All-star driver looking for OTR in MI

Hello, my name is Brandon, and I'm looking to find the right company to be a part of for long term.

I've close to 3 years OTR TT xp, over 1 year in straight truck, all since 2005, clean driving and criminal record. Most of my OTR xp is recent. Company I last worked for went out of business in April.

I'm a team player, rarely complain, don't need my hand held, don't like to sit around at truck stops, and I don't like to stop in general. I keep it legal, but get it done. Looking for long-term employment. Safe driving and customer service are my strong points.

I live 80mi due north of Toledo, OH.

I'm looking for a smaller, possibly family owned company, no more than 40-50 trucks, with at least some kind of customer base to keep business stable. Company must be stable and growing, I don't want to work for another company going under.


I like to be home every other weekend, but sometimes I don't mind staying out an extra week.

I am going to need at least 40 cents per mile empty and loaded, at least 3,000 miles a week.
I will not use electronic logs.
I will need to be paid by paycheck, no 1099 jobs please!

My IDEAL employer would have at least 1 customer, maybe 2, and would dispatch me to the southwest every now and then (AZ, NM, West TX), and have a very good and experienced dispatcher or two.

As far as trucks, I don't care how old they are, as long as it's clean on the inside and not going to break down on me every week or two. I prefer dry van, but would actually welcome a company willing to train me on reefers. I've pulled dry tanks (pneumatics) before, and learned that quickly, so reefer should be no problem to learn. Not willing to pull pneumatics at this point in time, thank you. Also not really too interested in flatbeds either.

I have very good references from former employers and co-workers.


If interested, I'd love to hear from you by sending me a message through this website, as I'm not comfortable putting my personal contact information on a public website.


Thanks for reading, and hope to have some replies!

Brandon


P.S.

If anyone in Australia happens to be reading this, I would definitely seriously consider having a go at driving "down under", if that's possible .

 

I am not picky...I am just mainly looking for a smaller company as opposed to a behemoth bottom feeder (been there, done that), and I'd like a company that is at least stable and growing. And I do love to run the southwest. Maybe the way I explained things in detail made it sounded like I was demanding and arrogant, guess I come across that way sometimes, sorry.

The last company I worked for went into bankruptcy, and they owe me $2,500, and it'll probably be a year before I see it. I had to submit a claim to their bankruptcy case and all that jazz, what a headache, I'd much rather not go through that again, not to mention fuel cards getting shut off every day, paychecks bouncing unless I cash them at their bank on Friday while they have funds available, etc etc etc. At least I had a very good dispatcher who I still talk with. So that is why I am trying to find a good company. I don't want to have to hop again.

Anyways, Craigslist has been a good source of job leads for me, even in Michigan. I have already spoken with about 8-9 different carriers hiring in my area, and I'm not talking about the CR England ads, the CRST ads, etc.

Anyways, I think I have found a good one, and am going to meet the guy in person tomorrow or Monday.

He sounded like he desperately needed a good driver. Only one discrepancy, though - the CL ad said 40/cpm, and on the phone he said 35cpm.

Should I ask him for 40, or should I be firm on 38, with possible raise?

 

Oh, and when you said the $240 becoming comfortable, did you mean unemployment benefits? If so, I haven't drawn unemployment.
I haven't figured out how, because I live in MI and the company was based in OH, and they reported their wages in OH as far as I know, MI had no record of me working there. In fact, I found out the last company even stopped paying workman's comp. insurance! And I could not get OH Unemployment on the phone.

Oh well, it's only been 9 weeks and I have money in the bank so I really don't need unemployment. I was on unemployment for 2 years and became comfortable off that, and it almost let me to ruin once in ran out. Not going to get comfortable like that again.
I need to work.