Small, Mom & Pop's Companies

Someday I hope my company is on here.

I agree drivers must be pleased. Companies think customers are the most important aspect of the job. Thats wrong. Drivers are number 1. Thank you all

 

There's pros and cons to both big and small companies. I am now working for a little operation of 22 trucks out of Chicago. I have a 2014 Freightliner Cascadia evo , that will do 70 in the 70 . I also run long so I can have better home time when home . Generally 1 day for each week out plus 1 EXTRA day . So 6 weeks out 7 home .
That said though I also did my whole rookie ride ( 2 years ) with knight transportation when it was still a good company and had yet to gain that corporate air that I'm told it now has . They taught me good habits and how to run legal , how to plan , trained me in the Smith System ( by which I mean actually taken out trained , tested and certified . I think I still have my original cerfication put up in paperwork somewhere) . The problem with a big company is they have no loyalty or sense of honor towards their employees . The other side of that coin is most rookies shouldn't start with a small mom and pop because they have yet to learn that as well .
When you work for a small company you need to understand your NOT AN EMPLOYEE ... What you are is an investor . I have always had this mindset when it comes to working . I either have a job , which us then temporary work in my mind or I am investing in a company which means I plan on being there awhile . Big companies do not look at the investment of labor as a contributing investment but simply a cost . Many small businesses on the other hand do . Therefore I really don't think small companies are the best fit for new drivers ( note there are exceptions but exceptions are just that ... exceptions ) .

 

Always hear positive things about Danny Herman, but I would have guessed they have more than 400 trucks. Heck, I saw 390 of them yesterday on I-10 between El Paso and Phoenix.

 

I love the valley going into Tucson..can get some nice speed on them hills..

 

Gliders.

 

I couldn't agree more.

I Spent 6 years at a few companies that ranged from 75 to 400 operating units...from my perspective they were equally as bad if not worse at times from some of the mega CDL Mills.

Favoritism, lies, backstabbing coworkers...slow, anemic underpowered stripped down trucks, lots of sitting waiting for reloads after you deliver "hot loads that had to be there yesterday..."

I took a leap of faith after 6 years and went to a mom and pop with maybe 20 trucks at the time. I went from being treated like scum to being treated like a king (as comparably close as an OTR slob can get, anyway). It also took some adjustment, as you stated. With more freedom comes more responsibility. Drivers were and still are basically in charge of setting up maintenance on their own trucks, since we Run out of an office in a strip mall and have no shop.

The slowest trucks he had in 2007 were owner op speced T600s with 550 Cats and 13 or 18 speeds, tall gears and castrated at 90 MPH.

Back then we still had respectable drivers who were professional...I was the young punk that had a lot to learn.

All it took was a few idiot drivers to start ruining things. (Speeding tickets in construction zones, accidents, drivers not practicing good "CYA" and getting the dumbest log violations imaginable.)

With the Advent of DEF and DPF he hasn't bought a new rig of his own in nearly 7 years, everything is more expensive and nothing lasts like it used to.