Signing bonus

XXXX Inc. offers the following generous benefits to our drivers and owner operators:

A $3,000.00 or $3,500.00 (HazMat) Sign On Bonus payable incrementally after ninety days of continuous service.

There is also a DRIVERS REWARD PROGRAM for the benefit of our SAFE DRIVERS. XXXXX Transport, Inc. wants to make it clear to all that we are serious about safety and are willing to reward drivers accordingly!

A reward of SIX HUNDRED DOLLARS will be paid to each truck that has a CLEAN (No Violations) level 1 roadside inspection and THREE HUNDRED DOLLARS will be paid for anything other than a level 1.

Said the company with a high turnover and a road side inspection problem

 

Not all drivers have the same goals.
Not all drivers want to be owner-operators and have their own authority.
Not all drivers want to stay in their zip code their whole career.
Not all drivers want to be local or regional.
Many of us won't work for small mom & pop companies because the benefits suck & other reasons.
Personally, I would not have made trucking a career if it meant being a local/regional driver. Some of us have wanderlust in our soul.

 

So much wrong in the op's post.

My company offers a signing bonus. Why? To stay competitive. We're primarily an owner/operator fleet. Been around longer than most. We're currently expanding to keep up with our customers freight needs.

You want to find a good company, talk to the drivers who work for or are leased to whoever. Thats where the real info is.

Everyone knows mega's suck. They arent co's you make a career out of driving for because they will find someone to do your job cheaper by "training" them. You make a career out of driving for a company that requires good, experienced drivers and pay those drivers well.

 

cause you wonder, it doesnt mean your lost.

 

There are people that make careers out of working for megas, quite a few, Most have good bennies and once your dues are paid their pay goes up too. Many never get past the due paying process.

 

Found that bad advice that was mentioned

 

Pretty much every post in here makes a good point. I think @Chinatown nailed it with not everyone has the same wants and needs. Werner is a starter company right? Right now there is a 2 million miler parked on one of our docks unloading so he was able to make a career out of a mega. Otr...some guys just wanna run and see everywhere without being stuck in one place. Local guys like me like the physical work that comes with the work and being home almost every night. OS/OW every day is a challenge. Skateboarders have the daily challenge of securement and they live for it. I see the sign on bonus thing that the op stated, my sign on bonus is my hourly pay but that's just me and doesn't mean it's not right for someone else. As far as saying everyone should run out and grab a truck I don't think that is for everyone either. Some people don't have the business sense to run a business (no fault in that, it's not for everyone) and some people like myself have run a business well but just don't want to do it anymore. Truck gets a flat....I get paid to wait for road service, bad day at work ..I punch out and leave it there. There are guys willing to deal with that for the extra freedom that comes from working for yourself and hopefully extra money. @starmac said it well with anything even a mega can be a career if you put the time in but unfortunately in this line of work that doesn't seem to be a thing. First time a dispatcher gets on your nerves it's #### it, I'll have another job before I leave the parking lot. That's why I think companies do the sign on bonus just to try to get people to stay for a lil while.

 

If you look at how sign on bonuses are paid, it doesn't take a brain surgeon to figure out what they are trying to do with them. You have to stay there several months to a year to collect the full bonus, which some guys will do instead of jumping ship at the first thing they find wrong with the job.

I never found a perfect job or boss ever, and I have worked for myself the biggest part of my life, starting when I was 7 years old. lol

For some it isn't loving flatbed work, I do not have the temperment to deal with box freight at all.
My very first lload on the way home from buying a van, I needed to drop 6 pallets at a food warehouse, they required me to hire a lumper.
I grabbed a pallet jack and told them this is all I need, and quickly scarrered those 6 pallets on the dock. Then they wanted it moved to somewhere and broke down. The argument started right then and there and I hadn't even got home with my van yet. lol BUT I got my bills signed without putting up THEIR product. lol