Millis chat room

Sully, can you expand some on the health insurance there? Is it a PPO, HMO, etc.? Cost per week for family coverage? Have you had any issues using the health insurance, as far as them paying, for primary care visits, specialist if you or anyone has had to got to one, etc.? What are your co-pays for regular doctor office visit, specialist, and emergency?

'I know this is a lot but if you can answer as much as possible that would be great. Thanks in advance.

 

How often do you guys have trouble finding a place to park for your 10 hour break?

 

7 months with Millis for me. I drove for 3 years in the early 90's while being laid off from another job.

 

That is correct for me. And true they don't force it on you but they do give you the big sales pitch on it. Still the drivers choice which pay package to take.

 

Sorry for the multiple entrys, I'm playing catch up. As for finding a place to park, it really helps if you don't wait til you've been driving 10.75 hrs and then start looking. Plan your trip, know where you're going to stop before even leaving on the trip(That's what Baritone says he does....he's way too organized, lol) Just razzin you Dave.

I myself start figuring where I'm going to stop around 1.5 hrs before the end of my driving day. Sometimes it's a t/s, some times it's a rest area, sometimes it's at the customer. Just depends on what's going on with the load, delivery/pickup time, etc..

 

Not necessarily in this order but here are 5.

1. It is a respectable company in the industry for the most part. I like being associated with a respected company.
2. Pay is decent, not the best but a lot better than some of the other companies out there. I was making more when I drove in the 90's but that's then and this is now.
3. Decent equipment. Again not the best but a lot better than other companies.
4. They get me home when I request and I can go home in as little as 14 days if I want (I don't tho). When I drove before we were out a minimum of 5 weeks, but usually 7-8 weeks.
5. They don't micro manage our trips the way other companies do. They leave it up to us to route and run as we see appropriate. And they don't tell us how much fuel, where to fuel, etc... They tell us where the load is and the rest is up to us basically.

What I would change:
I would turn up the trucks to atleast allow us to do the speed limit. I would have better insurance. I would bump the pay a little. I would GREATLY improve the terminals. They don't have to be Taj Mahal but they could be improved. Also would change the way they do maintenance to improve it for the drivers.

 

Sully mentioned the same thing about the insurance and I believe Baritone said something about it one time that it is not the best but better than nothing.

I asked Sully in an above post to expand on that some if he would. I was not sure if you had the company insurance as well or I would have addressed it to you as well.

I have two teenagers and a wife so I will have to have health insurance for sure. I just wondered what Millis offered and what kind of co-pays are associated with it.

If any of you Millis drivers have the company health insurance feel free to jump on on this one. Thanks.

 

Wow - that's a lot of questions to remember even though I wasnt asked (cough cough).

1. Finding places to Park. Great question actually. I (unlike others - Bear. j/k) plan my trip which includes routes I'll take, any stops I might need to make and most of all - where I'll stop for the night/day depending on the delivery. I use my GPS for this - I add my start and stop points and then can see all the truck stops along the entire route. Depending the miles i need to run that day - I'll pick one from that list. Sometimes I know them from past trips and sometimes I dont. But I ALWAYS plan it out completely before I ever move the truck. With that said - sometimes I change based on slow downs and such. I always have a Plan B incase it's needed too!
I am not a huge lover of T/S - rather like a nice Rest Area so I can get out and walk around and not worry about being run over and such.

2. Things I like about Millis -
a. Good Training both course work and OTR. I loved my trainer and talk to him many times a week still.
b. Have always done exactly what they said they would do for me.
c. No forced routing (as Bear said too) Trust me - that is a huge plus.
d. Equipment is nice. We have real refrigerators with a small freezer(everyone will have this soon), no touch 5th wheels, double bunks, nicer interior than most fleet trucks and pre-wired for TV. The company doesnt care if you have added things as long as they are with in reason and doesnt block your vision and you didnt drill holes to attach it. LOL
e. If you break down - you have Kenworth Care that takes pretty good care of us when we need them. Might take a little while to get to you - but they do.

I dont care what anyone says - good/comfortable equipment is a huge tool. Yes you cant make money from the sleeper - but if you cant rest well or drive safely - you cant make money either. With the addtion of 300 new T700's everyone that is OTR will have a 2010 truck or newer with in the year.

3. Things I dont like about Millis -
a. Our insurance is not the best. Have seen worse but it's not great. High cost and high deduct. Family coverage is very high.
b. Shop employees need lessons on "how to deal with their customers". Not always the best feelings when dealing with them. But I have found if you buy them lunch - you get along pretty darn good LOL.
c. Our terminals are not good. Excluding Black River. Most are not real clean. They are working on some to make them better - but I think the real problem is/was the drivers not taking care of them before.
d. Dispatchers - not that they are not good, but they need more education on our customers and what the customers expect from us when we arrive. Many customers require us to drop when we get there. However when you do that - if there is no empty you may sit for a while looking for one. If we knew in advance if we were getting a load out or needed an empty - could save us a lot of time.

I know I just a lot - sorry for being so long winded. I really enjoy working for Millis - If they'll have me - I dont plan to leave!

 

'I am sorry Baritone. 'I had you in mind when I' was asking all those questions. Thanks for your response.

Here is a question for you. On the application for Millis under driving history, are they wanting any CMV history or personal vehicle driving history or both?

'I never had any accidents in the rollback 'I drove for five years but 'I had a minor fender bender back in March of 2009 in my personal car. No one was ticketed and it is not on my DMV report. Then this past December I' had some numskull hit me. 'I was not at fault on that one but paid the price for it .

Do you think this would disqualify me from getting on? Never had any DUI's or criminal history BTW.