Give me 80%, We'll improve it to 100%

Did you apply to O&S with driving experience, or are they training you from the ground up? I am seriously considering a career in OTR, but I'm discouraged by all the negative reports about entry-level companies (Swift, CRE, PAM, etc). O&S seems to have a good reputation, they're near my home, and if I can apply for training with them, it may be my best option.

I have near a million miles of accident-free commercial driving experience in passenger transportation (charter buses), but I'm looking for my "final" career move into something that pays better and gives me alone time on the road -- meaning I'd like to find the right trucking company to call home for the next twenty years until retirement shows up. I like what you say about O&S's commitment to safety, as I am a strong believer in safe driving practices, and want a company that respects it.

So what more can you tell me about O&S? My other consideration is IWX, also nearby, but I don't know if they'll train from the ground up either.

Thanks for sharing.

 

I liked what I read about IWX, but they hire only drivers with experience. They referred me to Trailiner, so I visited them, but I'll also visit O&S. From what I've read about Roehl, they're like IWX and will hire only experienced drivers.

As much as is possible, I want to find a reputable company with whom I can get my training, and then stick around awhile, preferably a long while. Thus, I am trying to gather as much information as possible about each potential company so I can make a good decision. Who better to ask than those of you who are already in the know?

Thanks for the input. I have O&S on my list, and will see what they say. Perhaps I'll still contact Roehl, just in case they'll make an exception.

 

I think you would like O&S just fine. It was back in 1996 when I worked for them as a company driver then an O/O's driver and I had no gripes with anyone there. I was injured unloading a trailer do to the customers defective pallet jack and the company stood by me 100 % and thats a sign of loyalty that is hard to find in a lot of trucking companies.
It sounds like they have changed a little bit to be even better. When I worked there the old timers used to call them Outlaws and Scallywags because they major part of the trucks were O/O trucks, very few company trucks. If you live in Springfield I would say try them out and see if you can get on hand.

 

As of today, must have a minimum of 12 months to be considered.

 

I drove for O&S for 9 years starting when the office and dock were all in the same building and they were hiring on a lot of company drivers. Things got better and there were never any problems being paid or layovers that were longer than 24 hours. Yes there were an occasional screw up but that happens all the time.

Things got better and they expanded to the buildings they have now plus a tire shop. Still no problems until they started the fleece/lease program. Then the company drivers were "taking" all the good runs and the whiny crybaby #### started and some of the biggest crybaby things were I don't do NYC or I don't go there and we "company drivers" had to pick up the slack from those sniveling cry babies!

Well fuel prices started to rise and the drive through bays got shut down from inspecting every truck and trailer 24 hours to those that made it through during bankers hours! We always had trailers that had been inspected every 60 days to junk being left on the yard for the next driver to have to get fixed because these lazy L/P and O/O's were afraid to write up a repair sheet! Typical BS from the underpaid!

You also had the problem of "incidents" such as a bird strike in the windshield. Yep a write up to "cover the repairs" a rock in the windshield, Same story, if it meant any money coming out of their pocket there HAD to be a report and most likely it would go to your record! (that's the one you need to tell to your next employer!)

Then it finally happened. Oneal bought back Stevers (the S in O&S who had gone on his own back in the early 90's) and things really started to fall apart for the company drivers! They started the "push" to lease at the company drivers and then in the middle of 2008 they started to fire the company drivers for any problem such as a log book goof or a late appointment to yes bird strikes or hitting something in the road at night! I even got written up when my passenger side CB antenna got broken off at a receiver from the trees in the drive way! It was a church and I was delivering a load of chairs to them!

Then in 2009 (this year) I think April they pulled all of the remaining company drivers in and gave them the ultimatum. Lease or leave! All of the smart ones left and that's the end of the great company! The company drivers who made Jim Oneal his millions were thrown under the bus because he listened to some ahole loser who couldn't keep his OWN company above water (I'll write a note about one of his stupid "dispatchers later) and shows Jim where he can frost all of the costs on to the drivers and make a ton more money and get rid of the "faithful"! Yes it's "good" buisness!

Jim had his own agenda as after being the president of the Missouri Truckload Carriers Asso he got visions of grandeur in his eyes and is now Mayor of Springfield MO!

Yes, he did help me out last year when I wound up with cancer but I was the one who paid ALL of my med insurance as did all the company drivers with O&S paying nothing in! His help is that he's paying my unemployment now.

Yes, O&S was a great place to work but all the GOOD dispatchers are gone, some people in there don't need to be there and others are staying because jobs are hard to find in this area right now! But I know they will jump ship when times look better! If you do hire on and lease, if you hit something don't tell the company! No matter if it's a mirror! Pay it out of your own pocket!

A fleece/lease program that only offers Freightliners is NOT a good fleece/lease! If you are going into business then lease a truck that has a resale value better than a wore out FL! Don't believe me. Call any truck sales department and tell them you have a FL Century, Columbia or Cascadia with 600,00 miles or better and want to trade and see what they offer! Go on while I sit here and ROFLMAO!

I did like O&S but at the end they became just like all the other fleece programs even if the deal was a little better than Prime! LOL

Now the story about Stevers and the Dispatcher:
During my time at an old outlaw company called CXI, we had this crybaby driver called Goose.
Yep he'd tattle on any driver he could! He saw me one day with a lease trailer that I had just picked up for a new customer we had just gotten and he passed me heading west to the yard and he called me on the CB and asked me what I was doing with that trailer. Screwing with him I told him I was tired of getting screwed by dispatch and I was making some extra money by pulling a load while I was "at home!"

Ole Goose couldn't get to a phone fast enough! When I called in the next morning on my check call Jack (the dispatcher) started ROFLHAO and told me that Goose called in all breathless about me and what I told him! The whole yard cracked up about it but we ragged Goose so bad about it that he quit.

I quit not to long after that and went aback to Atlanta after my dad died to help mom out and came back here 2 years later. I applied at Stever and got hired and when the recruiter took me around to meet everyone and she introduced me to Goose I turned around and told her thanks but no thanks and explained to her that he could just barely drive a truck but as dispatcher I wasn't going to waste my time finding out if he had what it took! It turned out that this guy sweet talked his way into marring the daughter of the owner and became the General Manager and that was the beginning of the end for Stevers! When O&S bought them out ole Goose was the first of several that didn't make it to O&S's office! I think he's back to driving but that was a couple of years ago & i could really care less!

 

I just heard a rumor form a reliable source that the political dealings of several people in the office is causing extreme problems! Main instigator is a heavy female who has "worked" herself up from the leasing department! She has been the major problem for drivers and dispatchers since she started with O&S. Thank God I never liked her anyway!

Second problem is even worse than the frivolous political problem, is that there might be money problems in a fully lease/fleece operation! How does a company with no "overhead" to speak of (drivers pay for everything) start having "money" problems!

If you are thing of doing the fleece here I would ask for a complete UP TO DATE profile of their P&L statements to be sure you aren't walking onto a sinking ship! It probably would not hurt to also do a credit check.

Maybe it's time to get those drivers that actually worked for the company and ENJOYED their jobs back! That's how he got up and running in the first place from a second rate brokerage operation to a 350 truck outstanding company but what do I know I'm just a truck driver thats seen everything there is to see in this cesspool of a business!

 

I found out About O&S the hard way for a second time.I worked for them for about three months for them the second time around giving them a chance to prove themselves.They are strict by the books and you have to log everything by the Qualcomm.I left them before i lost everything i had to go with another company.I kept telling them i needed more miles to pay my bills but they just did'nt care.The only thing they care about is keeping the lease payments for the trucks coming in and keeping them full.I would stay out for two weeks at a time and very seldom get a draw and i ate out of my truck and still could'nt make anything to take home.They keep takeing bonuses and raises from the drivers and they don't pay the fuel surcharge the way they are supposed to.I am makeing more money now in a months time than what i have with them for three months.If you want a different truck than a freightliner and you want to make money and not go under then O&S is not the place for you.