Characteristics of the BEST Companies

Believe it or not I work for a large company and my fleet manager knows me by name and knows who I am when I have gone into the office just to stop in. I am part of one of the smaller parts of my company but still no number here just a name.

 

speed of trucks,choice of loads,driver friendly dispatch and of course great pay and benefits.and smaller things like being allowed to run toll roads,ez-pass,pre-pass.paper logs.no elogs and 65mph.it's just not trucking in my book.

 

While pay, home time, etc are important of course, how that gets done is another thing. A good carrier has a solid base of excellent accounts. To that end, the carrier must be extremely reliable and have a good group of drivers who actually give a wit about getting the job done. And those accounts are not necessarily the Walmart, Family dollar, Ford motor, variety. Those are not "excellent" accounts (my personal view based on over 3 decades at this). Accounts with major suppliers is better. For instance, the carrier I am with has solid accounts with Con-Agra, General Mills, Sioux Honey, Lozier (they make shelving for all the major stores), and a heck of a lot of agricultural suppliers. Lots of commodities and core manufactured products. These are the type of accounts where the customer views the driver as a part of a overall team. And they will pay a better rate to get the quality, on time service, etc that they need, including willingly paying detention for holding up a driver, and being more amiable to fuel surcharges and such.

That is one of the primary things that make a good carrier. That carrier will usually have good equipment because the quality of folks they are hauling for demand it and pay a premium on the rate for that. Likewise, loads are planned better, and running times are made realistic to maintain efficiency and account for unexpected events. It follows, that usually the dispatch folks are more friendly and aware of driver concerns. Very little down time sitting at truck stops wondering what is next. And when it is done right, home time is part of the mix. There are several good carriers that will run all over the place, yet still get the driver to the house in 7 days or less. Any carrier forcing a driver to stay out for more than 10 days max, or the driver needs to stay out because, if they don't, they can't make a good living, is a carrier to be avoided. If one chooses to stay out because they just want to, that is another issue. But this "having" to stay out 2, 3, or more weeks is nonsense in this day and age. It shows a carrier that doesn't have their act together and is burdening the driver for the carrier's lack of competence.

If speed of trucks is a concern, then buy your own. Then you can shoulder the expense of running with your hair on fire. If things are managed well, speed is not a major concern. My truck will do triple digits, but I usually run an average speed of 62 mph. i save a grip of money, and the loads are planned by appointment based on an average running speed of 50 mph to account for little things like a traffic tie up or getting a flat fixed without messing everything up.

It isn't just about pay, home time, and all the other fluff that carriers put in truck stop rag advertisements, though those are good starting points. To find a good carrier, you have to find out about how they do things, what is their operational mindset, etc. You can't do that in a couple of calls to a recruiter. You are making a business decision, even if you are company driver. Take the time to do your research on a carrier and find out all you can. Ask them a lot of questions to get a overall picture of who they are. If they will not be open with you and allow you to talk with various operations staff, safety staff, etc and ask questions, then they have something to hide and you are setting yourself up for a fall. You may not be able to eliminate all the risk, but you can sure lower it substantially.

It is primarily this approach to looking for a carrier that has made it so I have only worked for 4 outfits in over 30 years. Only one was a mess up, the others were good but I had to move to another area of the country and had to quit one, one sold out, and that leaves the one I have been with for 5 years now. When you put some effort into really checking out a carrier, most times you end up staying there unless some unforeseen issue crops up.

 

hourly pay with overtime, good or excellent benefits, good pension or 401 with a big match, home every day or put up in a hotel if i'm stuck out, gotta be union.

 

Gotta be union!!!!!!!! WHAT??????????????? i have hourly pay, overtime, and good benifits, and i am non union and my wages are just as good or better then the local Teamsters in my area.