Who's The Worst Of Them ALL to work for?

Stay away from PAM, they lost over 2 million dollars last quarter & a good friend of mine who was a load planner for PAM jumped ship. I expect them to go under very shortly. She told me their freight was down & drivers were setting waiting for loads, for long periods of time.

 

I agree. In addition to keeping your whiskers shaven, I believe they still require you to wear a uniform too, and they do not allow pets. But, if you can handle that, they have the best rep of the three choices you named.

 

With the high price of fuel these days, only the "big" like Swift, Werner, JB and others will be around and all the rest like Pam will fade into the night..

 

from what i can remember i think they still do require uniforms for the drivers. still a pretty good place to work though. plus i think they all drive volvos.

 

Even JB is getting out of the OTR business, they are moving on & expanding into the brokerage field. They are planning on becoming the largest brokerage firm, even larger than CH Robinson, as they have even hired on some higher execs away from CH Robinson to help develope their program. JB is only going to keep regional, dedicated & specialty runs.

 

I need to find a company that will let me take my little pug in the truck with me. She is a small dog and very clean and quiet

 

Quote from heavyduty;52481: "There are good companies and there are bad companies. There are good companies that ANYONE can do well at. There are bad companies that ANYONE can do well at. There are bad drivers that aren't going to do well ANYWHERE. I personally believe you get out of a company what you put in to it".


Now that is some good advice. I am trying to start trucking for my first time, and after awhile of researching, "Especially" on here, that is the same conclusion that I have came to believe. Im glad someone feels the same way. that diffinately maks me feel more optimistic.

thanks Heavyduty

 

Have you also read that trucking is unlike other jobs in it's demand's on a person. It seems every body complains about getting home. They are out for weeks and or more at a time.

 

Yeah, I got a aunt that I dont talk to anymore and she does OTR and she has done it for years. Shes told me alot about it. And also My step-father does trucking so he is always telling me things about it, advice, etc.. I may be young (22) but im not worried about getting home to attend parties and crying about things,, I fully understand the demands and they way things will be. I am pretty positive I will enjoy doing OTR and awhile later with some good experiance getting some dedicated stuff..

 

FedEx Ground is operated by indipendent contractors, many of whom do not provide any benefits for their drivers. I know, I've driven for one of them, Bates/Harrison Trucking, formerly just Bates Trucking, home office is located in Lehighton, PA with their trucks assigned to the Portland, OR Terminal. Their equipment is more than 9-yrs old & not well maintained. It is not if you will break down, it is a guarantee you will break down. They pay no delay pay. Infact, they expect for you to take their trucks over to Freightliner Portland on your time without compensation. I was assigned to a team running a dedicated lane from Portland, OR to Columbus, OH weekly. My partner & I would leave on Tuesday morning & return on early Friday evening, until 4 weeks ago when they decided to make us unassigned. Debbie Bates, who took over the company after her father passed on had lied to us up until this pass week when the truth came out that we were no longer dedicated, we were to keep the truck running or she would find two more drivers. Well, my partner & I walked off the truck, good luck Debbie finding those two other drivers. She has left 3 messages for me on Monday & 4 more on Tuesday, one of which sounded tearful because she loses the run if she cannot find any drivers. Good luck Debbie, you should have thought about that earlier instead of your travelling, playing golf, buying your new furniture, suv mountaneer, jewelry, extravigant party's, etc. Should have been taking care of your drivers.

I would like some feed back on Prime from my fellow drivers. I notice Prime is on the list of bad trucking company's. Can some of my fellow drivers explain to me what it is about Prime that makes them so bad. I have been contacted by Prime, & yes, like any other trucking company they make themselves sound so good. I am looking at the western area, they pay 100% of their employees medical premiums, they will start me at .36 cpm with a .02 cpm safety & on time bonus paid quarterly & they will pay a weekly fuel bonus up to .05 cpm. They offer many of the other same trucking company benefits, however, not many company's offer a 100% paid medical premium. This in itself is worth $600 to $900 per month.

Coming froma very reliable source of mine, and a former load planner for PAM, it's only a matter of time before they go under. They are in the process of buying back all of their stock options. This load planner who is now a broker with the new JB Hunt was helping PAM drivers with loads until a memeber of PAM's Management caught wind of this & has given explicit instructions to those load planners within PAM's organization, that they are no longer to do any business with my friend, or they will be fired.