questions about averitt

well i am going to orintation in cookville april26 2010 and will be out of the madison term. in alabama will be doing the regional.hope it all works out well and i am hoping for good miles.has to beat the company and the miles i was getting at the company i was with.and the equipment will be lots better i am sure. now waiting for the to let me know all about the orintation. wondering if they will pay me milage for driving my own car there sure dont want to do the bus thing.also do they provide any meals for us during orintation or is that all up to us.and also guess i will find out if i will be rooming with someone lol

 

Unless it has changed in three years, we were given the option of driving our own vehicle(which I did) or letting them provide a plane ride.
No busses here.
I think, but don't hold me to this, it was .35 cpm to drive my car round trip. Along with the $300 orientation pay, I had a check for that first week.
Stayed at a nice motel which provided breakfast and a light supper(potato and salad bar). Averitt provided an excellent noon meal each day.
I did have a roommate however.
If you decide to drive yourself, I would suggest getting there Sunday afternoon. You may be able to get the road test out of the way first, which will give you a free evening during the week.

Miles are definitely up. I got 3043 last week. You are in a good spot for Mercedes loads out of Vance AL. The following is from last weeks newsletter.

• Average miles per driver increased nearly 18 percent in the first three months of this year-up from 1,941 miles in the first three months of 2009 to 2,284 miles this year.
• Truckload revenue grew 15.5 percent in the first three months of this year.
• Idle time dropped by nearly 50 percent in the first three months of this year, helping us make the most of our revenue growth by reducing fuel expenses.

That 2284 is pretty close to my true average. Not outrageous compared to the way I have run in the past with other outfits, but I don't think it's bad, considering that's only spending 4-5 nights in the truck.
I have yet to miss a weekend in over 3 years.

 

thanks mustang. do they the orintation day and night or just during day?

 

We were done by five every day except one day when we had to do these computer training CDs. Maybe about 6 or so that day.
The ones that didn't get in the road test Sunday had to do it one evening during the week.
The last day was over by 3 to get everybody headed home.
They provided a van shuttle to and from Nashville for those that flew in.

 

well i only live about 2 or 3 hours from cookville here in alabama no need for me to fly in.i will drive up next sunday. i just hope they dont try to put me on no dedicated account where i have to unload all the time lol

 

The only accounts like that I know of are Shoe Carnival, Dollar General and Cracker Barrel.
I feel the same way, but I don't think you live in the right spot to have to worry about it.
But believe it or not, there are plenty of drivers that line up for some of those jobs. They don't mind the extra work and get home more regular.
Cracker Barrel usually have regular stores they go to every week and get home in the middle of the week to swap trailers.
But that is in Lebanon TN.
I picked up an LTL trailer in Chattanooga early friday and brought it home with me to Augusta. Deliver late tonight in Tampa.

 

MUSTANGGT,
Thanks for your insight. I know the future will remain uncertain, but in all the time you have been with the company, have you ever almost been laid off or have you heard of any local drivers being laid off when volume is down?

 

thats good mustang.so sometimes you do get to take truck home?

 

When the economy started slipping a while back Mercedes slowed down to almost nothing for a while and the dedicated drivers were given the option to go back to truckload until things picked back up.
I have seen LTL drivers go back to truckload in certain areas. It seems they move drivers around but have never heard of a driver getting laid off.
When it got real bad, they quit hiring drivers for a long time to help keep us busy and they sold empty trucks rather than trying to fill them which would only have spread the miles too thin.
They have let dock help go however and have cut the mechanic's hours but they seem to do everything possible to keep the drivers working.
They quit hiring students in '08, which was probably a sign that drivers are staying longer and they can be more picky.

 

We used to be able to take truck home with fleet managers permission, but not anymore.