Should I go with H&M out of Omaha NE?

I worked there. In my experience it's mostly ag chemicals/fertilizers, which means it's about as recession resistant as it gets. You will not be working there without hazmat. Lots of midwest and Dakotas. A decent amount of geographic variety, but a little too much east coast for my taste.

Some things that stick out in my memory:
When I was there, they only let you scale a load if you asked office staff first. A couple solid gaffs by dispatch in a relatively short period of time. Don't rely on the route directions they send to your e-log. I got in a huge problem involving a residential street with boulders on the corners and nearly having to call the local police to help me out, when following the route to the T one time on the east coast. Lots of older drivers who drank the kool-aid singing praises about high miles all the time (same as any of the other companies I worked for in that regard). Reality was probably 700-800 mile avg. length of haul. Expected you to be out a long time before taking hometime. I would say it was about 80% driving east of the Mississippi River. The office staff were probably the most annoying out of all three companies I ever worked for. Trucks were spec'd very nicely and very comfortable to live in. Paychecks were decent, but not a lot of long hauls.

 

Do you know of any other companies that do a lot of ag chemical hauling? I really enjoyed that freight base. They did a lot of winfield united loads, which was pretty heavy on some relaxing rural parts of the country. But then on the other hand, you're right, they did a fair share of northeast stuff too. I'd be interested in a company like them, but without the east coast.

 

If I could have been exclusive to Winfield I would have never left. Best place to deliver to. I never took longer than one hour to unload at any of there locations. In fact on several occasions I unloaded and reloaded in less than an hour in story city. Greenbelt is the only other company I can think of.

 

Who do you work for now? Would you recommend them? I considered applying to Land-o-lakes (winfield united), as I really like where they have their terminals. However, I asked some of the terminals and it sounds like it's all local work. I need something OTR/regional to be able to live in the truck for a while.

 

Where do you live if you don't mind me asking? I consider myself semi retired as I only work three days a week. I move a specialty medical trailer for on site mri diagnostics to rural hospitals close to my home base.

 

If I had to go back otr I probably would check out VSS transportation in Carrollton Texas. I am fortunate that I can be extremely picky when choosing a company. That's why I am saddened at what is happening with H and M. Very short list of good companies and getting shorter all the time.

 

I worked for them for 8 years but left in 2021 because of the writing on the wall. Once the ownership went to the son in law they started a fast spiral downward. He has even started his own (seperate) logistics company so he brokers himself ask the good freight and miles. It did indeed use to be a very good (not great) company to work for in years past. The time I was there had great office personnel (probably the best dispatcher I’ve had in all my 35 years of driving). Hazmat is a MUST but it’s almost all agriculture related (pesticides, herbicides etc and that’s the reason for the freeze protect, NOT pharmaceutical). If you don’t establish a good working relationship with dispatch you will struggle for miles

 

I had the same dispatcher for almost my whole nine years there. Love him to death. Terry is his name and in 29 years of driving he is the best I've had. Wish I could have stayed with them until I retired but new ownership made that impossible. Once you have had steak it's almost impossible to settle for bologna.

 

I agree, it use to be a great company until the owner stepped back and then retired. I did their hopper division and was always busy and made pretty good money. I left when I became allergic to chicken meal as it would burn my skin on contact.

 

What! Is this a real thing?