Multiple Mention Thread

after i graduated from driving school i worked for di peitro for 16 hours.
in those 16 hours my trainer had 3 log books going, insisted that i falsify mine... we ran grossly over wieght... he was out of driving hours and i drove for 13 straight hours, and he wanted to keep going.
i stopped the truck in a little town in ca. grabbed my bags and headed for the nearest motel and headed home the next morning.
this may only speak of the trainer, but i figured any company that has that kind of training, the worse was yet to follow. WATCH OUT

 

My husband is about to purchase his own truck and start working for Bridge Terminal Transport (BTT). The company website doesn't give any information about their pay scale, just an old class action lawsuit. I have googled and searched many trucking websites and have found only but 1 person to make a comment and that was second hand.
Is this company run by [a criminal organization] or something? I mean NOT ONE personal comment about BTT any where? Do they make their drivers sign contracts to not say anything about the company? Please somebody out there give me some info!!!:smt100 Also I looked at the Barr-Nunn website they seem to have a good owner operator & company driver deal. Does anyone also have information about CTI? I'm thinking intermodial transport is a good way to go these days. I am as courier and I'm on the road driving over 200 miles a day I've noticed that there are alot of shipping containers on the road these days. What do you all think?
So please help a sista out with some info.

 

Okay, I saw this a while back, but haven't been able to get to it until I did some talking. As for Barr-Nunn, and CTI, there are some posts on the site about Barr Nunn. I don't have any experience with them, so I can't and won't make any substantial comments. I never had the impression they were as they are claimed to be, so I take the tales with a grain of salt. As I often say on here, you are getting free advice from a total stranger over the internet, so take it for what it's worth.

As for CTI, there are numerous companies using those initials, and the one that comes to mind to me as a midwesterner is Central Transport, with the yellow trucks. Again, I have limited knowledge of them, except for what I know of the owner of the business. He has several trucking companies, kind of intermingled with each other, mainly hauls automotive parts, and is the owner of one of the main bridge crossings into Canada. But you could be seeing a different CTI, so I'll stay out of that area.

As for BTT, then I have some info on. We have some BTT guys that haul out of one of our terminals, and I stopped 2 of them this week and had a chat with them. But first, a bit of background.

Container hauling basically runs at two levels. There are the local drayage trucks, working in a port or railhead city. These are typically trucks on their last million miles, in poor condition, often driven by immigrant drivers working on the lower end of the economic scale. They only haul about 60 miles or so, often spending time picking up containers and hauling them to a drop yard where another truck will pick them up to complete the delivery. The reason they haul locally is if the truck breaks down, it isn't too far to get another power unit under the load, and the first driver can go out and pick up another 5,000 dollar truck and be back in business. In essence, if it's not the bottom of the barrel in trucking, you can easily drop to the botom from there without hurting yourself.

A big step up fro that is hauling containers from city to city. For example, containers come into port in Chicago via the St Lawrence seaway, and they come off the barge and then get taken to someplace like Louisville. The trucks doing this are in much better shape, go across scales, are often owner operator trucks, and make better money than their port hauling counterparts. The companies doing this can be all company trucks, or all owner operators, or any ratio in between.

This is where BTT works. They are mostly an O/O fleet, the drivers I talked to said that they might have some company trucks on the east coast, but weren't sure. Mainly, they are O/O's. The drivers I talked to owned their own trucks, made decent weekly mileage, mainly running around the midwest out of the Chicago area. They were getting paid mileage pay, so they got paid in both directions. The company uses drop lots, so the O/O's tend to do as much drop and hook as they can, minimizing waiting times.

Let me make a suggestion here, for something to look into in the future. I got accused a while back of being a shill for Landstar, so I may as well do this. Since you are at home on the computer, you might want to look into doing something with Landstar if it fits your needs. There is a lady on here named Donnalou whom you could probably pm, and she can fill you in on how a husband and wife team works under their system. One does the trucking, and the other handles searching for loads, and doing so together makes for a really nice business model. Both partners are involved in the business, yet one can still be at home taking care of any responsibilities that exist back there. It might be worth a look in your case.

Hope this info helps some.

 

I am a dislocated worker who is interested in the trucking field. I have done many hours/days of research, and realize it is imperative that I start with a reputable company. I was a traveling salesperson for 6 years, but do not even pretend to be an "expert" on trucking. The listed companies (Systems Transport, TWT, James J Williams) are "sister" comanies and local (Spokane, WA), and I have heard nice things about them from a few people. I know of people who have started with them and are still with them after several years. They start you off in the flatbed division (what are the real pros/cons to flatbedding besides tarping?). But after 6 months you can switch to refer (pros/cons) or bulk (pros/cons) if there is a position available. Has anyone heard anything good/bad about these companies? I know that Schneider is highly recommended, but they are not hiring in my area. Or if you know of another "good" company in the area, please let me know (because I am dislocated, I can have most of my school paid for). Your help/advice is greatly appreciated.

 

If TWT is Tidewater Transit, then at least they and Systems travel pretty far. I saw a Systems cabover Galaxy F/L yesterday, thought to myself that he won;t be home for the weekend. I probably see 2-3 of each of them on a dialy basis running around the midwest. I assume they have a terminal somewhere near here, or they are running far and wide.

 

I guess I should have said TW Transport. It is their refer division. Systems Transport is their flatbed division, and James J Williams is their bulk division.

 

Okay, the TWT I am referring to is a tanker outfit, but I thought they were out of North Carolina. I stand by the Sytems guys running far then, dark blue tractors on flatbeds.

 

Yes, they usually drive Kenworth 600's. I see them around town all the time. Went to a job fair that they spoke at and one of their drivers father was there. His son has worked for them for 6+ years, and now he wants to go to work for them. Thought that was a good sign. He did say his son was in New York at that time. The recruiter asked him if his son ever turns down freight and the father said "no". So some of them do travel pretty far.

 

Well if you are talking about Commercial Transportation Inc with a main terminal on State Rd in Phila Pa., I know a little bit about them.

Tony Coppola Sr is a personal friend. He is about 83 years old and isn't afraid to get his hands dirty and work. You will find him wandering around the terminal dressed like a mechanic most days. Not bad for a guy with 241 power units the last time I checked.

He will expect you to work, but is a pretty good guy and is fair with you. He has lent me tractors and his wrecker a few times when I was in a bind.

I have never leased a tractor to him but, if I wanted to haul dry freight or containers I would lease on with him in a minute. In fact sometimes I think I must be crazy for not doing it, but I like hauling construction equipment and machinery.

 

Problem is, there must be hindreds of trucking names t can be initialed CTI. Since the last two letters end up being "Trucking Inc", the entire gamut of names starying with "C" could be it. None of us can do recommendations without a little bit more info. And that's why I stick to what I know, and try not to speculate too much.