Beelman Trucking

Maybe it's time for him ...to cut his losses. ..and move on.

 

I live 5 minutes from their company headquarters and went over to "talk turkey" with them as I was considering where I was going to work after coming off a 4 month break. My impression of them after spending 5 minutes there was that they were the most arrogant, snotty outfit I'd ever dealt with and I honestly couldn't get away from them fast enough. Pay from what they told me was average, equipment looked decent, but my impression of the people there was not good at all

 

I thought of going with them a few years ago. Took time off to meet someone at the yard in Hammond IN. No one ever showed....

 

Hammond? Might as well as be meeting them in Gary(ask me how I know).Where in Hammond did they want to meet you at?

 

How you know?

 

I've just started with them out of the Springfield yard, so my view is limited. Most of their work is dry bulk loads and so it is very volatile. This is also completely different than other types of trucking. I am actually surprised at how quick Beelman will put a driver in a motel if necessary. They don't find the motel for you, you have an app on your phone from Comdata that lists motels. Some areas just don't have good motels, of course you could be with a company that thinks a sleeper is one of those that is so small a twin mattress won't fit in it.

As far as the pay, you get $16.00 an hour when you are in the trainer's truck. When you get your own truck you start at 28% and that increases as time goes on. Most companies are like Beelman on the the hiring bonus. No one in their right mind is going to give you an entire hiring bonus up front. Let's face it, if Schneider would give me the $5000.00 hiring bonus as soon as I was in my own truck, why wouldn't I just go from company to company collecting bonuses? When it comes to pay and schedule, there is nothing predictable about this industry, you have to look at it over the year. Last year they told us the average driver made $60,000. I will let you know how it works out, but it looks like I am going to work 40-50 hours a week, home every night, weekends off and still make in the mid 30's to 40 k. If this ends up happening, it's not bad for local work in the Midwest. My dispatcher has told me that I'm going to basically be on a dedicated run and we'll let all the young guns drive 70 hours a week and make the big money. It is also possible to get a 5% weekly bonus. If you do everything you are supposed to do for the week then you get an extra 5%.

Coal is going away and that accounts for much of the work for these companies depend on in late fall through early spring. Then when you consider the Midwest had a very mild winter, coal was even less in demand than usual. They were very upfront that right now work is sparse, but it is picking up. With construction season coming on, they will be hauling a lot of rock and that pays very well, coal is so-so, grain and ash pay next to nothing. This has always been the case.

Beelman has always had a bit of an attitude and that is even evident in their ads. On the other hand they only have a 28% turnover rate, so that says something about them. I'm in the frameless dump division and I have done this work before with another company. It is hard, dirty, unpredictable work. Days can go very smoothly, or go downhill real fast. If you tip a trailer, life gets really complicated and your day is very long. In winter it's loads of fun to raise your trailer just to find that 25 tons of coal is frozen to the trailer and won't come out. My point is that you need to understand some of the original post is company specific and other parts are just how this type of work is. You don't open trailer doors and bump a dock, you get to a job site, look for level ground and put a trailer 40' in the air. Then you lower the trailer, climb up a ladder with a broom and shovel. You sweep out the trailer, and then climb back out and get on the road. In any day you could haul, corn, rock, iron pellets, coal, fly ash, ground ash, dirt, sand, or any of another bulk commodity. This job isn't for everyone. I don't know if Beelman is a good or bad company, I'll let you know how it's going in a month, or two.

 

I used to live in Hammond,in the Hessville neighborhood(Greenbriar Apts) from 2005 to 2006. Two blocks away from Gary city limits.

 

I pull a tank. This winter was definitely slow. It is starting to pick up. A week bringing home less than 800 is rare. Its all about how you run it. You have to show the effort and the will to want to push. I worked all but an hour and a half of my 70 this week. Not sure what companies will pay a full sign on bonus up front. Kind of covering their own ### for guys just hopping on until they get that check and bouncing. I'm very curious what yard and what he pulls though. Maybe can shine some light on his issues.

 

I've got to say, 35k for "hard, dirty work" sounds awful. I make almost twice that for clean and easy work. I work 45 hrs per week, home every day, off every weekend.