Grain Hauling Companies of Illinois - General Topic

Yeah..... Roehl is out of my area, and Maverick hasn't called me back yet.

I have a couple of irons in the fire here locally as well.. One is with Southern Belle Dairy, The other with DA Lubricants...

Both have a good schedule and great hometime, but won't know anything atleast till the first of February.

This happens every year that we have a cooler summer and mild winter. Most of the coal that is mined here goes to area power plants. So, less energy consumption..... Less demand for coal...........


Don't get me wrong, I like hauling coal, but it is cumbersome and annoying at times.

I just hope I don't have to go with some joint like ol' Swifty or JB just to get back out on the road (Worst case scenario). God Forbid...........

 

Yeah I feel for you driver. I think JB's policy now is 3 months recent. Dang, back to that again! Swift I think would take you if you have a pulse.

 

I agree.

When I decided to go local, I had 2 years of OTR under my belt, but all the coal trucking companies wanted 2 years of coal exp. Just by luck I found a friend who had 2 trucks and he kinda lied for me.

As far as the other comment, I have went through the phonebook and even tried to cash in some favors owed to me by some of the smaller fleets I've helped out. The thing is, here, the economy is fueled by the coal mining industry. And when the coal business slows, everyone suffers in turn.

There are a few sales route operations I've checked out. But who wants to be the Dorito or Wonder Bread man for $250.00 a week. Heck, I make more than that on unemployment.

 

Amen to that brother!!!!!!!

I kinda miss pulling that big weight. I remember when they first dropped the weight limit to 126,000 in KY the coal company felt sorry for us and gave us a raise. We were still hauling the big weight and making more money doing it.

A lot of things have changed down here in the past few years though. KY has all but outlawed the "Big Beds" (96"/102" high) and now everyone has went with the 60" and 72" high trailers with (get this) Aluminum frames!!! Cripes!!!

I laughed my bottom off when I started work for one of my neighbors. He had a Western Star tractor with an autoshift transmission and one of the big beds. Beleive it or not, that autoshift hauled coal better than any 18 speed stick I'd ever seen. I figured the autoshift would be laying on the ground about 3 days after he bought it pulling all that weight and going off road.

Where in Eastern Ky do you're relatives live? If you don't mind me asking...

I'm in Beautiful downtown Forest Hills....

 

I actually had a recruiter from a private agency tell me this exact same thing.

Funny how these driver mills get these reputations....


Oh, but think of all the jokes that come from it.


I actually ticked off a swift driver one night. I was on US119 here in EKY running with some buddies to the power plant, and I saw it in the distance
That big ol' Swifty wagon. We all 3 had KW W900's that would break the speed of sound. We went by this guy about 90 or so and you could look in the mirror and watch him fight to stay in the lane.He apparently was empty or really green. I know, I know, It's cruel, but it was hard to resist. This guy cursed us for miles. We finally stopped at a fuel stop and let him in front of us, just so we could do it again:smt046

 

swift ,thrift or drift,we got to start somewhere ,I had that 98 blemish causing me a few rejections but I did get hired with a small company out of central fl paying only 26cpm practical with up to 5 cpm bonus we will see ,then the door will swing wide open,from places like crete and odfl