High country transportation

I was going to start with them jan 6th but then I got sick, and I had a family emergency, so I going to wait until March or Apirl before I decide to go with any truck company. Keep us updated once you start.

 

What I know so far. Pay is based on speed you are willing to drive. 36cpm at 65mph, 38cpm at 62mph, and 40cpm at 58mph. Trucks are mostly peterbilt 587's with tri-pac apu's, power inverters, and built in fridge/freezer. They run all 48, but every driver I have talked to says they never go to cali or the northeast. Mostly just the western states. If chain lights are flashing they would like drivers to chain up, even though nobody has told me chaining is a must. Pet deposit is $250 each, and riders are allowed at no charge. They have qualcomm with e-logs and navigo gps. Also has gps built into the truck. The staff are all very friendly and easy to work with. I'm not sure how the miles are yet since I just hit the road 3 days ago, but it looks good so far, as I have already gotten 1700 and working on another 900mi trip.

 

That's basically what they told me too. Was the truck clean when you got it? It looks like they gave you a good impression so far. Continue to update when you can.

 

Are you sure about those cpm vs mph figures? They really don't make any sense. .36x65=23.40, .38x62=23.56, .40x58=23.20
Do they also have a sliding scale on other things that they pay you for, such as drop/pick pay, wait pay, break down pay, etc?

 

they make sense to me, if you go slower you make more at 58 mph you can easily do 2500-3000 miles a week. One thing I never understand about truckers, I would like to do less miles for more pay then more miles for less pay. But I am blessed with having hardly any bills so I don't have to run 3500+ miles a week to survive. I hate having to drive 500miles a day makes you old fast

 

So far my average week is about 2500 miles. Stop pay is 30 per extra drop I believe. They pay detention when they get it from the customer, but I haven't been at a customer more than 2hrs so far. They do have breakdown and layover pay after 24hrs but I can't remember how much it is, I haven't sat more than 2hrs without getting repairs or another load. They like to preplan as much as possible, sometimes 4days ahead. The truck was very clean when I got it except for a small bleach stain on the carpet. I am still very happy where I am, they all know me by name and treat me like a human. No company is perfect, but I personally would rather deal with their few minor problems than a bag full of bs like the big carriers. Turnover has been a bit high since I started mostly due to drivers not wanting to chain on the mountains. We run vail and wolf creek quite often all year, so if snowy roads and tire chains aren't your cup of tea I suggest looking elsewhere.

 

You pullin a hopper out of Cortez? Kirk is a great guy there. Trenzo too.

 

I agree with this post. The main problem with this company is u start out good-then u start tapering off n start going down hill. It is good if u are company driver and doing local n regional. But it is not good if you are OTR and a lease driver - that's if you are in the Lancaster,Tx office. You don't make the miles or freight that you were promised. As a lease operater- in the end your better off staying company driver because your pay will be as much as a company driver pay. Average miles run weekly maybe 1500 or so. This company has the biggest turnover rate I have seen in a long time. personally I think that problem arises from the office personal in Lancaster,Tx. Starting with the Dispatch which are mostly all trainees with no experience which are trained by one or two new hires with experience. The other problem is the planner who plans these low paying loads. Most of the loads come from J.B. Hunt CH Robinson, or Schneider. And really pay that great. If the owners really want to know why there is a big turnover rate of why they are loosing drivers- that is where they need to start looking at is in the Lancaster office. Poor management and from what I read in this site some of the drivers are right-they have attitude problems that need to be adjusted. Otherwise this can be a really good company if they reconstruct n train their office personal right an stop short changing their drivers- maybe then they won't loose their drivers. Fact: they had at least 10 drivers or more quit last week alone. that is a lot of drivers in a week! Take it for what its worth.....said my peace!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Hey appletree. Do you know anything about their hourly position they are always advertising for in TX? Claims to be a regional type deal, but pays hourly, OT after 40. I've seen the ad several times and finally called and discovered it was for high country transportation. They claim that your only out 2-3 nights per week. Any truth to that, that you are aware of?

unloader

 

Has anyone done there Texas to Colorado and back dedicated runs that pay by the hour.