M. Bjorn Petersen, Phoenix, AZ

lol. Mine just the opposite. Wants me home more often so she can work and not pay babysitter, then gets tired of my habits and tells me to go out on the road again.

 

We have a ton of respect for Sam too! He has built himself up a very nice business and he is doing something right. Sam is definately a straight shooter and will compliment you when you do good and will not pull punches when you totally mess up. I drove for him a few times and my wife rode with me, he did not even have a rider policy in place until I asked him, he was on the phone with his insurance guy in 5 minutes and said it would be no problem. I had to pay the $200 deposit (which was returned to us when we left) and we paid the 30 per month premium.

His equipment is old, but he will fix it as soon as it goes down. We broke down 6 times in the first 5 weeks. Yes it was a total pain, but without even complaining about it he got us back to Phoneix and put us in a completely rebuilt truck. New everything, tranny, engine, floor, seats, very clean and actually smelt like a new truck inside. We had no issues with that truck at all and it was wide open and ran fast and strong.

The paychecks were great, we floated between 980 - 1400 wk gross depending on how many trips hit that check. We ran hard, very hard. Lots of miles no less than 3200wk We did get some weeks where we hit over 4000wk. Yes it is possible to do legal when your truck can go 75mph and you are in 75mph states. You just need to drive, drive, drive, sleep and repeat.

I have been off the road for about a year now driving locally, the money is not good and the wife and I will be heading back onto the road. We are looking at 2 companies right now and Sam is one the other is about the same size, but newer equipment. We are not sure and it is a tough choice because we know how Sam works and we know the money is there.

Best of luck to you all!

 

their safety record sucks, bad

 

From their handbook, no more then 2 preventable accidents in past 12 months or 3 in 36 months.

 

doesnt matter, their FMCSA safety record is horrible

 

Yup. They exceed the intervention threshold in every category except controlled substances. It's as poor a record as I've ever seen searching carriers SMS scores.

 

So far, been with them almost 2 months, I really have not noticed much difference in running with them compared to other carriers I have been with in the past. They do run us hard and one thing a do not agree with is the attitude of one of the dispatchers. I am a grown man, yet he insist on talking down to me and constantly reminding me via qualcom on basic items, such as texting 3 hours before delivery appointments to ask if I am empty yet. He set the appointment and should know that I am not empty. All in all, I can deal with and even enjoy dealing with Sam and the other dispatcher.
I sit here now in Phoenix at a hotel for 2 days compliments of Sam since the truck needs work and with the holiday, will be couple days till the work can be done. Interested to see how they do as far as repairing the problems I have written on my vehicle reports.

 

Hey NYHILLBILLY, Glad to hear Sam got you set up in a hotel. I can say that if your truck has a major repair needed it will get done, if it is something more for driver comfort you may need to push the shop a bit to get it done. There was one mechanic there, a younger guy, who was very cool and very nice and helpful to us when we were there. We came off the road a year ago to try a local driving job but I am not even making half what I was with Sam... so we are ready to get back out there. Are they still running the miles? and since I see they have gotten the conditional safety rating are you having any troubles at the scales? We are a bit concerned what the near future holds for them because of that. Any talk of them switching to e-logs? If you would like to shoot us a private message we can share some more helpful info with eachother.

 

Yeah, we are on full elogs now. Bill said since July, but I only started with them in November. Had no troubles at the scales as of yet. Was a little worried on this return trip as I hit a deer and took off some fiberglass, looks bad, but nothing mechanical hurt. My issue for the shop is I am blowing a mist of oil down the passenger side of cab. Seems to be using about a gallon every 2 weeks. Now my oil pressure gauge bounces between 10 psi and 50 psi so I stop and check it every 50-100 miles to be sure of oil level. Losing power big time on the hills, think and oil line is coming loose. Hopefully can be fixed quickly. We are getting the miles, but I only average 2700-3000 myself. I am from Buffalo, NY so Sam likes that I am used to the east coast cities. lol

 

Dangit, that just about made me sneeze iced tea all over my keyboard!! Lmaoooo!