Great Plains Transport - A company that cares about drivers... NO BS.

GPT has good base pay... I'd say overall it adds up to the same, just you have less of a risk of losing part of your pay to a lost bonus due to a hard brake or OS&D on a load.

I've overheard a few guys from the "red side" bragging about how great their TV setup was in the truck, and critizing GPT for not having it, but they had already started advertising it before I made the decision to come here. To be honest, having the tv in the truck sounds nice, but to me it's not necessary. I'll take the higher base pay, and I already have a bunch of books both ebook and dead tree format to read, and I hardly watch tv at all, even when I am at home. I stay out here to run, get my miles and TV is filled with too much reality-show crap these days, for my tastes.

 

Personally I would much rather have satellite radio than tv. Only thing I watch on tv is sports and some news.
I talked with the guy that runs GPT he was definitely a guy I would've worked for. Only negative I saw was getting paid every 2 weeks instead of weekly.

 

I think the every two weeks is fine. Just need to budget your money for two weeks instead of one. I've even worked for a company that only paid once a month.
I would have liked the free xm also, but that's not a deal breaker for me. And I also prefer the higher base pay. Other places I've worked I had a good base pay, then the bonus is only if you do great for the company. Idle time, on time, no accidents, tickets. Not pulled out of the base and only get paid if you do good. So we're going to pay you good and if you go above and beyond the average driver we will reward you for that extra effort!

 

just got to the yard....waiting on some work on the truck, plus it's in need of a bath.... I swear dem bugs are made of glue!! Looks like they are getting some more trucks, not just replacing but expanding a bit,,, that's a good sign, and no doubt you'll get plenty of miles.

For that biweekly pay, I usually budget everything by splitting the money from me checks in half, and most of it is electronically done, so the only mailed out payment I have is the bike loan. Plus my checks have been more constistant instead of going big 1 week, and small the next. We do trip-pak instead of the scanning(most of the time the scanning machines at the truck stops are broken), but I haven't had a problem so far.

 

How often do you get back through the yard?
Yeah I don't need a tv either. If I get a 2015 year trick I'll just pay for the xm.
Just use my laptop if I need to watch a movie.
Maybe I'll see ya out there in a few weeks.

 

If being paid every 2 weeks is your only problem, then you do NOT have any problems.
Many companies, regardless of the type of work you do, pay bi-weekly, vs. weekly, all throughout the U.S.A.. It is much easier on the payroll departments.
As shown below, I have NOT been paid weekly since 1996, which is 18 years ago.

I have been in the workforce for 41 years, since 1974, working for 7 different employers. I am 58, will be 59 this year.

I was paid WEEKLY by these employers:
1st. employer, (1974 - 1977)
4th. employer, (1993 - 1995)
5th. employer, (1995 - 1996)

I was paid BI-WEEKLY, (every 2 weeks), by these employers:
2nd. employer, (1977 - 1983)
3rd. employer, (1984 - 1992)
6th. employer, (1996 - 2006)
7th. employer, (since 2007, currently working there)

There are people who get paid MONTHLY, (once a month).

It does NOT matter when you get paid, as long as you get paid for the work you are doing.

NOTE:
If at all possible, try hard NOT to be a job hopper. It can work against you when you need to apply for another job, possibly due to circumstances beyond your control.

God bless every American and their families! God bless the U.S.A.!

 

I added the radio in my truck to my existing Sirius/XM account, and stowed my plug& play XM device just in case I needed for a backup. The one in the truck is a standard usb/cd/XM Delphi model, works good, though my only gripe is with the iPod it only plays everything in alphabetical order, so if you have playlists or certain albums(like concert LPs or concept stuff like Operation Mindcrime or The Wall) it can mess up the track order.


My experiment with putting a microwave in the truck turned out to be a failure. I ordered a Whirlpool .5"cu countertop microwave off of Amazon, and once I got home and completed my physical and enjoyed the weekend, I devoted the last day at home for gearing up, grocery shopping, and getting the truck ready for the next"tour", since I'm not planning to be home until July 4th weekend. Anyways, I put the oven into the cabinet right over the TV compartment, and it fit perfectly, and all I needed them was an extension cord to reach the inverter. I then tested it on a small peice of Mom's Apple pie(I swear she still tries to fatten me up lol), the machine works visually, the turntable rotating and fan & interior light working as they should, but the inverter was not showing the oven using the wattage it should have been. I then took it home to test it again using a house hold outlet, same thing, wasn't heating up the test food. So I had to box it back up and ship it back for a refund. I might order one from Lowes when I get home, hard to find that particular oven because no one will stock it.

 

Sweet! So they have inverters in the trucks or did you/shop put it in?
I have xm in my car, but only because it's a new car and it's free for a little while. But have a portable one from xm that will record xm for 5 hours and then you can carry it around like a walkman. Just need to buy another antenna for it.