Job hopping,,, success?

My career is as follows

Us Xpress - 9 months then I wanted to see greener pastures cus I was ignorant and fresh out of school.

May Trucking - 3 months, great company, just not my cup of tea.

Us Xpress - 1 year, 3 months - told us Florida drivers to lease, team or go home so I resigned.

KLLM - 2 months. Absolutely horrible people in every aspect. Who really tells someone you didn't "earn time off" to bury a family member (i requested 2 days off )

Total (owned by USX) - 9 months. I'd Still be there but I.got sick of OTR


LinkAmerica - 2 Years and Still here. It gets better everyday and no plans on going anywhere.


Realistically, I would still be with USX if they didn't cut us Florida guys.

 

Does anyone know if prime inc is good with benefits?

 

Bailed out of Arrow back in '98 after a mere three months experience, took 10 months off, and stepped into one of the bets jobs I've ever had with MHF, Inc. Would still be there as a driver if I hadn't screwed up majorly (not getting into it, it was over a decade ago and no longer matters. Suffice to say I was completely in the wrong and deserved the dismissal I got and so much more.)

Years later, rolled with Werner on a dedicated account up til my freight started rolling by national fleet trucks. Took off, took a few months off, and fell in with Transport America. Also a great company at the time. Retired out of there in '08 (other issues were also present on me, to be honest) cause I saw the direction the industry was headed. Thus far, I've been proven right in my opinion to stay out of trucking these days. Still holding on to my license, though. Just in case....

 

My career:

Six months with a independant O/O

1yr and six months- current with a local cylinder company

I found the local companies can be a catch 20 meaning there are good ones and bad ones.

KH

 

One of the hardest things being in this industry as an o/o is your carriers you have been leased to being looked at as jobs that you have to list on applications. You do not get looked at as a business independent of these carriers, when in fact you are entirely your own business. If you own a company and your customer trys to steal from you or does not honor contracts in place then you drop them. This is how you stay in business. you dont stay with one untill they break you or bankrupt you, its business. The carrier is in fact supposed to be working for you just like an agent. This mentality is gone now days and is the demise of the true independent o/o.

 

I have had a lot of jobs for being 28, but job hopping has no downsides, in my opinion.

I started with Werner in 2005 when i was 21, lousy pay, never home. i had to almost get fired to make it home for something that couldn't be put off, legally. I had to blow way past my 14 hours, because my dispatcher did not care about drivers. I eventually got onto a dedicated account and hung out with a friend of mine who lived around phiadelphia for a while. the dedicated account was better money and hometime, but i ended up signing up as a trainer, and actually made decent money as a trainer, although you will not sleep or be home, ever. I slipped on a step, screwed up my knee, and went on comp. They didn't like me being on comp for more than a couple of weeks, and wanted me to go live in a hotel next to the terminal and work "light duty", until i could go back to driving. when they told me that, I quit and never talked to them again. thats in June of 2007.

2007-2008, I was back in Michigan where i grew up, and just started going down the list of trucking companies in the phone book for Flint. i figured that would be the easiest way to get home more. I ended up at Martin Transport, now known as MTS. it was an ok job, easy work, dedicated lanes, but the economy took a dump and they shut the terminal down, as all we did was haul auto parts.

2008-2009 I moved out to Buffalo, with my G/F who is now my wife, and started working for a small local container hauler. There wasn't enough work to keep it steady at the bottom of the seniority list though, and after we took a cut in pay, I quit in June, once again.

2009-2010 I worked for LJ Kennedy, because nothing decent around buffalo was hiring, and at 40 cpm, i figured i could make a decent buck. it was ok at first, but within a couple of months it was obvious that the company was being run into the ground. I posted a lot about it on here back then, the guy who ruined it has moved onto another company, that he will probably butcher as well.

2010-2011. I got the "holy grail" of trucking jobs, being hired as a road driver at an LTL company, Land Air Express of New England. first couple of months were nice, they make it look all nice at first with newer equipment and easy runs, but before you know it, you are in a snow storm headed for Albany with a set of long doubles, and that turn is pushing it even in decent conditions, if you run legal. I won't get into specifics, but they hacked our benefits, there were labor troubles, and i ended up walking away in the spring with a big settlement from the labor board.

2011. I worked part time at a foodservice company called Tripifoods out of buffalo, decent folks to work for, good pay, goofy equipment for the job at hand. this was all the early spring.

2011 .I had to quit because I was offered a VERY good temporary position as a Teamster parts runner on a Pipeline job. huge amounts of money available on union pipeline jobs. I worked it throughout the summer, enjoyed huge paychecks, and one of the few jobs where you aren't treated like crap by anyone, because everyone is happy that they are making good money. These jobs don't last though, unless you are in a place with a LOT of pipelines, and there is construction, instead of just repair work. My wife was pregnant, and I needed something more permanent, since on a pipeline, they can shut down the job at the blink of an eye.

2011. in the late summer, I took a job at US Foods, since i figured food doesnt slow down like regular freight, and in buffalo, we work mainly 4 day weeks, with overtime, and home every night. good benefits, good money, goofy company to work for. mehh.


looking back, I went from making a quarter a mile, and getting home for a day a month, to making over 20 an hour, with lots of OT whenever I want it, with a scheduled bid run, good equipment, good benefits, and 3 days a week off, on top of coming home and being able to drink beer in my own garage every night.

So, yeah, job hopping does work. Werner and Schneider dont want to offer the kind of pay that a couple of years experience warrants. Unless you think making 40k if you are lucky, and sleeping in the truck all week is good. The only way I would ever go back to a sleeper cab is if i'm being offered close to 6 figures, and i mean that as a company driver, not an o/o.

 

My resume looks horrible. Mostly OTR jobs. Was young and stupid in the beginning. Then confused. Then confused some more. Its true that driving gets into you and never leaves. However, I have never been fired, not once. Always quit and most times did a little better on pay. My CDL did get me into my current occupation(oilfield). Its just like trucking was. Stay until it gets crappy and move on. Since 2009, I have been at 3 trucking companies(one company twice, out of necessity) and 3 oilfield companies. I doubled my salary my first year in oilfield. And I'm home way more than trucking ever could have afforded me.