Knight Transportation unbiased real deal.

After seeing all the primadonna's bash Knight, I kinda felt bad for them so I'll just put this out there and to whomever is looking into Knight can get a wanker free review.

I did 2 years with Knight Transportation out of Fairview, OR. Prior to Knight I was working with May outta Brooks, OR. Well, being 22 young and dumb I got myself canned from May.

I was in a pretty sh!tty situation, I had a solid 5 months exp. was 22 and got fired from my first driving job....I knew it was bad when JB Hunt said they coulden't hire me.

Living 10 minutes from the Knight Fairview yard, I applied online and waited. I got a call and an orentation date, there was a real nice guy running orentation at the time and the recruiter and him pulled me aside on break and had me explain the May thing all over again.

They said normally they would not hire someone in my situation, but after meeting me and me being honest with them they said they would take a chance. I finished orentation passed the road test and was on my way with these guys.

Now, about the company itself. I honestly had no bad experince with them, the dispatchers knew my name, the safety guy was pretty chill and the whole little office area and the non-driving office had a warm easy going flow to it.

My only real gripe with Knight was I-5, I wanted to run 48 but they just are not set up for it.....At least outta Portland, I got so sick of Portland-Seattle-SoCal. But, the situation I was in I really had no room to complain I was just happy to be back on the road again. Plus, on top of hometime I was "through the door" twice a week sometimes more. For a Regional driver I really was home a LOT! And the hometime policy was no pressure, if you needed a day or two more you just asked for it and they gave it to you.

One time they asked me to do a local that took 3 hours in the middle of my hometime, they went ahead and gave me an extra day off for it.

The miles where decent, my first year my take home was 29K and the year after that it was just shy of 31K. Honestly, it's not bad for OTR the average is what 27-28K?

Normaly I don't write long rants, but it seems like Knight's been getting bashed a lot. I mean lets be realistic, these are all OTR companies. The owners are in business for themselfs not the drivers, if that bothers you then GTFO! Nobody is making you stay, if the company is THAT bad then LEAVE! I was in the Fairview yard last night actually meeting old friends there was not one driver in there that was complaining about not getting miles.

Yeah, you're gonna sit. The economy friggen sucks! What do you expect to haul if people aint buyin #####? On top of that, I know 90% of the guys who complain about miles turn down freight because "I don't run anything South of the Grapevine" or "I don't go Northeast" Motherf^#ker! You're a truck driver, you get paid to drive! Sorry you get no pitty from me. You sleep in the bed you made.

Yeah, the idleing restrictions suck. But then again can you blame them? There are guys who don't shut their truck off the whole 3-4 weeks they're out on the road. And they don't care because as I've heard too many times "It's not my truck or fuel bill, I don't care."

The problem is with these fourms is all drivers do is b!tch, moan, complain and exagerate EVERYTHING! And if they ain't doin that, they ain't happy. I left Knight on good terms, I made the mistake of going O/O or giving it a shot rather. 4 months later the guy I was leased onto went under.....and I said to hell with OTR. Now, I haul food grade tankers locally. Although, I do miss the road and find myself envying the long haul guys.

I'm done ranting.....and yes, I'm aware of all the lawsuits and the Kansas thing. But, if you judge a whole company on the actions of a few shady people. There are a lot of "evil" companies out there.....Including our government.

 

There are liars in every industry, they are called recruiters. It's their job to sell you on BS, If I would of known that the first two years of my Navy enlistment where going to be spent mopping, stripping, waxing and buffing decks (floors). I would of never joind, I did my 4 and got out.

Same thing with OTR, I did my time played their little games, kept to myself. Got enough experince without any trouble or tickets/accidents to get a local job and got out of OTR.

I just had a friend sign up for truck school out here in Portlamd, OR. He asked me which one is the best company to start out with, or who is the best. My advice to him was simple, they are all shady crooks. The trick is to find the one that steals the least........

 

I never had any problems getting back, the few times I "hopped" my way east and back wern't that bad either. Got to see a lotta small towns and back roads.

Going east with Knight pretty much looks like this: Load From Portland, OR-Denver, CO-Levant, KS-Kansas City, KS-Kansas City, KS-Atlanta, GA and hop your way back. Also, it's not that bad cause you get to go out East and get all those miles at the top of the sliding scale...

Didn't bother me, just got sick and tired of seeing Fontana.....what an eyesore. At least Cowboy Burger was down the street......

I dunno, I friggen begged them for OTR.....and out of my whole time with them went only to Detroit, Richmond, Charlotte and Atlanta....And the Charlotte folk were really suprised to see a Portland truck all the way out there.

The trick was to go behind your DM's back, and every terminal you go to. Go to their DM's and just tell them you wanna go east, cause honestly....Who REALLY wants to go East unless you live there?