Eastern Freightways North Brunswick NJ (Better Than Average)

I drive for a truckload carrier called Eastern Freightways based out of North Brunswick NJ. They are a non-union outfit owned by NEMF. Nemf is a union company (machinist union not teamster) and the pay scale Eastern offered when I hired on in 2001 was comparable to the union side of things including no cost medical and dental insurance for the driver and his family. I am at the top of their pay scale and collect money for each drop and hook ($5.50 for each) each stop $11 (including the first and last stop) detention after 2 hours paid at my hourly rate (currently $18.00 per hour). Weekend pay ($50.00 extra if you make a pickup or a delivery at a customer that was scheduled for the weekend). Congestion pay which pays an extra $22.00 (on top of the normal stop pay) for any delivery in the 5 burroughs of NYC, Boston, or Chicago plus .43 cpm (based on PC Miler shortest 53 routing program). We get 6 paid holidays, up to 3 weeks vacation, 3 sick days and 2 personal days per year paid at 8 hrs of your normal hourly pay (usually 15.00 per hour for new hires) I have a 2006 model Vovo with an automatic transmission.
I give these details freely for anyone looking for a job that resides in the northeast and are not happy with there current job. The company is expanding and opening freight lanes for teams to the west coast (drop and hooks) as well as expanding into the Chicago area (under our parent companies banner NEMF).
Nemf and Eastern are in fact taking on trainees and drivers fresh out of school if you meet the required criteria. Just be forewarned students and trainees start at a much lower pay scale.
Now for the flip side. Here are the "warts" this company currently has: The equipment that new drivers are assigned are older model volvos and freightliners with weak engines and no engine brakes. The operating area is primarily the northeast but they do operate in Va, Nc, Ga, Sc, Fl, Oh, In, and Il. They have team freight that goes down to Fl and out to Ca and back. The average Length of haul is around 350 miles. To make money here it takes a driver with patience and an effective time manager as well. I believe the company has instituted a different pay package in regards to milage and stops. I am not privy to this information though I have heard the company has discontinued paying for every stop and every drop and hook but have increased the mileage rate. They have also started charging the drivers $40.00 a week for blue cross/blue shield insurance. We have about 100 trucks total and we are having some driver retention issues. Mostly attributed to older trucks and alot of shorter trips. This is not a perfect company but from what I have seen it is as my title stated "better than average."

 

Yes Eastern Freightways is The company with the red and blue paint scheme and the baseball on the side with the logo "On The Ball."
As for moving no you dont Massachusetts has 2 Nemf terminals 1 in Springfield Ma and 1 in North Reading. Give them a call and let me know what they say for the new pay scale. If they ask you tell them Jason told you to check them out. There number is 1-. Goodluck!

 

It depends on what position you get. Local or regional. Regional are expected to be out from late Sunday night or early Monday morning to late Friday night or early Saturday morning. It all depends upon the loads.

I was averaging about 1350 per week gross as a solo regional driver and got home each weekend last year. I have almost 7 years with the company though so you might not get that much at first.

I am no longer a solo regional driver. I have transferred to the team division of Eastern to take advantage of the long haul freight going out to California and back so at least you wont have me to compete with! Good luck. The company is growing but they do have some warts it takes some getting used to. Stick it out and you will make a decent living here with good benefits too.

On a side note I personally trained my younger brother and brought him into Eastern about a year ago. He started in March of last year and he made just under 45 grand by the end of 2007. He is a bit of a hammerhead at times but hes a good kid and is doing well. Of course he is still trying to measure up to his big brother but he ain't got there yet!

The fact is if I would bring my brother into this company AND my wife to run team with that should tell you I believe in this outfit despite their "warts."

 

I wanted to give some updated info on the company I am still working for. Eastern has rotated out most of the older equipment they were using. I believe all the mid 90's Freightliners are all gone and most of the smaller 2001 Volvos have been roatted out. All the 2006 and 2007 Model 610 Volvos have been integrated into the fleet (they have auto transmissions).

With the demise of Jevic transport we were able to purchase some of the Volvo 660's. These trucks were assigned to cross country teams to give them more space and comfort while on the road.

Eastern did have a training school for new drivers wanting to get their CDL but closed it down due to poor retention rates. Now the company is requiring at least 6 months verifiable experience to join.

Things were going relatively well until the past couple of weeks. It seems many of our customers are not shipping as much and some of our partner companies have reduced the amount of freight they are sending through our system as well. We have been able to pick up a few accounts from the demise of Priority Transport. Specifically RR Donnelly freight out of York Pa.

I have had to layover for 2 days in Atlanta Ga waiting for a load due to no freight available. I have heard some of our other teams are also having to wait a day or so to get a reload out of California as well.

My younger brother decided he had enough of being away from home. He lived in Maine and was supposed to relocate to Pa as part of his hiring agreement but his wife refused to relocate so he gave up the job after 18 months. While he did a good job for the most part he had difficulty getting used to being away from his family. He has taken a job delivering fuel oil in his home town and seems to be happier despite the lower paychecks.

The company has grown from 100 trucks to about 140 (last I heard anyway). I cannot say how many miles the solo drivers are currently turning but it does not appear that we are losing many drivers lately.

Another change since I began this thread is the health insurance. We are now covered under United Healthcare and the drivers pay $40.00 per week for family coverage. Solo coverage is (I believe) $20.00 per week and for a couple it is $30.00 per week.

The economy is really slowing down but so fare we are still moving and making money each week.

 

Its a new Year and things have been pretty slow.

A few updates to add to this thread about Eastern Freight ways.

First on a personal note; my younger brother did not in fact get that local job in Maine after all (delivering home heating oil). It turns out he has been collecting unemployment for the past few months but was embarrassed to tell me. He asked about getting back on with Eastern but things are pretty slow right now so I advised him to wait until Spring and then call back.

Some of our solo drivers are only getting 1500 to 2000 miles per week lately. Not really worth it to be on the road for 5 to 6 days, spending money,for 500 to 600 bucks.

The winter time is traditionally a slow time for most trucking companies and Eastern is no different in that respect.

I am still running team with my spouse but now we drive from Montgomery New York to Ellenwood Ga instead of out to California and back. Our miles have dropped off as well. We are lucky to get 4000 miles per week between the two of us in 6 to 7 days of work.

The company has instituted a new policy for vacations and paid days off. Normally we have to wait until our hire date to get 5 more paid personal days off and our vacation time. Under the new policy all paid days off will be reset January 1st of each year and must be used by December 31st or the time will be forfeited. Eastern does not permit drivers to "save or bank" their paid personal days off. The company expects their drivers to use the time as it is earned.

The parent company (NEMF) has been setting all Eastern trucks governed speed back down to 68 mph. Some of the older trucks would run 75 mph but there has been a crackdown on the speed control for several months now.

The top management at NEMF has also decided to reduce their overhead (and hang onto their cash rather than stockpiling parts) by not ordering replacement parts for the equipment until it is actually needed. This means trucks are being placed out of service for longer periods of time while the mechanics have to wait for the parts to be shipped in.

EFW's shop personnel in North Brunswick have seen their work hours cut back and 1 mechanic was let go. The shop is no longer open on Saturdays.

A few changes to the office personnel as well. We have a new female daytime dispatcher by the name of Cyndi. She supposedly has 15 plus years in the trucking biz and is learning the ropes quickly.

Ray, a former top performing senior driver, turned dispatcher, has been reassigned to the night dispatcher position.

Jim, our former operations manager found a better job with higher pay and position at a different company and resigned. As far as I know Eastern management has decided to leave that position vacant while the economy is in such a deep recession.

The parent company NEMF has been laying off some of their drivers and office workers due to the poor economy and lack of freight.

I have been reading that other carriers are really struggling as well and in some cases are going out of business. Fortunately here at Eastern we have not (to my knowledge anyway) had to lay any drivers off and we are still finding loads to pull even if it is through the use of Brokers.

I cannot, in good conscience, suggest any drivers attempt to sign on here right now based on the fact that the freight volume just is not there to keep our current drivers busy and profitable.

Perhaps by Spring things will turn around. I will keep everyone posted on the inner workings here at Eastern and will be sure to let everyone know when things are cycling back up. In the meantime, if you have a job, be sure to hang onto it as long as possible, especially in this economic slump.