My next move: JB Hunt? Woodfield? Somewhere else?

I hear good things about Woodfield. My daughter dispatches at JB Hunt and is happy with them.

There's also that reefer place right across the line in MO. CTI, CEI???

Hurricane Express is another small company in NWA. Haven't talked to any drivers, but the have very nice equipment.

 

Talked to one of their drivers. He seemed happy, had a cat in the truck with him. Runs Ashley furniture out to the left coast every week. Multi stop but no touch. That’s all I know.

 

I gotta friend who recently left us to go to JB Hunt. She needed to be home more to look after her father. She runs southern regional. Doing great over there too making good money. It's been a couple of months but she hasn't ran any farther west than Oklahoma, and no farther up than Virgina. That will definitely keep you off 80. Lol

 

Oh yeah, CEI and CTI are both in Missouri. CEI is the one over the line you're talking about, in Neosho. CTI is in Springfield I think

 

It's not capitalism's fault if drivers volunteer to work at companies that only give them a 34 hour reset. Drivers either ask no questions or onlt ask a few general question to a recruiter that lies, and the driver knows recruiters lie, or they just hope for the best. That driver spent more time picking which TV to buy than where to work.

 

Except there are hundreds and hundreds of companies out there that have different time off criteria but on the face of it I suspect many of them do as you say. New drivers...choose wisely

 

Woodfield's regional weekend home time is 48 hrs. OTR is the same song and dance we're all used to (1 home for every 6 out), but they have this new thing they call regional plus, which is what I do, where you still have the weekend home option, but you go out a little farther than with regular regional. No drive facing camera. No micromanagement (I go a full week or more at times that I don't hear from anybody.) Truck are a little faster than the big companies. 65 pedal, 70 cruise so you can get around Old Dominion and the rest pretty easy. Really laid back here

 

Yeah this company will nickle and dime you to death and they are the epitome of telling you one thing and doing another.

Theyre all lease purchase. They have one 150 fuel tank on one side and a 22 or so gallon DEF tank on the other side. They run super singles on tractor and trailer. Dispatch IS forced (regardless of what they tell you in orientation or on the phone).
They claim youre 1099 but that is so much BS is hard to find boots to wade through all of it.
My fiance was promised to come home after orientation for a day or so to get the rest of his things and to set up the truck properly and they told him if he didnt take the load they gave him that theyd fire him. When he argued back that he didnt even have a few days change of clothes, they told him every day he spent at home he was going to be charged $250, and then they told him they couldnt guarantee him a load in a timely manner (the guy hinted that he would make him sit and cost him money on purpose).

He left that ####hole within a week of being there and only ran two loads.
Trucks are governed at 68, and they make look good, but the way the HP and torque are messed with and the trucks programming... Those trucks are trash.

 

I'm mostly feeling torn between Woodfield and CEI, after reflecting on this thread a bit. CEI means tanker driving but offers a minimum of $300/day guarantee. I'm nervous about tanker driving. I have the endorsement but have never used it. It seems scary and dangerous. Even though CEI's loads are only food grade.

Woodfield offers dry van, which I'd prefer. Plus they have a sign on bonus that CEI doesn't offer. Minimum weekly guarantee just over $1k a week. But they don't offer any refresher training, and after a year off the road I feel like I could benefit from a week out with a trainer just for good measure. CEI offers refresher training.

These are hard decisions. I really don't wanna make the wrong choice.

 

Woodfield has $4,000 "sign on" bonus, but we all know how those work. With that being said, they have paid out when they said they would. Just don't count on getting a 4,000 bonus on your first check. It is paid out in increments, but they are upfront about that when you apply. No hoops to jump through, just not paid out in full upfront. Freight lanes are the most important thing to me. There are some areas I just flat out refuse to go anymore, and they honor my wishes without any backlash. You can make really good coin here, and that's important too. They're small enough that everybody knows you on a first name basis, but big enough to have good consistent customers of their own. We do run broker freight some, but most of our runs are contracted direct with customer. Woodfield is not without its share of cons, but there are way more pros to me