Mid-west Coast Transportation

No you don't get paid to go through the school, and yes you may only get 10 CPM, but if it takes you more than a month to get your 25000 miles you need to talk to them about getting with another trainer. I was a trainer for MCT and with a student we would driver around 7000 miles a week. Although you are only making 10cpm with 7000 miles the student was still able to make a little money. Yes there are companies that pay more, but I don't think there are any that will treat you better. As far as benifits, that is up to the owner you driver for. Some offer benifits and some don't. When looking at money make sure you look at the bottom line of cpm not all the "if's" IE: safety bonus, fuel milage bonus or even advance per diem. There are a lot of companies that say they will start you off at 35cpm...but 10cpm is actually advance per diem, so in reality you are only getting 25cpm. Just make sure you look at the big picture and not just the close up. MCT is a good company to driver for...are there better ones? That is your opinion, but I can assure you they are no where near the worst. MCT is the only company I will be an OTR for.

 

I drive for a small fleet, and have recently been informed that the boss plans to lease all of his trucks on with MCT. He's had financial issues and I imagine this is his "plan B" for staying in business.

I read this thread with interest but am wanting to know a couple more things. We've already been told our trucks will be turned down to 68 MPH (they're currently ungoverned.) What else is likely to change? Should I expect a qualcomm or computerized logbook or other such things?

I chose to work for a small company because I dislike being micro-managed and Qualcommed to death....I prefer to be left alone and trusted to do my job properly. The company I work for has had its share of problems and truth be told, I've put up with more than many drivers would have. But I did it because at the end of the day, I liked the people I worked for and the family atmosphere of a small company.

I view MCT as a "larger company"....am I going to totally lose that family-style atmosphere?? I understand we'll keep our same dispatcher, plus some of MCT's fleet dispatchers, but overall we'll be under MCT's set of company rules. I am apprehensive....if I wanted to work for a Werner or a Swift type company, I'd go there. Is this what it's going to be like??

How are the miles for a team? And does MCT ever run loads to Florida?

Any info is greatly appreciated.

 

You will run a qualcomm and regular log books. They do loads to florida and they have a terminal in Sanford, Fl where you will be hauling plants out of. You get load options and its not forced dispatched. Great miles and good for teams, with a lot of drop and hook and coast to coast. I left to problems with fleet owner, but the ofice people are great people and treat you like family.

 

OK, there is a lot of stuff being flung about in this thread. Everyone that reads it needs to realize that your experience as a "company" driver and "schooling" will very greatly from owner to owner. MCT is made up of many owners. Some big, some small. Some with good benefits and equipment, and some not.

For the guy that says pay does not come tell 6 weeks and its only $200 bucks a week, that is not true with me and the fleet I am with. Thats for sure. My checks solo have been floating in the 900 (and thats after taxes and child support, so thats a minimum) range, and I don't run myself as ragged as I could. I value my off hours also. But thats me. My first pay came about the second week I believe. That is no different then most companies, be it trucking or not. If your first run is out to California and back, it may take an additional week for those trips to hit, but that would be the longest I could imagine. As for benefits, I have decent (fair rates) health insurance with the option of Aflac add ons at a reduced rate. Some of the great things about MCT to me seem to be all the ADDED bonus pay which can add up over the month. Detention, safety inspections, multiple drop. Dont expect to sit much at shippers. Its much more rare here then other companies I have been with. Today was my longest at 5hrs wait to unload. And thats big time rare. I have had a handful of 3hr. Most are 30mins or less that are live. I am not sure of the true statistics, but the vast majority are drop and hook.

As for qualcomm's and such. (Company to Lease onto MCT) They dont seem to micro manage it. It is used for dispatching load info and HOS. Thats about it. You might not notice much of a change other then customers and the trailers themselves. Your owner will still own your trucks and handle most biz including your pay. MCT will act as a broker and dispatching service. Other then that, the only other thing you would deal with now is MCT safety office.

 

i used to drive for wood trucking. all i can say about them is that im sure i will not work for them but i will go back to drive for mct.

 

Does anyone have anything current about MCT? I drove for them 10 years or so ago, got out of the business, and now am all set to attend their school (again) starting August 3. I was always treated fair before, and got plenty of miles.

 

What's their hiring area?

 

Well I've been running with them this summer after quitting PAM. It's kind of different but not to bad. I managed to get on regional with weekend hometime which is a nice change.

Most of the customers aren't to bad except for that Potato Farm in Wauseon, OH down the road from Wood Trucking. Also the potato farm customers who are receiving tend to be weird hole in the wall places. Like food banks or grocery suppliers.

The big refeer grocery places seem okay though. Like Kraft or Nabisco. Lots of drop and hook.

Woods trucks are really old though but at least they seem to be repaired quickly and get PMs regularly.

 

Last few weeks have been a weird schedule. Sometimes things seem to be going really smoothly with this company and then I get an awkward dispatch.

Like half this week was going just fine even though I had some bad traffic in Chicago. Deliver to Wisconsin with 6hrs on the clock so far that day. Get told to pick up near Madison for a load due in Kentucky by 2pm tomorrow. I don't know if its just me not being better at juggling my time or what but sometimes it seems like I kind of fall into crazy preplans.

Now I need to mention that the next day the dispatcher had moved out the appointment time to 8pm but I'm hoping between Wisconsin and Kentucky I'm not going to hit my 14 hour rule. From what I keep being told MCT is absolutely strict about running the log legally so I really have no flexibility.

 

Is there anybody here that works for MCT via a California based company> Looking to do team driving and keep my cat with us. Thanks.