My 2 & 1/2 Years with McElroy Truck Lines, Inc.

Ok Brother,

1)McElroy has "drop yards" at U.S.G. in Baltimore, MD and Certainteed in Proctor, W.V. They have many more, of course, but THOSE TWO you will get sent to most often due to where you live. The trailers you hook to will be fully tarped, bungied, and strapped with corner protectors. You will have to leave YOUR two tarps, adequate bungies, and proper # of corner protectors on your empty trailer when you drop it. Of course, you will have to secure the load you pick up to your satisfaction before you leave out. They also have a drop yard at Lowes Distribution in Hagerstown, MD. Those loads will have a tarp or two "draped" over them, but YOU will have to bungie and strap them before you take off with them. You will also get U.S.G. in Mt. Holly, N.C. and that is like Baltimore - same deal with leaving equipment etc.... I also remember a pre-tarped trailer in PA, but can't remember town or shipper at the moment, but they only keep like one or two trailers there. They have others in TN and other states, but the more southern drivers go there more often than you will. Be prepared to do plenty of tarping though dude.

2)Steel Coils are a pain in the ###. They will put you through "coil securement training" and you will see. The chains are heavy. The binders are heavy. They are all rusted and get your gloves TOTALLY filthy. The coils also must be tarped I HATE coils with a passion. They go up to W.V. so that they can work you up towards Proctor to get sheetrock. Coils aren't an "everyday" or even "every week" deal though thank GOD!

3)Perhaps the BEST trait of McElroy. Idle all you want, every night, everywhere, anytime. They have "CAT" rewards on the trucks which cut them off after 5 minutes, but if you hit the brakes ONCE, they stay running all night. No "fuel bonus" deal, so keep her running as needed.

4)Everything but "treated lumber". Sometimes you have to tarp shingles, but not always.

5)NY yes, not often, but yes. Philly, same deal, not oftem, but occasionally. Nothing too hairy though, it's do-able.

6)Same shippers a lot, different receivers all the time.

I'll answer more if you got them

 

1)Some shippers have scales, some don't. When in doubt, weigh them out. If overweight, you MUST call for approval or YOU pay the ticket. No gauges, no way to tell weight except by ticket, which is a "guesstimate". You can't even tell by the "pull" of the trailer. I've had piggy trailers be legal and smooth pulls be 6,000 lbs. over gross, so WEIGH IT OUT. They will re-imburse for ALL scale tickets.

2)Trailers are pm'd regularly. Never had seal problems, but watch for bad tires, as they use re-treads and you will occasionally get a blow out.

3)You can ONLY fule at PILOTS. One or two "Love's" are approved, but otherwise it is PILOT ONLY. You can ask them for routing and directions or do your own thing. If you are more than 100 miles out of route you will run into trouble, but use common sense and you will be fine.

4)Miles range and vary wildly depending upon many things. I can only refer you to my earlier posts about what I made per mile and what I grossed per year for a FACT. Some weeks were 2500 miles, some were only 1,000. Just depends on time of year and such.

5)Paper logs as of when I left. Never heard any rumors of them changing over, but with CSA 2010 coming, who knows?

Best wishes!

 

..it's no problem y'all.

 

...because of where you live, they would probably put you dedicated out of Hagerstown Distribution. You would drive a day cab, and service Lowe's stores throughout Maryland, PA, NJ, some NY (but mostly NW like outside Buffalo and Elmira) and a few Northern VA. I believe the store in Sterling, VA is the furthest south Hagerstown delivers to.

If they did put you OTR, then you would go up and down the East Coast, but not "west".