Werner, Western Express, or ?

Melton has APU's.

 

There is no truth in that at all. I get home when I need. But I also don't go home but every 3 months. The driver who posted probably wanted home every 2 weeks. Which is not possible with most companies unless you are dedicated or local. Edit: You do sit with your truck while brokendown.Your given a room in a hotel and breakdown pay. Anything longer than 4-5 days they try and find you another truck. Personally I won't go home after a breakdown because I've been out of work for. ----- days.

 

I run team so my miles won't really help you. But I can tell you that I run 5-7 thousand on an average week. With that being said if you have hours, know your recap, there should be no shortage of miles.
Now about your flatbed questions. It's hard work. It gets easier with time but it's still tough and dirty. The tarps with western are 150pds. But it's what you make it like anything. Chinatown is once again right Melton has apu's. We have basic trucks although we are allowed to idle since we don't have apu's. Hope it helps.

 

Think there was a thread from a Western recruiter also, might want to check

that out to help with your decision. Surprised ironpony didn't mention Prime.

 

Why would that be? I'm certainly not trolling for referral bonuses. The three times my truck has been hit by another truck, the were all Werner drivers... that's a great selling point. Uniformly, every time I've had an interaction with a Western Express driver, they have all been rude... and rather PO'd at the entire world. Wonder why that is? If the OP is looking for a flatbed experience, Maverick and Melton are a couple of good choices.

 

Unfortunately I have to agree with iron about some of the Western drivers. As one of their drivers I dislike most of their attitudes. Although there are some great people in the company and other drivers. But I also think all companies are what the individual makes of it. Every company has bad reviews and issues a driver may or may not like. But overall its what you make of it and how you react.

 

Nothing more involved than you suggesting Prime as a choice. No disrespect intended

Ironpony.

 

I have spoken with drivers from Western and I have not heard one good thing about them, but this does not mean they are a bad company. I have friends that used to drive for Werner and they didn't have much good to say about them either. I held out and went to work for a medium sized flat bed company running the east coast and that turned out to be a nightmare. With less than a year class A experience I was told that I would never find a good local job, but I proved them all wrong. My new job is with a local company that is OTR route and I do the route in 4 days. 3 days off a week I work no more than 12 hrs. a day and make 300 more a week than I did working for my last company; furthermore, my last position averaged 70+ hrs. a week and I was only home from Saturday morning till Sunday at noon resulting in running on a confusing recap for the following week. If you are not financially strapped, I would keep searching for a good position. I also learned not to pass up calling about a job due to their minimum requirements. I did not meet minimum hiring requirements for both class A jobs that I was hired for. Good luck and remember a recruiter can make all the promises they want, but once your hired you will never talk to that person again!

 

I am with Werner... I got a dedicated intermodal account right off my trainers truck... with the intermodal I was home weekends... I just switched to the menards flatedbed account and am home daily... I have been with werner since the first of the year and I am happy here...