Do not work for knight transportation!!!

You did 18 years at Knight?

 

Wow. Thanks for telling me how bad im getting screwed at Knight. Now I know FOR SURE im getting hijacked on alot of miles. Oh well, lucky for me, my $600 quarterly bonus just kicked in last Tuesday. My mpg was up to 7. Idle time below 5%. No service failures. No OOS on any DOT inspection. No accidents. Yep, I just hate getting free money.

 

Wow. Was just doing some browsing and came across this thread...i too am shocked. I didn't read each post...don't really care to.

I can't possibly know each individual's circumstances and, if I am to believe their words, I have to assume they are honest.

I can only speak for myself and my own experience with (the dreaded and satanistic) knight transportation. As of this posting I have been working for "the devil" for two and a quarter years.

When I started at the chicago terminal i was put in a volvo with about 400,000 miles on it..and it looked and ran like a company truck with those miles. Obviously, I started in the winter months and "lucky me" got a truck with a non-working...or I should say, problematic bunk heater. It worked about 20% of the time I tried to use it. So...my idle time was high. Was questioned once about it and I replied that the bunk heater has issues and would be "happy" to drop my idle % when the problem was fixed. Amazingly, I was never questioned about it again.

I spent about six months in that ragged volvo. By the way, this was the first time I had driven a volvo...and I am glad for you guys that like them, but you can have them! Not impressed. During that six months, I lost 25 to 27 days (i lost track) of productivity due to time in the shop with that...truck. Amazingly (again), I got paid for all of my downtime. Of course, I could have made more money going down the road, so being broke down is always aggravating.

Since "the volvo" I received the keys to a 2012 pro star with 3,000 miles. By the way, if anyone knows the name and email address of the person responsible for the design of the pro star, please pass it along. I would love to know what the hell they were smokin!

No, you will not hear me praise the pro star no matter how new, nice or well equipped.

This thing has been in tbe shop five times for emission-related crap. Fortunately, I have been able to limp back to chicago three out of five of those times so tbat I could spend the time with my hott little blonde. The other two times were three days in denver (egr) and five days in memphis (fuel pump). Amazingly (I think I will title this piece, "amazingly") I was paid for this downtime AND put up in a quality motel.

Again, I can only speak for my own personal experiences and I feel for those that have had any, actual, bad experiences.

When I started at knight, I was aware of their graduated pay scale and was aware that they pay "book" miles and do not pay "off the hub". I was aware of available benefits and contribution percentages.

Maybe to my benefit, I have been in this "business" for a long time (yes, I am an old man) and I know that the only absolute in this business is that, there are good days and there are bad. When the bad out-weighs the good, maybe it is time to look elsewhere.

This industry is NOTHING like it used to be, nor will it ever be again. This industry isn't for everyone, never has been. I'm not sure what to think about some of the posts on this thread, so I won't. Just wanted to share my own thoughts and experiences, since they seem to be somewhat contrasting.

I wish you all the best and hope you have a safe ride!

 

Well I can only have two thoughts on this. The first is that the last two posters are Knight supervisors, but since there is nothing to back that up, I will discard that idea.

The other is that Knight has changed remarkably since I left them in 2004. I recognize that this is possible. I also believe it highly unlikely. I sure hope I'm wrong.

As you go through this thread, and others related to Knight, you cannot help but notice all of the postings by folks who worked for them at one time or another. And while there are probably a certain amount of "sour grapes," there is no way that all these folks are whiners and complainers.

 

lol...supervisor? Not hardly, wouldn't have an office job at a trucking company...period. As I said, I can only speak from my own experiences. Am I going to or have the desire to read each post? No.

I will add that, of the current (knight) drivers that I have talked to, only about one in five have any serious complaints about the company. If they solicit my opinion, I have and will tell them the same thing I tell everyone; go somewhere else! Makes no sense to work for someone if it makes you miserable, especially in this industry! There are driving jobs all over the country hauling every kind of freight!

 

It is a know fact that knight basis' there milage pay according to Rand Mcnally. It will be 10% less than the hub. Now as far as out of route, your oor can be due to the DM not dispatching you properly on your loads, that can add to it and also if you find a more shorter route than what is suggested, you can take that route as long as it is a truck route.

 

So here is my experience with Knight...This is super looooooong...so if you have the time you can read it...

I made a stupid decision, very stupid. I'm not going to make an excuse and say I'm young, it was just plain stupidity on my end, but that doesn't excuse how this recruiter acted.
I was working with a company already, I didn't like how they did things, I was being impatient. I planned to quit, I was just looking for the right company to say "yes you're in". So I contacted Knight, I was told to fill out an application, which I did and to give the recruiter a call back. So I did and he went over the prequalifying questions and blah blah blah. He told me everything I wanted to hear, local/dedicated routes after I'm done training, training only a short period of time, since I have experience already, higher pay, and all that good stuff. So of course I fall for it. I saw this thread before while researching Knight and I chose to ignore it. So as soon as I got the invitation to orientation, I quit the current job I was at. The orientation wasn't for two weeks from that day so I got home the next day. I called up the recruiter and left a voicemail to see if maybe I can attend an earlier orientation, since I was home the next day anyway, it wasn't a big deal, I didn't care either way. I also asked how I could obtain the tax and wage transcripts (I'll get into that in a minute). I heard nothing back but instead got an email a few days later asking me to confirm to the email and orientation date. So I did. The recruiter, in the very first phone call, mentioned that since I was unemployed for a long period, about 10 months (reason why is because I had personal family issues going on) they would need my wage and tax transcripts for the years of 2007-2008 to verify I wasn't on any unemployment at the time (which supposedly does not necessarily disqualify me from getting hired). I'm like, hmm, strange, I have NEVER had a job ask me for those, ever. I'm like eh, what the heck. I wasn't on any unemployment, never have been, so I have nothing to hide. I sent over the 2007 transcript, IRS told me the info from 2008 was on there as well. Yeah I know, it sounded strange but I went with it. Soon as it was faxed over from IRS I emailed the recruiter, I figure he was still there since he sent me the email about 2 hours prior before I saw it (it was in the morning). I get no email back. I'm like...ooook? So I called, no answer. Gee that's weird, no answer? I'm like oh well, I know recruiters are busy. This happened on a Thursday. Heard nothing back Friday, had to wait it out over the weekend. So 4 days I don't know what's going on. I emailed purposely on Monday 15 minutes prior to the time he was in the office. I got an email back saying I need to call back IRS and get the 2008 transcript faxed over. Mind you this is the DAY BEFORE ORIENTATION. I got it all straightened out, got the 2008 transcript faxed over. Sent the email as soon as the IRS rep told me it was faxed. No response. I called 4 times that day, left messages. NO RESPONSE. So at this point I'm upset. I don't even know if I am good to go for orientation tomorrow or what. Then, it hit me. I messed up very bad. I forgot (yes I really did forget) I worked two temporary jobs, less than two months) in 2008. I swear to you I forgot, it was so long ago. I realized those two employers most likely showed up on the 2008 transcript. I read on their website they want no more than 4 jobs in 3 years. I had just made it to 5 with those two temp jobs. I'm like ####! So I said ok, even though this guy isn't answering the phone or emails I will call in the morning right when he gets there at 8am, (7am my time) and be up front and let him know I simply forgot those two employers. Then, in the middle of the night, I decide. I don't want to go to orientation until I hear the ok and be honest with this recruiter. They have orientation every week, it wouldn't have hurt me to wait another week. I emailed the recruiter in the wee hours of the morning to let him know I won't be making it to orientation and for him to PLEASE give me a call when he gets in so that we can discuss stuff and reschedule my orientation, I thought he'd be concerned (lol yeah right) and give me a call right away. Woke up in the morning to NO phone call and NO email back.

Yes, I know I made some screw ups here and there, but honestly, the recruiter was being ridiculous, this recruiter was probably just mad he didn't get his little commission by me not going to the orientation. If he thought I went over the job limit he should've just told me. I got no response from him ever again. I was LUCKY to get back in with my previous employer, since I had no accidents, tickets or DOT violations since I was with them. That was a blessing. I have learned my lesson and will NEVER make a dumb decision like that again. At least I did not attend the orientation, which for sure would be on my DAC report. I'm sure they'll submit something anyway, since they had me log on to their system and complete paperwork as if I was there, but oh well. I am back with my employer and am happy as can be. I won't recommend Knight to anyone, just because of that crappy recruiter. And here's what's funny. My recruiter at my current employer has always returned my calls and voicemails. ALWAYS. She had alot of people to deal with daily, but she always made an effort. So anyway, that's my story. Soooo glad I didn't go with Knight, they would've dumped me anyway for having too many jobs. Boohoo big deal. I have had two career changes, the first being in the Medical field (caregiving and such) and the second being Trucking, so of course I've hopped around. But trucking is where I will stay. For good. With a great employer.

 

Could not read that even if I wanted to. Learn to punctuate!

Sent from my Desire HD using Tapatalk 2

 

I read it just fine. Knights run by a bunch of idiots and you're much better off working for a carrier that works just as hard for you as you do for them. Hope that helps.

 

Tracyq144, This isn't a spelling or a punctuation bee. I hate people like that who come on here just to be a grammar nazi. This is a FORUM BOARD. Not everyone here will be the best at writing. We are truck drivers not writers. smh