Let's compare big carriers to small carriers.

I prefer medium to large carriers and don't care if they own the trucks or not. Many of them lease the trucks anyway and because of this they can trade them in every 500,000 miles or so before the big maintenance problems start.
Get with a tanker outfit that does OTR and you'll run hard and make great money.
You won't get bored with an irregular route carrier, which means you never know where you'll be going from one load to the next. Many reefer outfits are irregular route such as Freymiller for example.
OTR tankers was easy. Maybe load at the terminal in Nashville, then head to upstate New York (never NYC), 45 minutes to unload, deadhead back to Nashville (pays the same empty/loaded), then drop & hook and head to Phoenix, 45 minutes to 1 hour to unload, then deadhead back to Nashville, etc.

 

There's plenty of "mid size" and "small" carriers out there who run good fleets and take care of their drivers. You can't let one bad experience color your opinion of every other carrier your perceive as being "the same".

There's good and troublesome carriers of all size groups, and the same can be said of private carriers. You have to do your homework and don't settle. Most of us probably ran through at least 6 truck driving jobs before they found a good fit.

 

^^ Having said that, I should also say life (including work) is mostly a series of compromises. There is no such thing as a "perfect driving job", that pays extremely well, has no drawbacks and provides every benefit and perk you ever wanted. Often, the best you can hope for is a job that has a lot to like and very little to not like.

 

Learn the short cuts. One mans boring is another mans $. Tomorrow I will run a load out of the plant then head to aurora ne. Will reload steal back to mn. Self routing so I go the way I want.

 

Show off!

 

I just know i am going back to flatbed.

 

ive spent plenty of time planning routes to new places and then pulling over somewhere to replan because the yellow roads aren’t always truck friendly. albeit i was using a mixture of printed mapquest maps and an atlas at the time. trying to figure out how to get the drop deck trailer to a job site and where to stash it after i unloaded my drill rig. it was ok. after visiting some 5,000 different job sites (literally) i am proficient with maps and i can put a truck and trailer of any size/form just about anywhere.

it lead me to really enjoy my linehaul gig. no bs, hook and book. i honestly do enjoy driving, even if it is the same road(s). i work for an ltl company one step under the big boys. big enough to offer awesome pay and benefits but small enough that everyone knows my name and the guys at central dispatch know my voice on the phone. no employer is perfect, as already stated, but i am very happy where i am and it would take an awful lot for me to consider leaving. i work to live, not live to work. i think about what i’m going to do after work and on the weekends/holidays i have off. what i’m going to buy my kids or where we are going to go. i’m off next week, partaking in the hotrod power tour. my 6th one and i think i’m finally getting the hang of it. can’t wait.

 

I just did payroll for my folks. $2587, $2234, and $1533. They pick their own freight. Go where they want to and are home when they want to. W2 but no insurance.

I am a small company.

 

I have to agree with that statement. I have worked for both trucking companies and companies that produce their own product and have their own trucks to ship it.

To me, it always seemed as though the trucking companies had more competition, worked for smaller margins, and generally just weren't as stable.

The companies that manufacture their own product and have their own trucks seem to have much deeper Pockets, pay better, have better benefits, and it was a better working environment.

I think that's because when you are a driver for a trucking company you are the horse that has to work to make the company money.

When you work for a plant, you are just one part of the chain from acquiring the product, processing the product, and getting it to their customer.

For me, anyway, it was a better experience.