I'm curious, what are some of your favorite trucking companies. Also, what do you love about them?

Western Express was my first driving job,. It was the worst experience. Got me home for 2 days in 4 months. A male trainer was less than professional, after many times of hearing no. He called himself out on that, investigation done, I wasn't able to find out what happened to him tho. Years ago I signed a class action lawsuit against them for paying less than minimum wage. They also trained me in the west coast in an automatic, when went solo was in the east coast in a manual, needless to say what I learned west doesn't work east.

 

The one I work for..Carter.
(Keep in mind my buddy and I run team)
The reasons:
Money...pays better than most and the quarterly safety bonus is better than any I have seen.
The runs are all straight dedicated...meaning there and back.
Most run 4-5 days only.
Terminal is close to my home.
Trucks are nice...well maintained and autos.

 

I see there trucks on Route 82 as well as on West 117th street in Cleveland sometime.

 

I think those are some of the solo runs they have up there.

 

Cedar Rapids Steel Transport, what's there claim to fame now, besides "Van Expedit

Usually there day cabs clean red trucks always clean and shiny.

 

That's us They even wash our trucks for us at the yard...

 

We get some guy who comes out once every two weeks when the weather is 40 degrees or so and uses a pressure washer to knock all the lose dirt off, he also uses some kind of soap which usually just dries on the mirrors and makes everything hard to see out of. I really don't care for the job our mobile wash service does, but I get it they just want fast and mass production.

Our warehouse has an automated drive through wash, but when your at a yard like me you either get the unreliable wash guy or you do it your self, well as you know from living in Ohio currently truck washing season is over, my truck is awful inside and out, there's nothing I can do, all that road salt and crap that gets on my feet and gets drug in and our yard where we park is half a dirt lot, so it's a no win battle, just have to wait it out till spring.

 

I drive for Pride Transport out of Salt Lake City, Utah.
The reasons I like them are many. They treat me with respect, they know me by name. I am getting miles, they have an achievable monthly bonus program. The owner talks to all drivers. The recruiter was honest. I have a new truck with satellite and as long as I keep my score up, I am not charged for the service. My truck is always maintained, if I do not put it in the service bay when I go on home time, they will go out in the yard and find the trucks that need servicing and take them in. Same with the wash bay folks, if I do not put it in line and it is in the yard, they take it in and wash it up.
I wish you the best of luck in your search, keep us posted.

 

Landes Trucking (Current Employer)

Recruiter was actually honest (can you believe that?)

Small enough to avoid all the mega-company problems, but big enough to avoid being just a small-fry (All of this might change, we were bough out by Kenan Advantage recently).

I have been with the company over a year; I have used my sleeper 4 times in that period (two planned, two not). Other than that, home daily. I take my truck home. My commute in my personal vehicle is 2min tops. I live 15min from the plant I haul out of. That's nice.

Driver friendly atmosphere, first name basis with everybody I deal with in the company.

Fairly good equipment, company is pretty good at keeping things in good working order.

Pay is pretty good, not the best, definitely not the worst.

Very easy work, 100% drop and hook for me, no load, no unload.

95% of what I do is the exact same. Pick up at the same place, deliver at the same place. Rinse, repeat. Can get boring, but no surprises. No worries about what you are doing. See the same faces every day, and they are friendly.

Get along very well with the other drivers I see. Everybody generally seems pretty happy with their job.

Dispatcher is super nice and goes to bat for me. I scratch her back, she scratches mine. I do anything for her I can, and don't complain. So she loves me. If I need something in return, she does whatever she can for me. It's nice.

So I have a job where I am home everyday, only work around 9-10hrs on the average day, do something I like that pays pretty good, for a pretty good company that takes care of their drivers. They aren't really tops in any category, but I give them pretty high marks all around.

To sum it up, I will probably be hauling pig guts until Jesus comes back. And I am perfectly happy with that.

 

As an LTL driver I will offer a different perspective. I drive for UPS Freight which some co-workers like it but most not so much because of the constant harassment and micromanaging. However, the pay is second to none. Some other excellent LTL carriers that offer compensation where you can make a decent living include FedEx Freight, Old Dominion, and Dayton Freight. I did the OTR thing for five years or so and it was an experience I wouldn't take back but in the end the pay and hometime didn't add up for me.