EPES TRANSPORT-Greensboro, NC

yeah they're pretty rare for me too but the ones that are sure are memorable lol

i'd say fully 95% of the shippers/cons I deal with are good people.....most of our customers are an established base that we have long term relationships with. I find if it's going to happen it's usually at a customer we've never been into before, or a newer one, or if it's a live load or unload.

4% of the rest generally will come around if you don't let their bad day get to you and maintain a professional and courteous demeanor with them. usually meeting a #### attitude with a smile and please and thank you catches them off guard and they realize they're being an ### lol

it's the 1% I could do without. and even some of these it's the moron driver 2 or 3 guys ahead of you at the window being a jerk that ruins it for the rest of us that are left there after he leaves.

and then there's there are few like the chick in ct who for whatever reason decide i'm the one they don't like today. generally, as in her case, it's because they don't like someone calling them out on a mistake that they now have to fix or standing firm and not taking a load until they do fix it. my mistake that day was not dragging it around and making her do it again......it's a hard sell though when their scales read legal to make them rework it even when you know it's going to be close and probably over.....but without that cat scale ticket if they read legal on their scale and already have an attitude going around with them again usually goes really bad. I tried it once.....from then on I always have the yellow slip in hand if I have to go back into a difficult shipper.......but even to her as she was wagging her finger in my face and giving me lip, I was calm, patient and nice. didn't make any difference with that one though. luckily those are rare. only 3 in 27 months now.

only one ever have I returned their #### attitude in kind and that was the one in Indiana who went off his rocker over a bad load number and came out from behind the glass into the driver's area and threatened me. be an ### all you want behind the glass in your space.....but come through the door making threats and getting in my personal space and then we have an issue.....but even at that I was calm, with a very low, firm and even voice. that alone lets most of them know you mean business because they expect you to come just as unglued as they are. one of the very early lessons I learned from my dealings with employees as a manager, when you don't come unglued, and calmly advise them to stand down and step back, they usually go away or tone down their attitude a bit.

at any rate, I always document those occurrences immediately afterward and forward on to dispatch

 

####. Not much going on.

 

lol yeah a little quiet without Dinky around. talked to him Monday he was in Louisiana......finally got him off 95 but as much as he #####ed to get out there no telling how long they hang him out there now before he sees the house lol

i'm in Lakeland again. i'm really not liking this run so much. I always end up getting the one that has to be picked up and isn't already on the yard for some reason. so, not enough time to make it in one run, take a break, get there with the clock running and then sit 4-5hrs for the unload. then you're more or less out of time for the day. the planning out of here isn't great either. rolled up right on time for my appointment and an hour later still nothing happening. 4 others already here when I got here. guess they got the loads that managed to get to the yard and were here last night. this one should be a priority to get to the yard for pickup given they know the timeframes involved. as it is Tuesday always ends up being a wasted day when you get this trip.

pulling into the warehouse had a knight guy blow by me in the wrong lane of the entrance and then almost take my hood off swooping down in front of me cutting in front of me to the gate. what a ####### #######. and then after all that I still ended up in a door before he was. idiot.

my student for this week washed out of orientation so i'm by myself this week. oh well. guess there will be a lot of that if most of the orientations go like my group did lol

 

Nope more like 59 or 60

 

I have some questions for you guys about epes if you don't mind answering them.
1. Do you get to bring the truck home for home time or do you have to drop it in one of their yards. I live in in Hudson Florida about 20 miles away from the flying j of I 75 exit 285.
2. I was told for the cheaper insurance for family is 96$, do you know what the co pays are for say a regular checkup and or emergency room visit. does the 96 include dental and vision?
3. I was also told average miles per week is 2100 how accurate you think that is? I mean if the loads are there you would think 2100 may be on the low side or that might be if you try to get home every weekend not sure?
4. what kind of transmissions are you guys running? I really don't want a automatic is why I am bringing that up.
5. do you have apu's and if not is there a idle policy? If no apu are they going to cry about idling often? Do they have converters in the truck or will they let you install one.
6. will they get you home for Christmas/thanksgiving?


Bottom line for me is money. I like most of what I've heard about epes and also I want to get home more often as well or at least have the option to go home and not be forced to stay out 3-4 weeks at a time like I currently am. The problem is I am currently not in the financial position to take a pay cut just to be home more often as the bills need to be paid.
If one of you guys currently working for epes could give the truth on your pay it would be greatly appreciated. I know its personal so obviously you don't have to but if you don't mind I would like to know your average weekly/monthly pay and how often you go home per month to give me a better idea of what I would be getting into. If you would feel better off sending this info in a pm please do.
I have 2 years driving experience so that would be the pay rate I would be looking at. Right now with my current employer I just came up with these figures of what I am currently making.

For the last 19 weeks Gross $16374.48 = avg $861 per week. net $12557.53 avg =$660 per week Now out of the 19 weeks I had 2 pay checks that were 0 do to hometime and another at $ 171 do to hometime. also during those 19 weeks I had 4 weeks of breakdown pay which put me at about $1500 less then what those totals could or should have been.

Sooo at 2 years exp pay rate will I make at least the same , more or less? in your opinion?

 

I don't drive for them but no a guy that did and he told me he avg 2500 miles a week and made .37 or .38 a mile I can't remember right now but he was home every weekend.. I would think u could make 50k a year and be home every weekend., and I know he brought his truck home.. He lives about 100 miles from the terminal..

 

Army guy
I drive for Epes on a dedicated account nut can answer some questions. Yes generally you take truck home if you have a safe place to park. I've heard otr usually average at least 2000 miles weekly. Some times you may be out a couple of weeks at a time. It depends on freight and where you live. They try to get you home weekly. The insurance is close to that. I think its a few dollars more for vision and dental. The co pay I have is $25 per visit $50 for specialist. I believe the pay for 2 years experience is .37 or .38 per mile. They pay weekly. They are getting autos but most are 10 speed Freightliner's. No APIs but they are cool with idling in summer. During winter most trucks have bunk heaters. You will run northeast a lot. Hope this helps. Good luck call recruiting can give specifics on insurance and pay.

 

-within 30 miles of a terminal you have to park the truck on the yard. otherwise you take it home.

-dental and vision is separate. not sure what the copays for some things are but mine is 25 for office visits and exams/standard stuff. cost sounds a little cheap for family coverage based on what we were quoted last year. open enrollment last year we found other arrangements for the wife and kids and only went with me on the company policy. going to try again this year to see what family coverage costs but with moroncare....sorry idiotcare.....#### i'll get it right in a minute obamacare coming down the pipe none of it's going to be cheap for any of us anywhere no matter where we buy it.

-i'm disappointed to see them quoting such low mileage figures but it seems to be the direction we're going in. right now i'm averaging about 23-2500. before the new hos change in july it was more like 27-3000. with the new changes we're having to sit 40-48 to get a reset and essentially it cut us one trip a week based on the guys I've talked to. you will get home most every week but you may have to forego the reset and run recap if you don't want to sit for 2+ days to get the reset. some guys have it worked out to be in during the week, some get in every weekend like clockwork, some of us get hung out for 2 weeks+ from time to time. there is no consistency across the board but you will at least get through the house every week unless you just want to stay out. may be harder for you where you live, if they even consider you in the hiring area. last chart I saw only hiring in florida was a little sliver north of 4 in the Jacksonville area. you may be too far south and west of there but never hurts to call recruiting and ask.

-the freightliners are 10 speeds with the exception of 5 autos in the fleet. they suck. I had one. the Volvos are really nice 780's with autos. the guys that have them like them. we have a few midroof 630's with 10 speeds. had one of those too and loved it but we don't have many and most are marked for the family dollar account. they're anal about maintenance and most of the equipment is in really good shape and kept that way. the older trailers are being phased out slowly and the trailer fleet is getting younger which is a good thing.

-you can idle all summer and nobody will say a thing. the bunk heaters are really good and will run you out of the truck in winter. once it starts to get cool you get the 'cool weather is upon us' message and that's the cue that we're going to be looking at idle times once the weather starts to cool off lol. inverters are allowed up to 1500w. anything hardwired has to be approved and installed by the shop.

-xmas and thanksgiving are no problem those are the 2 they try their best to get you home for. the others not so much but generally we're in 4th of july and labor day too.

with 2 years in you'll up your pay a little and for sure if you stay out a few weeks here and there. supplemental items include stop, detention, layover on certain trips (i'm sitting about 18hrs between stops on this trip and will get 125 in addition to the stop pay and northeast bonus. will equal about 225 extra on the trip give or take)......we get a .10 bonus on all loaded miles north of dc and all of pa. no issues getting the supplemental pay. it's always there you don't have to chase it down or call people and ##### to get it.

it's not a bad gig....we have our issues like anywhere else but they aren't the major things you see drivers going on about in some of the other company threads. most are pretty manageable. the bigger issue I see for you is how far south and west you are but check with recruiting they can tell you for sure.

 

Does epes do a hair follicle test? How's the insurance? Looking into them, any information will be appreciated

 

no hair folicle test. well, there wasn't one when I started....Insurance is good.....It's your typical BCBS. Not saying typical as in just insurance. It's a good plan. dental is good as well. Now waiting on my 30 minute break! ugh! haha