First trucking company for a newbie

That's trucking in general it seems
they send you where the money is

I was in nashville the other day and they had ZERO loads headed east (that I could t-call at their terminal along the way) and I was due to go home by knoxville, they said being you're due to go home you can deadhead home.. nearly 200 miles and won't be paid the miles.
While I'm upset to a degree.. they paid that fuel just to get me home.

There's BS where ever you go.
As long as the money is good everything else is fine in my mind.

 

Freightwipper, do you mind if I ask who you are hauling for? My short list consists of James H. Clark or Pride, both out of Salt Lake, and Maybe, just MAYBE Crete, I have pre hires from all.

 

See that's the issue.. here's an example Averitt starts noobs off at .37CPM as well http://www.averittdrivers.com/jobs/...reg-southtrain.php?utm_source=womenintrucking

Doing VAN!

Flatbed you really have to work, tarp and chain plus are responsible for loads that could be fall off your trailer... all for pretty much the same pay as a Van driver.
It's not worth it, you flatbed guys should be starting off at .45CPM and .50CPM after a year.. at least!
Flatbed is a skill and you guys deserve to be paid more.

 

I am with Crete now, that's why I was curious.
I'm actually on the Shaffer side but it's all the same.

 

we start at .37 cpm, then go onto .46 after the first year. Theres ups and downs for sure, maybe it takes a little bit of time to strap and secure the load, but i also dont wait hours to get loaded, or unloaded. I usually check in, and get immediately unloaded.

 

Has the dispatch system changed? We did not have a regular DM, we just got who was available at the time. If I can get the miles, I would work for them.

 

they need to update their site http://www.meltontruckjobs.com/compensation_and_benefits.php

 

Yes they do! They just did a company wide pay raise a few weeks ago, so I guess the Website guys havent got the memo! But the absolute lowest pay in the company right now is .37cpm! and miles seem to be good!

 

I've only been here a few months so can only speak from my experience.
I'm doing reefer here, I came in with 7 months experience and I'm at .43CPM, in a few months I go to .44CPM
Extra stop pay is $30 and $25 is taken out of my checks for weekly for health insurance.
Short dispatch pay starts under 300 miles.
Under 150 miles pay $35 I believe.

Because I had less than one year experience they stuck me with a trainer for a month, though they paid me $600 a week during it which was more than what I was making at my last company lol.
It seems they just send me the closest load to me, if it be a 200 miler or 1700. Sometimes they will deadhead you far to get a load that must be covered.
They send me a preplan that I choose to accept or deny, if I deny it then it must be for a valid reason... not because "i don't feel like doing hills today" lol.

Their trucks are slow and cheap BUT I'm averaging $1200 a week for each full week I'm out and that's with me still having less than a year experience doing reefer (with washout and BS involved) so I can't complain because I know I can't make anymore money elsewhere, at least not yet.

When I was with my trainer Crete was nearly ALL drop and hooks.
Doing reefer the shipper is drop and hook about 90% of the time receiving is only about 20% of the time drop and hook.
Though runs doing reefer have been a lot longer than on the dry side

 

Hi. Would you recommend Sage Indianapolis? Have been trying to decide which IN school to attend in Sept. Thanks! Good luck for your future!