Challenger Motor Freight?

How much a driver earns per week is not relevant. Its how many miles/hours involved. $700-$800 is squat if thats 4 days work, great if its only 2 days.
My pay is only relevant to the miles/hours I work. I earn less than any driver at our company but I also work the least by choice.

 

Your Canada Cartage buddy must be hauling hazmat then, or is on a dedicated run.

The thing with Bison, TransX, Challenger, is how much you make, all comes down to the planners. There were weeks when I could Net $1000/wk as a DFP running in the US, or Net $400/wk doing Walmart up and down Hwy 3. Lots of guys get lazy on pre/post trips, so end up broken down and jammed up, so they don't make #### and just #####. If you catch issues before leaving customers or the yard, breakdown pay kicks in quick, and there are options to switch loads or get the truck/trailer into the shop and not loose much time.

The Canadian Mega's are better than the US ones, but they have their problems. Bison is the worst for equipment and planning, TransX for Junk Trailers and Dis-Organization, Challenger for pay and dispatch.

 

TransX has the worst trailers by far, but they have some of the nicest tractors (Pete 579s) they don't slip seat AT ALL, they have interior detailer's w/upholstery cleaning in house, and full time 24hr wash bays and shops. The trailers are so bad tho, no GPS trackers, No Tire Inflators, Manual Tandems. So you get to drive around in circles looking for your trailer, only to find the tires are flat (last time they got air was the CVIP) and the tandems are jammed to the back, because the tandem sliders are ####ed; so the last 10 guys left them like that.

Challengers has ok Trucks, with quite a variety (Volvo, Kenworth, Freightliners, some Pete's) they all seem in decent repair, and their trailers seem pretty nice and have air slide tandems, and tire inflators! I don't know if they slip seat, but do whatever you have to, not to slip seat. I know they are big on Tri Axles, so make sure you know if they are wide spread or not, as that determines how heavy your trailer can be. Also make sure your tractor is registered for the weight of a tri-dem. This seems to be a big problem I see often with all companies. They send a truck registered for 39500kg out with a fully loaded Tri-dem that needs a tractor registered for 46000kgs

Bison, oh Bison, the worst most nutted, nastiest tractors in the business. Everything is slip seated, ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING. Even your assigned unit, with all your stuff in it, will be used to shunt reefers to washout, by guys wearing the dirtiest coveralls they haven't washed in 5 years; every second you are on days off. 350hp, Skipshifting 3 gears, Radars, Eye tracking driver facing Camera's, Lane Keeping assist, 100km/hr top speed, real time monitoring, hell if they could put an anal probe on the seat to remotely #### you with; they would do it. They never clean trucks, ever, esp the upholstery. So expect most to look like a SCAT party with farm animals happened inside. You will also be lucky to get them to approve a truck wash once a month, US DOT LOVES THAT! The Trailers are ok, most have air slide tandems, backup lights, work lights on/under the trailer, grab straps to get in and out of the box, auto infiltrators, GPS tracking, and they use a smartphone app called "dude where's my trailer" that shows you exactly where your trailer is using google maps. The shops haven't got a clue tho, nothing ever gets fixed, they will NEVER do a 3 axle wheel alignment and they won't change all 8 drive tires even if they need it. They will change one axle, and leave the other if its more than 1/32 over legal tread depth left. If you get a set of chains, hide them under the bunk, cause there isn't enough to go around. Be prepared to suck dick to get an assigned unit you can keep stuff in, that is still going to get pimped out, but not as much.

Is Challenger making you sign a contract?

 

Like you said, it's proving a nightmare finding a job at your age. I reckon you've been given some very very detailed and considered good advice here and if it were me I'd sign for a year in an instant and plan to be there at least two, then you will indeed find the world's your lobster. ( no oysters in N.B.)

 

Bison is a 2 year, and major penalties if you bail early, TransX will make you team for next to free on a 2 year contract, until you get 2 years exp, so 1 year is nothing.

What did they offer you for a rate?