Midwest Drivers

There is a driver on the forum...hometownhauler...that works for Menards in Eau Claire...seems to be happy there.

 

K&B has a Hillshire account out of New London and I know they are hiring. That is about 170 miles from Eau Claire. But it is a pretty good job. They pay a salary of about $175/day or $191/day if you can park the truck within 50 miles of the facility. Schedules are flexible - I do 11 on/ 3 off and they pay me for 12 days of that. So, you can make between 900 and 1350/week depending on your commitment.

 

Walmart in Menomonie is hiring.

 

Yeah I work for Menards and it's definitely not a bad place to get your feet wet. I am home everyday and they will take you without experience.

 

Not to mention that after being here only a year and a half I am on track to make over 60K this year.

 

We just got a 4 cpm raise and a $100/week increase to salary and the minimum pay guarantee.

 

I work for ecklund logistics out of neenah but we're a preferred hauler for menards so we're up there all the time. All of our runs are out and back primarily in the Midwest and south. I'm home every weekend, if I get in at a reasonable hour on Friday I leave Sunday, late Friday or if I get home Saturday I leave Monday. Top pay is 51 cpm if you don't take insurance. 49 cpm if you take insurance and it's actually pretty easily attainable if you have some experience and a clean record. I'm at 48 right now because of job history, I left and came back so I've had too many jobs in 2 years to max out. They can explain the way they calculate pay to you but there's several categories and you get a couple cents in each one to calculate your total. Freight has been kind of crappy lately but they still keep me going 3k or better each week we just end up pulling different loads than normal in times like this. It's a nice small family company, when I call my dispatcher I just say hi because he knows me by voice.

The only down side I see is their trucks are mostly older. About 75% of our fleet is 07s (about 20 total 08-10 and we just got 2 brand new cascadias) so if a nice new truck matters to you this probably isn't the place for you.

 

Freight is "kinda crappy" yet 3000 miles/week? Looks like pretty good income.
Most of us are a bit mercenary; one eye on the want adds. I appreciate posts like yours; a lot of us are interested in the job market even if our own situations seem pretty good.

Anything else you can tell us like 401K; how much does insurance cost; pay to do your own lumping; detention? etc.
Thanks

 

The accessorials don't pay enough to be worth it. I think it's $12 an hour for detention, the handbook says after 3 hours but I usually get it after 2. I don't know about layover or breakdown because I've never had to collect either one. They pay for lumpers, don't want us unloading trailers, you can either use a comcheck or they will put extra money on your card that you can pull off to pay the lumper. They reimburse any parts you buy, scales and parking which is nice since I run at night and parking can be a pain. Ez pass for tolls but any that don't take ez pass you pay and they reimburse you on your check. No pre pass but the CSA score is so bad we wouldn't qualify anyway.

3,000 miles is my odometer reading, paid miles is usually 5-10% less but my after tax net is around 1k every week.

I'm paying $59 a week for medical insurance, $7 for short and long term disability, dental is free. I have the cheapest insurance and it's just for me but only time I go to the doc is for my med card so I don't need much.

Overall i I really like it here but they don't have owner ops so I'm looking at other places so I can get a truck. It's definitely not for everyone but like anything in trucking you have to pick what's most important to you and go somewhere that offers that and deal with any down sides that come with it. To me making good money and getting home every weekend is what counts.

The added benefit to me is no east coast and no California. To quote our safety manager "there's a giant stop sign at the Ohio Pennsylvania border that we obey"