H.O. Wolding is a GREAT company!

That is a dang good question Canuck!

I'm glad i know what my yearly average is.....I get paid the miles i put on my pay sheet that is on the odometer.
They never question it. Heck,sometimes i enjoy missing my exit or driving 50 miles out of the way for a good truck stop...

 

that is the way it should be--not having to be worried about being shorted miles
i used to hate the detour part---then pay roll says--well i need a zipcode of where you were when you detoured
hmmm i sure am not the post office--cmon

 

Agree, That zip code stuff is bull in my opinion.

All they put on my trip sheet is estimated miles.If i turn in 2 or 300 more they never mention it.
I drove an extra 50 miles last night just to stay in a good truck stop.
We have no idle restrictions or any kind of tracking device in the truck and i drive it almost 70 miles each way to get home from the yard.
Rare now days...

 

Do they hire in Floriduh???

 

I never drove for HOWIE or H.O.Wolding, but i had to share the road with them back in the early '80's and i do not want to sound like i am bashing them, i am going to try to bring the other posters up to speed here. Schneider had basicly 100% of the paper freight in the Paper Valley/ Fox Cities area before Deregulation. Paper Valley is the area between Green Bay Wi. and Oshkosh Wi. to the south and even some will say Fond Du Lac Wi. When the trucking industry got deregulated Schneider lost 50% of the business, hence howie and other companies got the rest, i drove back then for a company called Liecht Transfer hauling paper. So i know what hauling paper is all about out of Paper Valley. I know nothing has changed that much in the last almost 30 yrs. Anyway Howie was under cutting Schnieder with getting those 16 or 19 in training wheels on there equipment as i call them so they could out cube Schneider on there trls. by getting trls. that had a higher floor to ceiling hieght. And i will admit, that howie does haul alot of loads out of there. But, there is no way that you can make 78 grand with them, all the back hauls, are for the most part would be scrap paper unless Schneider or somebody else got the loads. These loads are not a high dollar deal. I could go on, but why? I think that those two recruiters/ shop mechanics should come down from there high and stop posting such nonsense. Pumpkin cannot even make 78 grand a year.

 

A recruiter for them came to my school about two weeks ago just as I was finishing up. I think she was there on a Tuesday and the following Saturday I applied to their company after passing my driving test. The recruiter gave a good presentation and it sounded like a good starting point for a new driver. Could have been all BS I don't know, but she said for training they have you fill out a questionaire so you get paired with a trainer you can deal with for a month. She said they try not to put a person who chain smokes with a non smoker, that sort of thing. And they claim you are in the truck to train unlike other companies who more or less use the student driver as cheap labor so they can get the freight delivered faster using the trainer/trainee as a "team" where one drives and one sleeps. She said you do the driving and the trainer monitors you. Like I said, It could be BS I don't know.

Although they said they were "hot" to get new drivers because they are expanding on the east coast, they did pass on my application. Since I have no DUI's, no felonies, no marks at all against my record (and passed the CDL school with a good rating) I asked why it was turned down. The person at H.O.W said they had people with better credentials that already applied.

I did start to hear the same lines from every recruiter though. Each one claimed their company had the lowest percentage of driver turn-over in the trucking industry.

 

Life as a graduate from a trucking school....sucks. Most, if not all of the recruiters from these companies will tell you the same story but what they are really looking for is somebody to hold the steering wheel while the trainer gets his 10 hrs. sleep. Keeps the truck moving and they only pay half the rate for team drivers. This is more common with freight haulers (van/box trailers) than any other segment of the trucking industry.
If you don't mind doing a little physical work and getting your hands dirty, try getting into pulling a flatbed. You'll get good training as you'll learn to secure all kinds of different loads (wide, over sized, etc.). There's more involved in pulling a flatbed than a box trailer as you have to keep your eyes on the load as well as the road with periodical stops to check and or re-secure your load. The trainer's not going to just hand you the keys then hop in the sleeper for his 10. Different driving techniques are required for for this type of work and these companies will not let you drive solo until they are certain that you can do more than just...hold the steering wheel.
I'm not going to lie to you, this type of work is just that...work. You'll get dirty, sweaty, muddy and wet but flatbed pay is well above average and you actually get to enjoy the outdoors. Your customers are usually construction sites and steel mills.
I thought I'd mention this to give you another option to think about. Being a graduate, your head is probably spinning in all directions and you don't know who to believe. Good luck in your trucking career and stay safe.

 

No....Sorry.
We are a small specialized company.We have about 15 drivers and 4 small yards.One in NC,one in IN,OK and Utah....

 

Yes it is!!! And thanks for the post, good info. I had wondered what was different about flatbed driving. I guess if you're pulling a sealed trailer you can't keep an eye on the load (if stuff is shifting around inside), but big heavy cargo strapped down to a bed needs checkin' up on.

I'm 49 and spent my career as an auto mechanic, so I'm used to getting dirty sweaty and greasy. As far as what the recruiters tell me, as you get older that young clueless outlook on life fades away and you realize how it really is (and that's a good thing). I'm hoping for the best and preparing for the worst.

It's a shame they turned down the app though, H.O.W looked like a decent enough company to start with.

 

Not to get off topic, but to say thanks to Dillon-Aero for perfecting the mini gun.