Contract Freighters, Inc. (CFI) - Joplin, Mo.?

good luck out on the road and be careful........................

 

Your optimism is quite impressive!

 

No, of course not. That story did give me a chuckle. Must of been a few red faces in the training department, to go along with their trucks.

They are still in my top 3. One clown does not a circus make.

Thanks for taking the time to post. It is much appreciated!

 

I agree a lot of this stress is about horror stories is unfounded. If you read some of these post it gets really hard to believe every thing they are saying. Before I chose deBoer I was nervous as ####. Now I know that's just one company but just sitting at truckstops listening to the B.S that other drivers tell will make you a disbeliever quickly. I mean take these some of these threads, drivers have one horrible thing happen after another and it never seems to stop. Sometimes people just like to embelish there stories just to get attention. Any way enough venting, my dad drives for C.F.I and has so for many years. He likes it, has had very few problems.

 

This is true - or was when I started a year ago

They paid for the ticket but it wasn't first class - not even sure they have a first class, you can also fly to joplin but they will only pay what the bus ticket would have cost.

Nope - Booneslick Lodge - actually was a pretty nice place and had a pool too and a walmart nearly across the street.

yep thats true

true also - they put it on your atm card and you can withdraw what you need, what ever is not withdrawn will be added to your paycheck next pay period.

I wouldn't say full medical insurance, the current insurance plan is actually the crappiest plan I have ever seen.

you get dental insurance after one year - it too cost money and has several limits on it also.

This is true, the 12yo limit is probably for insurance purposes

plus they pay you 1 cent per mile less for a pet - but they add it to your safty bonus

you get paid loaded or empty, you are paid their dispatched miles and not actual miles, its usually less miles dispatched than actually driven, even their recommended directions on the qualcomm isn't the paid dispatched miles., some are illegal routes as they use something like streets and trips to determine the shortest route, there have been a number of times I made it in under the dispatched miles.

True - but only if your safe

This is true also but only if you refer experienced drivers

Probably true - but what did the bottom driver make and the top driver probably never went home or lived near the w. memphis or laredo terminal, also the who you know factor.

I guess I'm not average, was more in the 30's for me.

Probably then but I'm sure its not now.

yes they do but most ne runs are 400 miles.

this has changed as all new drivers are required to have hazmat and required to do Canada.

yep - 1 day off each week and can accumilate, although don't take more than 2 weeks off at a time as they will reassign your truck.

Its now 10 days, was 14, you can highlight after 10 days otr and they will try to get you home within 8 days.

Mine had over 400k on it and now has over 500k - thats changed too

I think thats changed also - but not sure.

If you want more home time your not going to make any money. I would go regional but I live in the NE and I don't like driving the east side of the country.

Alot has changed since the original poster posted.

 

I was with CFI for most of the '90's, and was a trainer for them for about 5 of those years. I noticed a gradual slide in the quality of them over that time and then had to move on in '99. Talked with a couple of their drivers recently at a Target DC in Lawrence, KS and was not regretful I had left. They are not a bad company, better than most. But for someone who has a solid track record and years of experience, there is a lot of better opportunities (at least when the economy is not so bad). After nearly 3 decades at this game, I cannot understand how ANY company can keep a driver away from the house more than 7-10 days. Shows a lack of proper freight planning. Since I left CFI I have averaged 15,000 miles more a year than I ever got with them and am home all but a couple of weekends a year.

They were always a real good company for startup drivers. I always felt when I was there that the trainers were top notch, except for a couple of idiots. I was in on the beginnings of the training program that was started there by Cliff Miller. If they have retained a lot of what he set up, it should still be a solid training program. I can remember when Herb Schmidt was a young and upcoming safety director (and a lot of stories how he would be out trying to run triple digits in a Pete when he was still a young driver... though I doubt that he would admit it now). But he might smile if someone brought it up to him.

I do feel that regional work with some other carriers is more productive and allows better home time. I left CFI, running all 48 and Canada, and have been doing upper Midwest regional for 10 years now, and have done far better on miles and revenue than I could ever get at CFI, and home WAY more than I could have ever been with CFI. But it is a matter of the customer base and how the loads are planned. After CFI built the new building they are in now back in the mid '90's, they seemed to let drivers fall thru the cracks more than when they were in their original building.

I would pick them over Swift, Schneider, etc. if I was a startup driver. I wouldn't pick any carrier over 500 trucks if a well seasoned driver. But that's me.