An honest account at MAY TRUCKING

Discussion in 'May Trucking' started by Ernest P W, Oct 29, 2016.

  1. Scooter Jones

    Scooter Jones Road Train Member

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    So, I'm assuming you've worked for May, England & Swift?

    I worked for May for almost 2.5 years. I got along just fine there. Of course I had my issues from time to time. Where don't you in real life?

    I have a good friend who just retired at Swift and still does part time driving for them. He likes Swift and did well with them.

    I also know a guy that worked for Interstate and said they were a joke and quit after 2 months. Does that mean Interstate is bad through and through?

    Probably not...

    That's the problem with most of these assumptions and broad sweeping characterizations, they are mostly anecdotal.
     
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  3. tow614

    tow614 Road Train Member

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    All i look at is what the companies provide for their drivers and conditions they require them to work in.
    No, i have never worked for may,knight or swift because i was not willing to subject myself to what they offered.
    My wife and i did team for a year with interstate before i took a local job and they treated us very well.
    I do agree that each of these companies have employees who have managed to stay with them and have been quite content but from everything i have gleaned from drivers over the years who have been with them that is not the norm.
     
  4. smokey12

    smokey12 Road Train Member

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    I have been with May for a little less than a year..they are my first company. So far my experience has been mostly positive. They have good equipment, have treated me well for the most part, and keep me rolling. I wish the pay was better for trucking in general. Considering the amount of responsibility and skill required for this job ..pay should be no less than a grand a week for an otr driver in my opinion..I know thats not realistic.
    Again, I don't think a new driver can go wrong starting out with May. Prove you will drive the miles, work hard and you will do fine. I have never been questioned about idle time..
     
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  5. Burrito Warrior

    Burrito Warrior Bobtail Member

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    May does have good equipment but other than that I hated my life driving for them to the point of thinking of ending my life. The grass turned brown for me pretty fast in how I was treated. I was treated harshly by a training management for a rookie mistake backing up, intimidating me and threatening to fire me which never happened. I just took his verbal abuse but felt pretty sour for several weeks after that. Safety department was better in treating me. All they asked was why it happened, what I could have done better, and then writing me up. The training management guy was like all over me. I hated that guy and soured my view of May trucking afterwards pretty badly. The management guy thinks that I am a perfect machine and that I already should know everything about the trucking industry and that some rookie mistake is unacceptable and opens me up to severe questioning, verbal abuse, and threats over my job security. It's like he thinks I don't give a #### about safety when in fact I want to learn from my mistakes and not do them again.
     
    Last edited: Nov 30, 2016
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  6. Chinatown

    Chinatown Road Train Member

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    I made a grand a week pulling reefers for YRC Logistics running OTR.. Almost all tanker drivers "take home" at least a grand a week. Trimac Transportation Elite Fleet drivers make over $100K per year. A&R Logistics drivers make over a grand a week and that's easy money. The jobs are there, but you have to look for them.
     
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  7. TheDevilIsALie

    TheDevilIsALie Bobtail Member

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    Here is a real honest review of May.

    2-4 weeks with trainer. Suck it up buttercup. You came this far.

    Company has a great csa score. Well maintained equipment. And you will get about break even miles for your flat rate guarantee. That's about 2,333 miles per week no matter what your guarantee level. (See my other posts)

    Insurance is with UMR and if you Google them, you will see they deny almost every claim. But insurance isn't what it used to be anywhere. I digress.

    Good luck finding a company that has good equipment, a good csa score, allows pets, has a rider policy, and is almost entirely automatics...that gives you a pay guarantee.

    The terminals aren't anything to brag about. Brooks showers have rotten egg water, Denver shower is exactly like the movie Saw only never cleaned with razors and semen on the floor. Also Denver has port a potties. Of course some terminals are better than others.

    But you won't be using toilet seat sheets. One way around it, just stay at the truck stops unless you have to be at the terminal.

    Fleet is going completely Freightliner Cascadia auto.

    Some dm's are good some aren't. A lot of it is your attitude. I can say this, May gets rid of bad. It's only a matter of time. So suck it up. You could do much worse.
     
  8. Trucker Jon

    Trucker Jon Bobtail Member

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    For anyone looking into May these days, I'll give my updated "review." Just my personal opinions, to each their own. I have only been with the company for around 3 months to this point, so I am still learning myself.

    Orientation lasted 3 days and it was basically your hiring paperwork and a drug test. Once your drug test came back clean, you were hired pretty much. Think you get paid like $10 an hour for the second 2 days and 0 for the first day.

    After you get hired they look for a mentor for you, unless your "experienced." Personally, I was sent home (and paid $90 a day), because they had too many eld's and not enough mentors. Stayed home for about a week, and then got on the truck with my mentor. I did two loads with him, a repower from Nashville to South Carolina, and then from South Carolina to Denver. Was on his truck for 5 days, they solod ne out and I got in my own truck.

    Like I said I have been with them for about 3 months now, and am taking my first home time tomorrow so I can't comment much about that. I told my DM three weeks ago I wasn't to go home on the 21st, and I'll get to the house on the 20th, so I'm happy with that.

    My DM (not going to mention names) has been very helpful to me when I needed it. Sure, sometimes it can be hard to get ahold of him/her, but for the most part I can't complain. They keep me running as hard as I can.

    My opinions on some of the stuff mentioned previously in this thread; the company does have a good CSA score. Since being here I get pulled into 1/20 weigh stations maybe, and that's being generous.

    "Flat pay," is basically salary. New drivers start out at $105 a day net. A full week on flat pay comes out just less than $600 after taxes. You drive approximately 300 miles a day to break even on flat pay, anything over you get paid in a settlement at the end of 3 month or if you decide to go cpm, you'll get said settlement a week or two later. For example, 300 miles per day X 7 days a week = 2100 miles per week need to break even. If you drive 2000 you dont "owe" them anything, but if you drive 2500, 400 will be going towards that settlement at the end of 3 months. A lot of people in the company, new and experienced, are on flat pay because the like getting 4 pretty nice bonuses a year.

    I think the rider/pet policy is pretty standard. $650 deposit per pet, and I dont think there is a breed restriction pr weight restriction. Rider policy is about $1 a day for insurance.

    The terminals... lol. They aren't anything to brag about. I avoid them if I can, but you wont find any "state-of-the-art" equipment inside any of May's terminals.

    Personally, I am looking around at different companies for two pretty simple reasons. One being the pay is 35cpm, and two the trucks are governed at 61. Those two combined make it pretty difficult to clear $1,000 a week. I got into this to make money, and I appreciate May for getting my first bit of experience, but I have found that some companies will hire you as an "experienced" driver after 3 months and pay 40-55 cpm. So, I'll probably be moving on soon, but definitely wasn't a bad starter company for me.
     
  9. Rocknroller4

    Rocknroller4 Road Train Member

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    Only person in this entire forum with sensible answers..everyone else just says "this company sucks, that company sucks" well ffs which company is good? ####ing hell.
     
  10. Rocknroller4

    Rocknroller4 Road Train Member

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    Good review. Thanks for the information. I to am doing this for the money. I know it's a lifestyle as well but I need something that pays more than 350-450 every two weeks (retail, fast food, etc)

    Would you recommend flat pay western 11 for a rookie with May? Not interested in going to the East.
     
  11. loudtom

    loudtom Road Train Member

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    I heard they've changed their pay structure so that everyone is on the flat rate. You no longer get detention or layover pay, since you're being paid for a full day anyway. At the end of the month or every 30 days or something, they pay extra for mileage and safety bonuses. You would have to talk to someone in the company to find out more details, since I only got a brief description of it.
     
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