John Christner Trucking - My Trucking Home

This post is to detail my time here at JCT. I have been in the industry for over 25 years, I was an owner operator before coming to JCT. I have been here for a little over a year and my wife has been here for a little over 6 months. So my take on JCT comes from both team and solo. My desire with this post is to give quality information to those of you who may be considering coming to JCT.

First I want to preface my comments with some disclaimers. If you are considering JCT and you have an expectation of being home every weekend or every other weekend then this is not the place for you. You will not succeed here if that's your preference in your trucking career. If you are not interested in running to the west coast (California, Washington, Oregon, Arizona, Nevada) then you wont be happy here. The miles we run are mostly to the west coast and back to central and southeast US.

If you are considering JCT, come here to run - come here to work. You are entering into a lease operator position where you are responsible for the operating expenses of the truck you lease (Lease payments, insurance, fuel, maintenance, etc.) These expenses are weekly and you can't pay them nor can you make any money if you don't want to work. Your expectation should be to run for a solid three to four week period then take you some time off. Make your money, then go home. There is no requirement as to how long you must stay out from JCT, its all up to you - you are the lease operator and you are in business for yourself - you are making the decisions. All I'm saying here is that in order to succeed here you need to be smart about how operate.

Now, there are going to be some people who reply to this post who have been here at JCT. You will see stuff like, "They nickel and dimed me and I couldn't make any money", or, "They took all my money out of my maintenance account when I quit", and other negative comments. As this thread develops I will address the negative comments levied at JCT. JCT isn't perfect - its a trucking company run by humans...just like every other trucking company on the planet. But I can make you this promise - if you come here to work and you know how to manage your time you will do well here...period.

Now for the miles. As a solo I averaged roughly 3300 miles per week. Some weeks I had more, some weeks I had less depending on the freight and circumstances. I live in Florida and I primarily ran from Florida west and maintained most of my miles between California, Texas, Oklahoma, and the southeast. Went to Wisconsin once, Illinois once - never went to the east coast or New England. JCT has freight that goes east but there isn't much. The northwest isn't out of the question either and there is good solo miles going up there and coming back. My first week at JCT I ran 3980 miles - Oklahoma to Portland, Oregon then Sumner, Washington back to Oklahoma. I've done that a handful of times as a solo here.

Team miles are great too. My wife and I primarily run between Florida and California (I-10, I-20, I-40) - sometimes we make it through Oklahoma and Arkansas from California and either go back to Cali or to Florida. We average between 5300-5800 miles per week. Now that's by our choice. That's not indicative of what all teams do. There are teams here who do much better than us (between 6000-7000 miles per week). Teams do a lot of relays to save loads and keep our service up. Relays can make you more money here. We do a handful of relays each month - service failures hurt everyone and we keep our freight by delivering on time. Relays are a part of the deal and they are good for teams.

Now for pay - if you run hard here and you mange your time correctly you will do well. JCT has the freight - all you got to do is haul it! The payroll department does a fantastic job. My settlements have been spot on every week. There are no hidden charges or unexpected deductions. So this notion that some may say JCT will "nickle and dime" you is horse manure. Haul freight, deliver freight, scan your trips in ASAP and get paid. That's it.

Everyone in the office and in the shop are great at what they do. It is clearly obvious that our support staff in operations, safety, and the shop love working for JCT. Many have been with the company for a long time. The atmosphere is positive and it is always pleasant when you are at the Sapulpa terminal. Not to say that I haven't had issue with anyone. I have. But this is a business and you will have disagreements or issues at times. Be professional because the folks at JCT will as well. If you have an issue with someone address it - everybody has a supervisor! I have yet to have an issue that wasn't addressed. I have had one minor issue in particular since I have been here. I won't address it on the post because its not necessary. It was taken care of promptly...and I continued to rock the miles!

JCT has their way of doing things. Embrace the process and you will do well here and make a solid income. If you try and buck the system or do things "your way" you will not succeed. Come here with the mindset to work and run hard. Don't bring a company driver mentality here - you need to understand that at JCT you aren't a company driver anymore. You will be running your own business and your revenue (miles) you run every week need to be consistent to succeed here. Everything I have ever asked for in miles here at JCT I have gotten. JCT has the freight and the miles.

I will answer questions and respond to replying posts. Thanks and good luck!