First Express

The following is all facts about First Express in Nashville, TN so you can make the right choice about this company.

When you call recruiting you will speak with Adam Dillon the recruiter. Adam will pay up to $150 for travel (i.e. plane, bus, car rental) and if car rental he will pay gas. The Nashville yard (home office) has a bunk house with 4 rooms that are 6' x 6' grey walls twin bed and no door locks. The rooms are next to the drivers lounge and drivers will be in the lounge 24/6 with the TV room in there also. The biggest complaint i had in orientation was the drivers talking and the tv being on all night, couldn't get any sleep. There are also 4 personal showers for drivers. Adam will pay for your meals every night in orientation and he will provide breakfast and lunch. Orientation is 2.5 days usually starting on Monday or Tuesday they are talking of changing the schedule and I'm not sure. First Express WILL NOT pay you for orientation you are there on your own time. Adam told us it was because we won't have to log on duty time for orientation.
I started orientation on Monday at 0700 met Adam and bought breakfast for us. When you sit down in the conference room you will have white binder in front of you. I suggest you open and start reading that binder asap because there are alot of contracts you must sign. You eat breakfast in the conference room as sort of a meet and greet. Once finished with breakfast it time to start signing contracts. The following bullets are the contracts to keep things simple.

• Company Property Damage you pay up to $1000 if you are at fault (i.e. trailer damage, tractor damage from backing or whatever).
• Out of route miles, you will be charged $1.15 mile if you go off the pre assigned route dispatch gives you.
• Tractor abandonment they will charge driver $1.50 per mile from Nashville,TN to were tractor is and bact to Nashville,TN plus $65 per hour to clean tractor and put abandonment on DAC
• Lost fuel card $25, Lost ID badge $25 plus some other items I don't remember.
• You must give 2 weeks notice of resignation or they will pay you minimum wage for the hours you worked.
• You pay for your drug and physical which cost $120 and they will pay it back in 6 months if your still working at First Express.

Health insurance is a limited policy meaning your coverage is only $2000 for the whole year. Call Adam and ask in detail what the health insurance policy is about. After one year of employment you are then enrolled into Blue Cross Blue Shield the normal insurance. You can get Dental in 60 days and also short term disability insurance.
Sleep Apena is a big deal with this company and if you have to be tested per the doctor First Express will pay for the test and equipment if you stayed employed with them for one year.
Orientation will last from 0700 to 1700 for the first two days and half day on the last day. You meet the president and everybody in between. The safety man Sonny is sort of a hard ### but he does piss everybody off.
The equipment is assigned the last day and they have 07-10 Volvo, Peterbilts and KW's. They have the basic package couple gauges and switches. They all have APU's Thermoking Tri pack with 1700 watt inverter and heater. The trucks are dirty and will need to be cleaned. The shop is clean and organized you will meet the shop director and he will go over the truck with you personally.
The driver pay is starting #.36 plus .02 safety/performance and .01 fuel. To get fuel bonus get at least 5mpg and less than 5% idle plus maintain 9000 miles per month.
They are running electronic logs in about 70% of there trucks and will be 100% by the year end. Trucks are governed at 65mph and they have 425 to 435 hp engines (cummins and CAT). They have automatics, 10speeds and run duals and super singles. The future trucks will have duals and 10speeds. They also have 25 new international on order and will be in couple months.
Vacation is 1 week one year, 2 weeks 2 years and 3weeks 10years. When you take vacation truck must be parked on the Nashville yard.

My opinion
They micro manage the hell out of there drivers at First Express. You buy fuel were they tell you to buy fuel. You must drive the route they give you or they will charge you out of route miles. The equipment is worn out trashed dirty trucks. The operations manager is from CRST and he will defend his office people and shop guys but not the drivers. The safety man is Hilters grandson. Not paying you orientation was the big thing that got me. Hey I gave the facts and if you have more questions write back and i will try to answer honestly.