Is now the time for a change? Should I go Over The Road?

They had some older trucks that they were phasing out but even they were in pretty good shape. At the time I drove for them, they had just bought a lot of new automatic trucks. Ive been associated (or familiar) with Averitt since the late 70s, early 80's- cant remember ever seeing a ragged Averitt Truck? Im sure they may have had a few that had issues but for the most part their equipment is kept up really well.

 

I worked for Averitt Express for 18 years in a dedicated division, NOT OTR. The benefits are good. Retirement benefits are 401(k) plus Profit-Sharing (maybe $2k-3k in good years) The payroll is honest. The equipment is good, YOU MUST WEAR A UNIFORM and TRUCK MUST BE PARKED AT THEIR YARD. Their OTR pays varies a lot based on which terminal (they call them Service Centers). Nashville OTR's reputation is terrible. You may be lucky to drive 1500 miles in a week. Smaller terminals usually get many more OTR miles.

I always say "if you are a boy scout, Averitt is a good place to work." They don't tolerate "cowboys" and you won't fool them if you try to hide your cowboy ways. When I left every truck had a dash-cam, but they don't audio/video record drivers. One of the last company newsletters emphasized the company has 5,000 drivers and the company (all employees, not just drivers) has over 1,000 employees with 10 years service IIRC (it might be 20 years, I forget.) There are MANY Dedicated accounts inside the company and doing Dedicated your Averitt experience is entirely based on conditions ate your account.I joined them after 3 years OTR and loss about $1,000 per month but was working a M-F week, off every weekend until the last 6 years and ALWAYS 1-2 weeks off around July 4, almost a week off at Thanksgiving, and 1-2 weeks off covering Christmas through New Years. The schedule and hourly pay was BECAUSE of the auto maker we served. Other Averitt drivers working for 2 other auto makers had different schedules and made more money per hour for the same job. In the 2 years just before I left they rapidly increased pay raises and the first year after I left they increased hourly pay by $1/hr. We usually just got pay raises like 25-50 cents per hour every couple of years. The customer was cheap

As far as Dedicated accounts, Cracker Barrel always has a shortage of drivers because Cracker Barrels are everywhere including the Northeast. Drivers are expected to roll all freight to the store for store employees to stock. The main complaint is getting 53 foot trailers in and out of the store locations.

They may still have a Dollar General Dedicated. I wouldn't do that job for $1,000 per day. They may not even have the account anymore.

If you are interested in Avrt you might have them put you in contact with Site Managers for each Dedicated account near you. You can make more than OTR, or less, and have a more regular or absolutely predictable schedule and pay. Don't rely on ads or web pages. Talk to drivers who do the work you want near where you live. There is no good alternative for accurate info.

 

Averitt keeps trucks in above average conditions, but your terminal may vary. I believe Avrt expects or requires you to fuel at Avery Terminals. I think I remember one driver saying in emergencies you could get approval for emergency fuel at a truck stop, but otherwise you were expected to go out of your way to fuel at company yards. Your choice of route is up to you, but you only get paid what the company pays for that trip. The company puts PrePass in every truck IIRC. Obviously they either have toll transponders or reimburse all toll expenses.

 

To me "average miles per week" is a useless piece of information unless you know who and what is included in the average. Most office people don't know are care about the answer to that question. And if the average means the steady old-timers are getting high miles and the newbies are getting few miles the office people wouldn't know. What I've heard since I started back in the 1990s was Averitt Nashville OTR was not a place to get miles. When I started Nashville drivers were complaining they could not get enough miles. A driver that started with the company 2 years ago siad that's still true. I also know some terminals, like Tupelo were getting almost too many miles per week. It varies a lot. This is 1 reason I would never work OTR at Averitt, because for me Nashville is the only Averitt OTR facility available. OTR you will be home weekends. That means you will almost always be within a 10 hour drive of your terminal always. That can mean retracing the same lanes over and over and rushing ever Fri to get back to the yard.

Averitt has at least 1 Dedicated division that pays $1,200 per week salary. It's their On Tour Logistics (OTL) division. You haul concert and tradeshow trailers and you live with that performer or tradeshow customer, on their schedule. Meaning you may not get home for months and you may go to all 48 states and Canada. You must be ABLE/WILLING to go to Canada. From what I've found you won't drive many miles and you may spend time in hotels instead of the truck, depending on the demands of the specific customer. I don't think living in MS is ideal for Avrt OTL, but I had the feeling OTL and Cracker Barrel divisions were always needing drivers.

I now work at a company with a guaranteed minimum of $1,200 per week. I love slow weeks. I prefer slow weeks, the slower the better. A few companies are guaranteeing paychecks. It's not perfect but it can take some of the frantic features out of trucking. It can probably also increase he pace of trucking if your boss is determined to get his money's-worth out of you.