My personal opinion and experience with Covenant!

Discussion in 'Covenant' started by AmericanPatriot, Jul 18, 2015.

  1. AmericanPatriot

    AmericanPatriot Bobtail Member

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    Hey everyone, this is my new thread and I welcome all to ask tons of questions to help me get and keep it going! Help me get the truth out there about what it's been like at Covenant for me as a new driver to this industry.Thanks to all who join in.
     
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  3. Fajo

    Fajo The Dark Knight

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    You will be visiting alot of Knight Transportation yard's, Don't know if Covenant is just cheap or what but they rent alot of space from us at quite a few of our yards.
     
  4. AmericanPatriot

    AmericanPatriot Bobtail Member

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    Alrighty, where to start I don't know but I will start by saying it has been one crazy time here at Covenant with alot of good and bad but I tend to look at the good stuff to outweigh the bad stuff. Once I completed my trainign I had to take an upgrade test before I could be let out with a partner, the test consists of a straight line backing, 45 degree alley dock and a road test. There is also assignments you are required to do online during training just to get you up to speed with safety, DOT and etc. They aren't very difficult if you pay attention to them. They are very informative classes. I will say be sure your on the hunt for a partner because you can't get assigned a truck until you and your partner both are ready to roll, you can't get a truck then find a partner. Every company thats out here has the good stuff as well as bad stuff, especially when you have a company the size of Covenant. I have been working for Covenant now three months. I was very very grateful to get one heck of a trainer, if you read my last thread you heard alot about my trainer. I have to say that if we had a bunch of him this industry would be way different, in a good way. He taught us way more than an average student on most trucks. Like I have said before, I've been with only one trainer so I can only talk about my experience and on what I've asked others about their training. I want to use this thread to get info out there about the company, if you have something bad to say about them lets be civil and post the issue if you'd like but I ask that you follow that up with what the company did to fix the problem because there is always a solution, just giving the bad info out isn't the right thing to do because it isn't portraying the truth. I partnered up with another driver who has been with Covenant since February of this year, it's been a huge learning experience not only for myself but also my partner. There is so much out here you have to constantly monitor it's crazy, very draining. I started out a few weeks ago on my own to start my 90 days of required teaming before getting my OTR status. I got what I would say is a very good fleet advocate as well as good fleet engineer. They are very attenative to us as drivers and always put themselves in our shoes when I present an issue so they see how they would feel before they present their opinion, that makes a world of difference. My pay as an ST2 is .34 cpm plus my .06 cpm per diem pay as well as my .02 cpm safety bonus that is paid out quarterly. That is HazMat team pay, meaning you and your co driver must both have your HazMat endorsement to receive that pay. Covenant will pay for/reimburse you as the driver for your fingerprints, testing and so on so forth. It's a very good idea to have it because there are things like, nail polish, batteries, certain cooking items and mainly general household goods that are considered hazardous materials. It makes you as a driver much more marketable. I have hauled a few HazMat loads, they aren't much different just some states have stricter rules but it's not the hassle some make it out to be. We have been treated very fairly I'd say for new drivers, the first truck we were assigned had been involved in an accident, redone and given to us but unfortunately it was not in good reliable operating condition as we found out after having the truck a week. I called in about the issues, they expedited us back to Chatt to get the truck in the shop and assign us a new truck. Overall we spent about 6 days down over a period of a couple weeks but once we got it back to Chattanooga we were down for a 34 hr reset and thats it, once our reset was done we were rolling out with a load so they didn't make us sit knowing that it had been a rough week due to breakdown issues. Covenant has a minimum pay guarantee that is $700.00 for HazMat drivers that have less than 90 days experience, the only requirement is you must be available all seven days of that week, if it's out of your control due to truck issues you personally are still available so the pay stays in affect. If you have more than 90 days experience but less than one year your guaranteed minimum is $850.00 a week, same stipulation, be available all seven days. After you have one year of verifiable OTR time your minimum pay goes up to $1,000.00 a week with the same stipulation. Be available all seven days that week. There is no fine print, or catches. It's really that simple. This is all for HazMat teams, I will post the other info once I get more solid details about it. Once you complete your 90 day teaming period your pay changes to .40 cpm plus per diem as well as safety bonus. Also keep in mind, during that 90 day period you are on a probationary period, any sort of DOT violations, log violations, citations and etc. can cause that 90 days to become 180 days so it is very important to keep your head on a swivel to make sure your doing the right thing. Our weeks have been pretty full with miles as long as our truck was running good, our last load was about 3,000 miles from Oregon over to PA, then from PA to Chattanooga. That's when we went in to get a new truck. We just got assigned this new truck on the 16th of June but yesterday the 17th we were headed to Salt Lake and the truck just shut down on us on I 40 headed that way. We unfortunately had to sit and wait quite some time before we could be towed away so that was frustrating but that is as far as I will go with that due to me still being in discussion with operations about the issues. I will post more info when I get it, I don't want to post anything on here that could put my job at risk or any incorrect information. Freightliner said they believe it is a computer issue but aren't sure until they dig into it so in the meantime we are in a hotel in Oklahoma City waiting to be updated as the truck was just dropped off early this afternoon but thankfully this Freightliner is open 24/7 so I am hoping it doesn't take forever to fix. There is so much more that I can write about but for now I just want to get the thread started to get others to join and we can go from there. As always I am open to all questions, if I don't have the answer I will get it then relay it back to the person who asked on the thread. I appreciate everyone's support on here! Have safe travels and look forward to hearing back from me very soon as I will be keeping it more updated. Thanks again everyone!
     
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  5. rpad139

    rpad139 Heavy Load Member

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    I dont like the $1000 a week minimum pay program. They take out of your paycheck the next week.
    For example I made only $700 in one week...then they added $300 in "minimum pay."

    Guess what? Following paycheck they took $300 away from me.... Basically your paying your own minimum pay. I called payroll and they told me thats exactly how that works. So i decided to get off that minimum pay program because i dont like when they "mess with my paycheck in deductions." just leave my paycheck the way it is and im happy.

    $1000 minimum a week is more of a recruiting method than anything else.

    I manage to make $1000 minimum a month for the most part so dont need any guarantee and deductions on my paycheck
     
  6. rpad139

    rpad139 Heavy Load Member

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    Yes i sometimes get the feeling covenant is cheap as well. But all companies rent space from each other i believe....
     
  7. rpad139

    rpad139 Heavy Load Member

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    Been at covenant for about 16 months now. I am worn out, my back isnt as strong anymore from sitting all day, blood pressure going up, my awesome fleet manager has been replaced by someone else.... Think its time to move on for me. Might stay for one more winter...But definitely going to quit by the end of the year.

    Team driving is a grinder.
     
  8. TheFlyingDutchman

    TheFlyingDutchman Bobtail Member

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    Mind if I put my 2 cents in for anyone starting at cov.
    This is important for anyone going to orentation. Most people in your class will be from the same area as you and will get out of training at rufly the same time. Try to get some numbers of people you can get along with for possible partners later. A good team is what it is all about. And your not just looking for a co worker your looking for a roommate . This might be better than a random person after training. Manny on the co drivers wanted board are there for a reason. Your trainer might be able to help with a lot more than what there there for. I still talk with my trainer. Even though nether of us work there any more.
    Rookie drivers at a training company. You'll been in bad situations. Work your way through it. Team drivers someone ways gets the short end of the stick. So what we aren't truck drivers for our health. If you can make it cov. You can make it anywhere. I was there 4 years. 3.5 of them as a driver. .5 a trainer. Honestly I made more money as a driver.
    Anyway I like your thread I wanted to post something. I get upset when people only go online to complain.
     
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  9. AL_Dutch

    AL_Dutch Bobtail Member

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    My wife and I have been with covenant over a year now. So far it has been good. And I expect it to stay that way. Don't get me wrong. We can complain everyday if we wanted to. But you can do that everywhere. In the end you have to ask yourself, do you want to make money or cry about every thing. If you have a complaint, go to the source at covenant. Everyone I have ever talked to about issues have always been helpful and professional.

    For example. About 2 weeks after we got our truck, my wife got sick and needed 2 operations. We were almost out for a month. Upon returning back to work, they gave us our truck back and send us on our way. They even paid our insurance for the time we were out.


    Just to clear something up. The 1000.00 guaranteed pay actually works. You just have to understand how it works. Our work week begins and ends at Sunday midnights. If there is a trip that starts in 1 week and end in the next week. You get paid the miles you drive up to midnight that week, and after midnight the next week. If that doesn't add to 1000.00 for the week, they make up the difference. Now on the next pay stub it's going to show full mileage for the trip. Now they will deduct the mileage already paid from the last week.
     
  10. rpad139

    rpad139 Heavy Load Member

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    Payroll did a very poor job of explaining the $1000 a week guarantee. I personally think they should do a better job of explaining how exactly the guarantee works.

    I understand the guarantee a little better now but at first was confusing.
     
  11. orangepicker

    orangepicker Road Train Member

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    so they should be truthful and say 1000 min and 1000 max
     
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