McElroy Truck Lines - Cuba, Al.

There is no need for me to go back and repeat everything I previously posted in response to Kimbo, because I continue to stand by what I previously wrote to this very day.

Anyway, I got home tonight (Friday) at 6:30pm. I will be home until late Sunday afternoon, early evening. I drove approximately 2500 miles this week. At least three of my loads had $125 minimum pay requirements. My paycheck today for the previous week's work after family insurance and all taxes removed was over $800 gross. Next week I will get paid for this week's work and I expect close to a grand. Not bad for being hired right out of school in October of 2007.

As far as "DAC" problems, it is clearly stated to anyone who is hired that if you wish to quit, you MUST give two weeks notice and you MUST return the truck to the CUBA ALABAMA TERMINAL. You cannot return the truck to Pleasant Hill. You will not be issued a truck out of Pleasant Hill. You get your truck from Cuba, so you return your truck to Cuba. Anything other than following those two instructions will result in "no re-hire". I personally know a former McElroy driver who quit after 5 years on good terms and he was hired to work locally with no problems. Of course, he worked out his two weeks and turned his truck in at Cuba, AL so.....

Romil,

If you go with McElroy, you will be given two road tests at Pleasant Hill. If you pass those, you go on the road with a trainer for 4 or 5 weeks (depending on your skill level). If you make it through that, it is a week in Cuba. You take quite a few written tests AND driving tests there, and if you pass all of those you are dispatched on your first solo load in your own truck from AL. The longest single load (at one time) I have run was from Mt. Jewett, PA to Hartsell AL. I usually run between 400 to 600 miles per day. Mostly NC, VA, MD, PA, DE, and ocassionally NJ. Sometimes WV, but that is because of where I live.

Anyway, beer to drink and wife and kids to love so good luck. P.S. - maybe if you are already planning on leaving after six months, you may want to re-think things? Just a thought. I'm in it for as long as it continues to be a good fit for me.

 

Yep your right, I did my 2 years turned my truck in at cuba,al. I gave a 2 week notice. Then took it back cause i was talked in to stay the other month to work out my full 2 years. I was routed in to cuba for service, after some drama decided to walk away. A handshake from Jimmy Upchruch and a promise of a clean DAC. That was all said infront of 2 or 3 people. As i just found out 3 days ago, i do have issues on my DAC.. no rehire/Excessive complants. Yeah i had my gripes mostly cause of my 24year old dingy blonde dispather.

 

That pay sounds pretty good, and the miles, but my only concern is that, I graduated in May of this year so I hope I can get some kind of warm up before testing. Plus we drove some old 1990 trucks at the school I went to. MCelroy is the only company I would go to right now being I have a big family, im not trying to live on the road. Thanks 4 tha info

 

romil,

The first driving test at Pleasant Hill will be given on the first or second day. All they are really looking for during the first test is to make sure that you actually know how to shift, steer, and brake . Believe it or not, some guys get so worked up that they can't find gears or get out on the road and stall out. But, if you went to driving school, then I assume you can take the truck from a full stop to 9th or 10th right? So, they just want to see that. The rest of the week you get daily yard practice in the trucks. Mostly backing manuevers. Also during the week you will be trained on the "Smith System", which is the five keys of safe driving. The final road test at Pleasant Hill is quite a bit more involved, because it is way longer and requires you to demonstrate your knowledge of the Smith System while you are driving. The trucks you will use for practice and testing at Pleasant Hill are old pieces of crap, probably like you had in school. But, if you haven't driven a big truck in a while, perhaps you can go back to your school and ask them if you can tag along for a day or two just to get a refresher?

The bottom line is that they want to make sure you aren't going to kill yourself or your trainer or anyone else when you go for the "raod training", so just take it slow and easy and be safe!

 

When I quit McE it was without notice, I did however return the truck to Cuba. I was already hired by my next company B4 I quit McE, so there was NO chance of a bad DAC. My current company does not even subscribe to DAC. BTW, McE recently sent me a letter looking to re-hire me, based on my experience with them. I KEPT the letter, you never know. One day I might want to jump ship again, if there is a bad mark from McE on DAC, why would they contact ME for re-hire???

 

Does mcelroy really get u home on the weakend and is it a full weakend or a truck driver weak end like im youst to home late friday or early saturday and leave late sunday

 

When I worked for them, and what I am still told by drivers that I talk to. McElroy still gets you home every single weekend. They really tried to get you home before dark on friday and have you leave after 12 noon on sunday. Once you learn how to make your days work for you then it can be done.. ALWAYS IF POSSIBLE, GET TO YOUR DELIVERY SITE THE NIGHT BEFORE ! 98% of there freight is first come first serve when it comes to unloading and loading. They set most loads to unload early AM deadhead to load sometime before noon. most days are around 500-600 total miles. Setting there all night means you are in the sleeper when they open...Only you know when you came out and unloaded. If you drag your butt all week and don't use the log right then, you might get home saturday morning. I am not saying they want you to run illegal, they push the 10 hour shut down rule. I was made to shut down another 10 hours, cause i rolled 9hrs 45mins after shut down. Oh i was mad ! That was on a thursday going to pick my friday load up that unloaded 30mins from the house. I would have been home at 8am friday and rolled out at 1pm sunday. I drove 850miles friday to get me home by 11pm friday. They sure didnt like that..LOL

 

so were all do they run would it make a difference from me to u since i live in central to south AL or would we still go the same places and also would I be as well off to just go with tmc asfar as were they run and how they do there weakends do u know anything about that

 

I know that McElroy is pulling coils from Columbus,Ms like crazy. IF you are close enough you might have a shot to get dedicated to that and be home every night. You would pretty much run the same areas that i did, although i live in Paducah,Ky I ran mostly, Tn,ga,nc,sc,al,ms,la, and top of florida. I dont know first hand about TMC, but from what i heard is that the are not home every weekend. 46/52 weekends home is what the say...

 

....is correct. McElroy schedules the loads to get you home every Friday. Unfortunately, due to major traffic jams and tie ups, sometimes you get home late Friday/early Saturday. Perfect example was this weekend for me. A three hour trip took me six hours yesterday, so rather than run illegal, I parked for the night and got up early saturday morning to get home. Usually, however, I'm home Friday by 4 or 5pm.