Apex Bulk Commodities

Just Thought I'd share some of my experiences with this company so hopefully other drivers will avoid them and save yourselves some hassles.
First, the pay sucks. Depending on which board you work for, you'll get between .295 cpm or .325 cpm. If you are a regional driver you start at .295 cpm. If you are local you get .315 cpm. This right off the bat should be a red flag. Any company that splits pennies on their driver pay should be avoided. Also, this company doesn't pay for experience. Everyone starts at the bottom. You get hourly for unloading. Again, the rate depends on which board you work for. It's anywhere from $12.00 to $15.00. Raises are paid in increments of pennies. It takes either 4 or 5 years to get a full cpm raise. In my experience and in speaking with other drivers (and this is with the Adelanto terminal), you'll work 5 or 6 12-14 hour days and you'll gross between $600-$850. The benefits are very expensive here and they generally go up every year. For a spouse and 2 children for the kaiser option its $160 per week. You'd be a fool to choose one of the other benefit options because they have such high out of pocket maximums.

Now I'll go into how they treat their drivers. I've only dealt with the Adelanto, Fontana, and Vegas terminals. I've heard from some of the regional guys that the Bakersfield terminal is the best to work for because they actually value their drivers and the dispatch office isn't a revolving door of dispatchers like it is at Adelanto, so they actually develop good relationships with their drivers. Let me just say that Apex is the "Swift" of the pneumatic companies, so when you're out there on the roads and at the plants, you get treated like crap and get zero respect from other drivers and plant workers. They just assume you're an idiot and a newbie because Apex has such a high turnover of new drivers. You basically get the same treatment at the terminals. There are a couple of exceptions in that a couple of the dispatchers and mechanics are cool with the drivers, but in general, they all seem to hate their jobs and take it out on the drivers every chance they get. The shop personnel in Adelanto are the biggest group of ########## I've encountered in my 15 years of driving. No matter how friendly or cordial you are when you go into the shop, they treat you like you're a POS. It starts at the top in the shop. The foreman must be a friend of the owner or something because all the drivers hate him and complain about him but he seems to hold onto his job. I though at first he had something against me personally but in speaking with other guys at the yard or at the plants, they all have said he's a jerk. He acts like he's the king of the world and like you're asking him to move mountains when you ask for simple repairs on your truck. He clearly hates his job and his lot in life and takes it out on anyone he comes into contact with. Now the dispatch office, for the most part, they all act like they're there to harass truck drivers. You see, policies change here on a weekly basis and they love to threaten you with write ups and docking pay if you're not up on the dozens of lame memos they post in the office every week. When you're new you get all the crap loads nobody else wants or you pick up the slack for guys that call off. They'll call you at home expecting you to grow wings and get to the yard and make impossible appointments. Payroll will screw you on your standby time pay regularly. So much that after a while you get tired of fighting for it and you just end up taking whatever they give you. The paystubs here are purposely confusing so you have a hard time figuring what and when you're getting paid for certain things. For instance, once you've made over a certain amount in a week, the rest of the miles and hours are paid at a higher rate or "bonus" if you will. Sounds great right? A "bonus" sounds good. Not so much because its paid on the following weeks check and on the stub it just reads premium pay and an amount. It's nearly impossible to figure if the premium is correct. I think this is by design, otherwise, why wouldnt they just pay the premium on the week it was for. Again after a while you get tired of trying to figure it out and fight for it so you just take what they give you.

A few other things to note before you sign for orientation with this company. They have cameras and qualcoms in the trucks. The cameras are triggered by bumps in the road, accidents, swirving, and so forth. They have a no cell phone policy in the trucks. Not even hands free or headsets. So you if you're caught talking, even on a legal head set, YOU'RE FIRED. For being such a lousy low-paying company, they have a million goofy rules and policies to follow. They will check your logs against your qualcom and will fire you if it doesnt match. It's honestly hard to feel stable at a company when anything you do will get you fired, and dispatch and the shop always make it clear that you mean nothing to them and they'll fire you when they feel like it and get 5 new people in orientation by monday morning to take your place. This company has huge turnover. The people in the office think the turnover is high because its a dirty job with long hours, not true, the turnover is high 'cause the pay sucks and they treat you like crap. There are a few guys I've came across that have been here for years but I have a feeling its because of their records that they are forced to stay, maybe criminal or h6 issues, because they seem to complain and hate the job like everyone else.

The equipment here is mostly junk, except for the newer trucks. The mechanics here aren't the best so when you write things up, it generally has to be worked on several times before it gets fixed properly.

If I knew then what I know now, I wouldnt have worked for this company. There are several other local options that are way better. I will be gone soon and wont look back. So, if you're thinking about working for these guys, I would advise against it but if you're in a bind and need a job right now, I guess you could do worse but not much. If you have alot of bills and commitments that require a steady income, I would tell you that its a very bad idea to work here.

 

From what I've heard from the couple drivers I've spoken with that have worked for both, they liked Double Eagle better. Mainly because they still pay percentage, which was the pneumatic industry standard for years. So you can make substantially more money with Double Eagle. Also, their equipment is heads and shoulders above Apex. All you have to do is look at them going down the road. Their fleet as a whole is much newer and better maintained. You don't see Double Eagle pulling the 30 year old rusty trailers like you see with Apex. I applied with them before I went to work for Apex and was told they weren't doing any hiring. Which says a lot because Apex never stops hiring. They got 5-10 guys at orientation every week. Which basically means that's how many drivers they lose every week because they haven't bought any new trucks in a couple years.

 

Bump Apex is the crotch of the industry