Danny herman current drivers

They're ignoring you; what did you do?
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Contact - Drive Skyline
www.driveskyline.com/contact
Skyline Transportation, Inc. 131 W. Quincy Avenue Knoxville, TN 37917.

 

LOL...

 

Former driver here. Although I remember my time there fondly, I also remember being very uncomfortable. The seat thing you mentioned is funny. I didn't get along with my seat either. I wasn't too crazy about the truck. Would rather drive a Volvo VNL instead. The truck just felt cheap, and had a bunch of weird quirks like a whistling noise inside the cab caused by the wind blowing through god knows what when at highway speed. The APU kept croaking during summer, and it took them ten tries over the course of two months to actually figure out how to acheive a lasting solution to the problem. Not a lot of variety in the routes. Long miles/low pay. I found out later at another company that I preferred driving low miles/high pay, because my body felt happier being able to break up the monotony.

When I was there they had a fuel stop list for all their routes. Rarely would they authorize a stop outside the network. Had to have a very good reason. Now it sounds like they've gone a step further by telling you how many gallons to get at each stop. I know your post is old, but I don't think you'll get a good idea of the company by going to Mt. City. That wasn't really much of a hub for the truckers. El Paso and Phillipsburg were pretty cool terminals. I also liked the Nogales one, but didn't go there enough. The freight was usually pretty slow out of that terminal too.

Overall, it was a good experience trucking. I would've liked to see an option to stay out west. Or at least never drive the I-35 corridor in TX. One thing I hated was how often I drove on the I-35 corridor in TX. From Dallas to San Antonio, I was just not a fan of any of that stretch of road. They didn't want us to use the toll road bypass around Austin. Also, if you ended up in the Dallas area, they had a drop yard in Hutchins run by some other trucking company, and you usually had to spend the night there with no bathroom access. The next day they usually had you do local driver BS by going trailer hunting or loading and dropping local loads. They had a place on the opposite end of the DFW area, so a couple times I ended up doing two roundtrips across Dallas in one day.

Anyway, I've highlighted most of the bad stuff. Other than that it was pretty good. One concern I would have, if I were to consider going back there is that it seems some of their business model depends on running trainees as teams. Teams were definitely big there, and often made it so solo drivers didn't have access to the good runs.

 

Thank you very much! Yes.. what you wrote about teams, I have heard that before by a few others....
I have been out of trucking for 2 yrs and 4 months... and unless I go back to my former company, which I don't want, I may have to endure some hardships wherever I go... like problems with an older truck, loads that others don't want, etc...
So, I did apply for this company in Dec.... because among all the ones I researched, DHT seemed to have less things that I didn't want and it has an APU... and doesn't go to Northeast or west coast... except for CA...
I drove for two companies. Both long haul, all 48 states. One for over 5 years pulling WM trailers and WM loads and another 5 and half yrs pulling brokers' loads... Got tired of the unpredictable routes but still want to run long miles.
I was going to apply for Crete... visited their terminal twice, talked with several drivers, went inside one truck... but they don't have an APU, they use optidle system, which I don't want, and their trucks have more bells in whistles than DHT... they slow down when a vehicle cuts in front of them... and other things...
To be honest... after months and months searching and researching companies, visiting their terminals, meeting with them, talking with their driver... I am not excited about any one...
Anyway.... DHT accepted my application right away last December... but now they can't find a non-smoker trainer that will train a female...
I have been "patient" because I am using my time to do other things before I hit the road... But I start to wonder if this company is really for me or if I should try another one....

 

Sounds like we're in the same boat. I've been out of trucking now for 1 and a half years... Don't let me scare you away from DHT. If you're worth your salt, your dispatcher might do a good job keeping you out of the bad areas. If you get out to the Fontana yard, definitely expect that your outbound load will need to be picked up from places like Compton. You can't win them all unfortunately! Every trucking company has its bad aspects.
I'd like to find a company that lets me choose my loads, my routes, my fuel stops, etc. as a company driver. Probably not going to happen.
Don't blame you for not going for Crete. No APU, no inverter is a deal breaker for me as well. By the way, what does DHT pay nowadays for a solo driver with more than 2 years of experience? I couldn't view the document linked earlier in this thread.

The thing about not being able to find a non-smoker trainer is a bit of a flag. You might inherit a smoker's truck. Good luck getting that smell out.

 

There are many co. that let you choose your route and fuel stop, as long as you don't constantly run too many miles above what they give you and you use the Pilot/FJ, TA, Loves, etc.
I was told that they are paying .50 cpm for experienced solo drivers. Not sure how much experience is required though.

I know... I have driven a total of 16 trucks in my 2 former companies... Cleaned almost all of them by myself...
One was so impregnated with smoke smell... I was told charcoal wrapped in paper absorbs that smell... can't remember what I did... but it took more than a month to get rid of that...

 

Home - Leonards

 

Thank you Mr. @Chinatown ...
Leonard's seems to be a very good co. But no refer for me..

 

USA Truck is dry van and after being there 6 mos. can choose your loads and run where you want to.

 

Are they OK, though? I heard they have a very bad reputation. True? False?
Personally, I'm a fan of the great plains and the Dakotas.