Anyone ever worked for Beckmann Distribution out of IL

Is there an echo here?

Just jokin' with ya.

Not me. But hopefully you will get a response from someone.

Mikeeee

 

My husband is looking to start with them in the next three weeks. I haven't found anything about them!

 

So, did the husband start driving for Beckmann?
Have you heard any thing good or bad about them?

 

Yes, he has been with them for a month. He is (so far) the only driver outside of Illinois that they have hired. We live in Oklahoma. He loads in IL on Friday morning, drives home to Oklahoma for the weekend, leaves out on Monday morning for TX. From TX he goes back up to MO, then IL, then back home to Oklahoma. It is kind of a regional route, but he has had a few different stops. He likes the people a lot. They are a brother and sister who's parents owned the company before them, and the dad is still sometwhat involved. There are some drivers that have been there for 20 years, 14 years, 10, etc so apparently some of the drivers really like it there. They are being audited right now, so the logs have to match the GPS. That should be over in a couple weeks. They pay .32 per mile to start for the first 90 days. Then you get a raise based on performance. They top out at .42 per mile. They pay every other week, so you don't get a check for the first 3-4 weeks after you start. They do not give advances, except for during the first month when you don't have a check coming in, so you have to run on your own money. That will be kind of hard to get used to, but we've done fine so far. They give $20.00 per week fuel bonus if you are under their number, whatever it is, and that is paid on the Fridays that are not paydays. They pay 60% of the health insurance premium for everyone in the family after 30 days. One week paid vacation after you've been there a year. After 90 days you get paid $100 for holidays and $100 on your birthday. They have a driver picnic every year and they have food, a live band, and giveaways like a 40" flat screen and iPads. That's next weekend. Oh another thing, you get paid hourly for the time you sit in a dock over two hours. I think it's $13.00 an hour, but I'm not sure. Yesterday was the first time he's had to wait. It seems pretty good so far.

 

No. He worked there 5 months and got home for the weekend (Friday night through Monday morning) exactly twice. He got a one cent raise after his 90 days was up, when they had promised him it would be at least what he got when he left his last company. He took a two cent pay cut to go to Beckmann and get to be home on the weekends. So he didn't get that. They tell you before you come to them that the trucks are governed at 67mph. That was not true. His truck was governed at 64.6 as were all the other drivers he talked to. They gave some story about it having to do with the cruise control, that you could get 67mph IF you were using the cruise control. Also not true. He gave his notice before Christmas so he could be home for Christmas, and he was. They even still gave him his Christmas bonus, and they gave him some gas money since I had to drive to go pick him up. I think they are really nice people, but they weren't able to make good on their promises, unfortunately. I think they just had no experience with a driver outside of Illinois, because all the drivers who lived around there WERE home for the weekend, but my hubby had a 473 mile trip to get home after he delivered on Friday afternoon. He didn't always get the detention pay he was supposed to. He had to help unload one of the loads in TX, which they told him NOT to do, but if he didn't help, the receiver did NOT unload, and then he was late to his next appointment. The owners did not try to fix that, so he just kept helping so he could make his next appointment time. He usually had somewhere between 2500 and 2800 miles per week, not the 3,000 plus that they told him he'd be getting. His bring-home pay was usually about $1,000 every two weeks.

He is now at Amistad out of Walnut Grove, CA. They pay 38cpm and have been great. He is just at his 90 days right now. He is running 3,500+ miles every week, and his bring home is between $800 and $1000 every week. It IS a coast-to-coast run, but since we live in Oklahoma, they plan it so he can spend at least one night at home each way. He has been able to take off time for different events at home. You run the same truck and trailer, no swapping trailers or drop and hook. Everything is live unload. He likes that he's responsible for his own truck and trailer and doesn't have to worry about someone else pulling it and dropping it off without bothering to tell the mechanic that something's wrong with it. They have 2013 Freightliner Cascadias and brand new trailers. They only have 12-15 drivers right now and are getting ready to hire two more. He and his brother went out there in January and neither one of them have been happier with a trucking company. They are brokers who decided to open their own trucking company. This one seems to be the best out of the companies he has worked for: Swift, Rains & Sons, Beckmann. He worked for others in the 80s, but we weren't together then, so I can't say anything about those!

Hope this helps!

 

Thank you! Same to you!

 

Let me add a little to this thread. I left my previous employer to go to Beckmann for a newer truck. What a mistake!! I lasted exactly one week. Every delivery you make, and I mean EVERY delivery that you make, is a grocery warehouse. They are on electronic logs now, so when you run out of hours at the grocery warehouse and they tell you that you must leave the property, you go into violation when you move the truck (any movement over 5 MPH triggers the log into driving status.) Trucks are governed at 64.5 MPH. I liked the newer truck, but that was the only thing I liked. They told me that I would be home every weekend, and then my first week I didn't even get back to their yard in Carlyle until Saturday afternoon (and I live in Tennessee.) Because of HOS, I would not have been home until Sunday..had to deliver on Monday. Because I was running out of hours while unloading at the grocery warehouses, I was averaging 3 to 4 hours sleep a night. Pay is .34 CPM and I managed to squeeze out about 1,500 miles that first week by working approx. 20 hours per day. My advice...STAY AWAY!!!