Monson trucking ,Duluth Mn

Snugs,

Yes I have already passed my road test. You will test on third week of school, and believe me the instructor does a very good job of haveing you ready by that time.

If you are fom WI you will test up in River Falls with a third party tester, and the MN people test in Red Wing at the DMV

Monson does not use qualcom everything is still on paper, and as far as the rider program, they do have one but only after 1 year accident free.

 

I was just curious as to how it was going there. I was a driver there for years back in the mid 90's. Back when Monson was holding everyone to 61 miles per hour firing people left and right for to many miles over 61mph.

I probably drove 100,000 miles on Minnesota Hwy61 between their Duluth terminal and Thunder Bay alone. Guessing that since they are still alive and still have their headquarters there that they still do a large part of their business with the thunder bay paper mills?

I can confirm that when you go through their 5 week training program and pass they hand you the keys to a truck and you are on your own. Back when I was there, Chicago was a high traffic destination for Monson.

Jim

 

Is there training paid?

 

That is a good question, their site doesn't say anything about paid training. That would be a deal breaker I think because who can go 5 weeks with no income.

 

Take it from a Duluth resident. I know a few people who went there and they say they go off of some point system. And if you exceed the points youre automatically fired. The way I understood it is you could get points against u for anything from taking too long to deliver your load to giving a office worker up there a dirty look. And if you were a young whipper snapper and didnt keep your collar clean with bleach (in other words if you have any kind of a record criminal or bad driving) they dont let u in all together. Oh and by the way CANADA SUCKS!! YA YA BETCHA!!

 

I worked there from 96 -98, went through their training in redwing, at that time they did not pay you to attend, it was 5 weeks, I did not find it to be to hard, once done, into a truck and on your own. I went to Thunder Bay literally hundreds of times if not a thousand times. Also went to Dryden Ontario as well as Winnipeg.

Even then I made more then 45K a year. Almost made that the first 12 month there. I don't know what they pay now, but if not at least 15K more a year I would be very upset if still there.

The point system sucked, They had this strange thing about the 61 MPH rule and if you had to many miles over that speed limit they would give you points. by the way their trucks were governed so that they would not exceeded 61mph so the only way to go faster was to coast down hills with the clutch in, which should have increase fuel economy somewhat, but anyway as has been stated they look for reasons to fire people.

It used to be the saying by the Monson drivers, that Mr Monson's favorite thing was to fire people. It seemed to be true.

I was fired in the summer of 98 for exceeding 65mph 3 times. I have to say in the long term view as well as the short term it was the best thing for me. I would not have moved forward with my life or be nearly as happy as I am now if I had not been pushed out of there. Even though you are home every weekend, being gone, away from home, all week is no life for me.

John Hovan, if you are reading this, I may not have been happy with you at the time, but I sure am happy now.

Jim, Happy in Northern New Jersey.

 

Monson is an ok company to start from scratch with. They are not an ok one to stick around with. They've been around for nearly 100 years, and surviving 2 world wars and a depression I would say money wise they know what they're doing.

They have International 9200s with 425 HP cats, detuned to about 320 HP. they have 9 speeds, 10 speeds, and 12 speed automatics. No jake brakes. No johnny bars. You will occasionally see mountains, Usually in Dixieland somewhere, and you need to know how to go down a long mountain and survive. Yes its' possible, but hairy and nerve wracking. 53' dry vans and a few raggety 48' ones left. No reefers. And they are once again down to 61 MPH.

Their training is good and short, and the instructor WILL NOT put someone in a truck who he knows isn't capable. Within two months of the start of training, if you pass, you will be in your own truck. I worked there from 2002 to 2006, several times. They never got a chance to fire me, I searched for greener pastures and the third time was a charm.

I went to a private trucking school and didn't do Monson's training. Less than half a week with an instructor (this has recently changed to a full week) and I was on my own. Monson will pay for your training if you do it with them, if you last there a year that is. If you quit or get fired within a year, you owe them the money for their training, if you did your training with Monson.

There's a group of maybe 30 drivers that's been there for 5+ years, and they are good guys (and gals). Other than that, they are a revolving door.

You will be hard pressed to find a company that will pay a rookie up to and over $50,000 per year your first year. Even though I hate this company, I must say the pontential is there, and $40,000 plus in your first year can be done in your sleep.

$13 per stop, every stop. 8 paid $135 holidays per year, whether you work them or not. vacation pay is pretty much on par with most other companies.

You MUST live in the Red Wing, Duluth, Virginia MN, or Mauton WI area to work there. There's no taking your truck home, or no getting caught with it anyway. I took mine home just about every week, I lived right along one of their main thouroughfares.

You can take three unpaid days off every so often. I usually did this to keep myself from going insane. As long as you give dispatch a few weeks to plan ahead.

Weekends are usually short and they suck. Whether you get home thursday night or Saturday night, you are required to check a message center on Saturday between noon and 6 pm to be diapatched on your next load to start the next week.

You are Normally home anywhere from 38 to 50 hours, unless theres a holiday or something.

No Quallcomm which is a good thing.

You mainly run the midwest and do short haul and regional haul, there are occasionally runs up to 1200 miles but those are very rare.

Their Health insurance was still free (for single people) in '06 but it sucked.

They have a demerit system for when you screw stuff up, mainly hitting or destroying things but other things too like not leaving for work on time. And yes, they have a way of tracking when you eneter and leave a terminal. Doesn't matter if you make your delivery on time or not, you leave on or before the time THEY tell you.

I actually had some fun there my first year, and made some good money, but in the end their money was no longer worth my misery. I am currently at Halvor Lines out of Superior, WI, along with many other former Monson drivers. And I am happy. Monson is just a staging ground for future Halvor Lines drivers.

 

Are the Monson drivers still with Teamsters Local 346???

 

And let me add that Monson is a far, far better place to start out than Werner, Swift, J.B., Schneider, Covenant, US Express, USA Truck or any similar Mega outfit. At least at Monson I made some real money, and my family remembered what I looked like. At Monson if you do the job, play the game, keep your mouth shut and don't complain every day, life will be tolerable and sometimes good. There is some b.s. to go around, just like anyplace else, but everyone gets their fair share no matter how much ##### they kiss, trust me.