pre trip,air brake test and road test if you fail you will not be hired ..detention is paid after 3 hrs....My first week I ran 3800 miles and gotiin for the weekend and this week I ran 2900 miles....Thts if for now..will update

 

Is Smith Transport any better theses days or are they still buttheads???

 

They are better considering... Barry's trying to get things bck to the Ole Smith...And not be labled another US express subsidary. I've average about 3000 miles a week home every weekend and the only bad week I had was bcuz "mama" had surgery so I took off two days tht week.The pay is still nothing spectacular...32-35cpm to start....yada yada etc...

 

Sorry that these may be ignorant questions, but bear with me. I have not driven in about a year, so:

- During orientation, is pre-trip by memory or do they have a checklist?
- What exactly is an air brake test?

Thanks

 

Here ya go bud.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkeTGY-kLHw] Click Me! [/ame]

 

Hi there. I actually worked for Smith for about 4 years. I never had any issues. I worked over the road for 3 of those years and the last year that I was there I worked local. People say that they have poor equipment. I would have to argue that point. The truck that I had was relatively new and had a generator on it which allowed me to have microwave, crock pot, etc. I never had to eat truck stop food which saved me a considerable amount of money. Yes, the new employees may get older equipment, but once they have proven to do a good job, etc. the equipment is soon upgraded. I actually had a newer truck within 6 months of employment. A friend of mine which has worked for this company for 10 years gets a NEW truck about every two years. The bonuses and such were changed while I was employed by them, but things everywhere were changing due to the economy. Smiths policies have recently been looked at and they are implementing some new changes which will be beneficial to their drivers. As far as repairs...yes, I agree, the mechanics at the Roaring Spring shop could do better. I usually took my truck to the shop in Remington, IN. They usually got things fixed relatively quick. A lot of the time I was able to take my 10 hour break and the truck would be ready to go when my break was over. I honestly would still be working there but my local position was eliminated and I am not in the position to go over the road. If ever I decide to go OTR again, it will be with Smith!

 

looks to have dropped about a year