how to tell a good company from a bad one in just a few minutes..

WAYNE TRANSPORTS is probably a good job...nice, well-maintained equipment...a few different divisions of bulk work...AND they don't seem to advertise anywhere except for on their website.

 

This totally ignores company size, and market conditions. A very large company that employs thousands of drivers will have to fill a large number of jobs monthly, even with a relatively low turnover percentage.
Additionally with the labor force of drivers not meeting the demand nearly every company will have trouble filling their trucks.
Last year, Con Way and Old Dominion both spent one of their quarterly meetings bemoaning the driver shortage.Saying they simply had to turn down large amounts of revenue due to not having drivers.
I don't think many consider Old Dominion a bad job.

 

I would

I would consider any LTL job a bad job...

I would also consider driving for Wal-Mart a bad job.

The attitude some of these companies have is astounding. There's plenty that probably wouldn't hire me because of my age (24).

And that's the thing, people want to talk about hiring standards, clean MVR's, etc.

I dealt with that run around when I started because of my age. Eventually I got fed up with it and decided if I was going to have so much a headache dealing with it, I'm going to have more than a paycheck at the end of the week, so, I became an O/O.

24, pulling oversize and overweight. I carry my own insurance (the whole idea that young drivers can't be hired because of insurance is a joke, it's a matter of the insurance you work with. I carry higher limits than most O/Os and freight haulers, and pay a reasonable monthly premium), and I'm supposed to be impressed that some dixie-cup hauling dry van or reefer operation thinks your age correlates to your competence? Right.

Sometimes the best jobs are the jobs you make yourself

and frankly, any operation willing to turn away young drivers is a bad operation in my book. Something for the over-40 crowd in this thread to think about.

 

I definitely agree with the age thing. I'm younger as well, and there is definitely a bias against young drivers.
Even when you get in a company, often times you have to overcome age bias from management and other drivers

 

Where do I sign up?

 

Lol, I see five slots open for Midwest and south.
+25 yo, 3 years OTR, hazmat, high school, good record, blah, blah, blah....

 

Proving my point

 

Bet your car insurance will go down @ 25, too. Sure, YOU might be a remarkably safe driver at 18, 20, or 23...but generally speaking, younger drivers are inexperienced, immature, and have a bullet-proof mentality, leading to more risk-taking and a higher incident rate (tickets, crashes, etc.)...therefore higher insurance. It has nothing to do with you personally, but rather the age group as a whole.

Now if a company can keep butts in the seat with stricter hiring standards...be it age, experience, MVR, or whatever other qualifications they desire from their drivers, more power to them.

 

Still makes it asinine and shows how lazy most companies have become in making decisions... fit it into an equation and actuarial table rather than a case by case basis...

and that's what it took to get the insurance I have, one of the few commercial insurers who looks at the driver themselves, how they learned, who they learned from, etc. etc.

So, let's put it on the other foot...

Generally speaking the over-40 crowd has forgotten or has skewed memory of the complications, biases, and obstacles younger folks in the work force have to deal with, and quite complacently chock the complaints or arguments up to "it is what it is, pay your dues"... Generally speaking the over-40 crowd sits comfortably on the basis of age equating to competence or maturity when age has nothing to do with either...

Generally speaking...

What in the hell were you doing at 24?

 

Problem with taking everybody on a "case by case" basis is that I've known some pretty bad drivers who swore they were excellent (albeit unlucky) behind the wheel. When so few are willing to admit they are horrible drivers, other means of determining risk are necessary...such as age, marital status, etc. They aren't judging you based upon how you drive, but rather a perceived level of maturity which might cause a person to make less risky decisions. Is it flawless? No. But, it has enabled insurance companies to stay in business...

...and at 24, I had already been driving professionally for 6 years.