Abilene Motor Express - Richmond, VA

MidWest_MacDaddy · May 23, 2016

Inquired or Applied?

Well, might try to call to follow up... I know they tend to do the full background checks and everything before going forward... Unlike many Megas that just toss out offers right and left then thin them out later.

And we have several drivers from Florida.

Frank Speak · May 24, 2016

I applied, but I'm good. I found a gig.

MidWest_MacDaddy · May 24, 2016

Frank Speak said: ↑

I applied, but I'm good. I found a gig.
Click to expand...

Awesome... Stay Safe out there!!!

soilderboy73 · May 25, 2016

What's the home time like with them

MidWest_MacDaddy · May 25, 2016

Depends... Mostly you can expect 1 day of home time for every 6 days OTR. We have a NE Regional Driver that is home weekends. And local drivers that are home daily.

Danch · May 26, 2016

Ledbetter said: ↑

Make sure you double-check what you are told by this company. I thought I checked them out thoroughly but I was wrong. I was with them for 4.25 months and finally got fed up and left. (Under good terms and can go back, if I choose).

(In August, 2006, they had sold 49% of the company to US Xpress).

If you live outside a certain radius (say 75 miles) of their home office of Richmond, VA, expect a headache on your part in getting hometime. All their freight originates from the Richmond area. You can rest assure that you will be back within 2 or 3 trips. Even if you fill out a "hometime request" sheet within 7 days of your request, they wait until the last minute to approve it. I had no problem with my first request but all the ones afterwards was a headache to get approval. I would give 10 to 21 days advanced notice. The Operations Manager would say "I don't have a crystal ball to see what loads we'll have to get you home on that date." Even with 4 days left until I wanted to be home. I did get home each time ontime though, just a headache for the process.

The Ops Manager asks you to get a Dentist and a Doctor in Richmond, VA for your needs. And also tells you to schedule these appointsments on a Wed. or Thurs. If you won't do this and use your own from your home area, to schedule these on a Tues. or Wed. I told him that I'll use my own and will take whatever day they give me. Luckily I didn't need to see
them.

This company pays per diem (I'm not a fan of per diem). Recruting Manager said $0.12 per mile on all paid miles. WRONG !! It is $0.085 per mile on average. I say average cause they use a supposedly Industry wide calculation for per diem according to the Payroll Manager I talked with. My per diem ranged from $0.072 to $0.085 per mile.

No pay for Orientation or transportation to Orientation. They pay for single hotel room but no place to eat except a fast food place. You are forced to sign a sheet saying you are responsible for part of repair cost on your truck or trailer (up to 50%) if involved in an accident whether your fault or not. (Yes, believe it or not). Luckily I didn't have any accidents while I was there but an O/O did with their trailer (Low Clearance) and I don't
know the outcome but I never saw him again.

Recruting Manager is a retired 1st Sargeant of the VA State Police. In orientation he said you better know how to log and do "Magic" with it meaning you run illegal a lot. He also told us the "tricks" when confronted with DOT and law enforcement to lessen the violation. That was ok to hear and to me was just common sense. If you don't mind a lot of "running
illegal", you won't have a problem. (Their ISS-2 score is 98).

If you like the I-95 corridor north of Richmond and the Northeast, you'll love Abilene. They do pay extra for Northeast ($0.05 per mile both empty and loaded) once you cross the Delaware Memorial Bridge. They do have drivers who get these loads that want them. (They have a lot of drivers who don't mind the Northeast). If they are short drivers for these loads; guess what, you get it. Now I don't mind the northeast but not all the time. And yes, they do go in and around NYC. Also into Manhattan but with a straight truck supposedly. They do have a straight truck but I never saw it used for Manhattan, only on other trips.

Their two main customers in Richmond seemed to always wait until the last minute to get loads ready. (They are drop/hook at shipper.) When they were, you have to hustle to get them delivered on time; usually overnite (I prefer to drive in daylite hours). You better know how to get deep sleep in the daytime. Plus the Consignees were new stores being built that were most of the time hard (but not impossible) to manufeur around or stores that were in business parks or Strip Malls.

When outside the Richmond area for any load, they use a nationally known broker service mostly. They also use others which are connected with Trucking Companies. I'm not a big fan of broker loads even for company drivers. And also with loads, don't rely on the directions on the QualComm. I had to call almost all of the customers to get directions or better ones cause it wasn't in the QC. Also had to use the Internet when no phone number available to get directions. I submitted new or updated directions to Dispatch but I noticed if they got in the QC, they were edited and not very detailed. Just trying to help the next driver is why I was detailed on directions.

If you are at Richmond yard and your truck needs work, expect to switch trucks to a temporary one. They had 2 when I was there which were Volvo 660's. I used one of these only one time for 5 days. Never again. Rest of time I told them I'll wait for my truck. They didn't like it but oh well. I had a good truck and outside of that one time, the rest was just the truck needed a PM.

Pay was not good; $0.26 empty, $0.32 loaded. All drivers start at this level no matter your experience. I got the miles though; 3000 to 4300 paid (Odometer miles were 3270 to 4690) a week for solo.

Now I know this is a lot to digest (if you have read this far) but I do have two good things to say about Abilene. 1. Their trucks are O/O spec'ed with 12-speed Meritor Freedom Line Auto-Shift trannys and governed at 73 for solo and 75 for team. They have Volvo 780's and Freightliner Coronodo's and Century Class with Signature Edition interiors and side-mounted exhaust. 2. Their trailers are great. Not once did I have to get them repaired. And lastly, they run virgin tires all around; trucks and trailers. They won't buy or use retreads.
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How often did you go to richmond btw I live in richmond doesn't sound half bad for my situation

MidWest_MacDaddy · May 26, 2016

Danch said: ↑

How often did you go to richmond btw I live in richmond doesn't sound half bad for my situation
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Just an FYI... The statements that you are replying to by Ledbetter is very outdated.

MidWest_MacDaddy · May 26, 2016

CrazyPATrucker said: ↑

Ugh, this site can be so infuriating. I have seen so many positive reviews of Abilene, then I see this. It's so confusing.
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This thread is fairly old ... Considering it was began some ten years ago and only now hitting its third page... LOL

no clue if it was different ten years ago or not but I highly doubt it was all that bad... One mans review... Now compare it to the other much more active thread that is only three years old and how many pages??? 300???

Not so confusing when compared.

Danch · May 26, 2016

MidWest_MacDaddy said: ↑

This thread is fairly old ... Considering it was began some ten years ago and only now hitting its third page... LOL

no clue if it was different ten years ago or not but I highly doubt it was all that bad... One mans review... Now compare it to the other much more active thread that is only three years old and how many pages??? 300???

Not so confusing when compared.
Click to expand...

Lol thanks for clearing that up, I'm still interested in Abilene btw just started cdl school monday. I'm loving it .... wow this board has been in play for awhile now

MidWest_MacDaddy · May 26, 2016

Here is the much more active thread:

http://www.thetruckersreport.com/tr...ace-to-call-home.210018/page-370#post-5242548

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