Smaller Company or Company with Better Equipment

I have always worked for small companies or O/Os. I tried the big company thing once and hated it.. no one knew who i was or how i like to operate. With small companies i get all those things plus even a friendship with the office people. For a few years before i moved and had to quit where i was working, me and my boss who owned the company practically lived togeather for a while. Not best friends but #### good friends. If i was ever in a bind he was there to help no questions asked.

Try and get that kind of treatment from a mega carrier.

For me its small companies, generally good honest family orientated people, and older trucks over a brand new shiny truck any day.

 

Of course, the final decision is yours; but, I would go with Melton Truck Lines. It's not a small company or a mega carrier. They keep good equipment and replace it regularly, have APU's and it's a very old company that knows how to stay in business. Also have a rider program if that interests you. If you look at their website, the benefits package looks good.

On a lighter note, back in the 60's I loved listening to the trucker radio programs & Melton Truck Lines advertised on those shows. "Melton Truck Lines; home of the running rabbit." They had some dry vans with a picture of a running jack rabbit.

 

I work for Munoz Trucking Inc of El Paso, TX. We have about 75 road trucks and 10 local. The bulk of our fleet are Volvo 780 double bunk sleepers with the folding dinette table/lower bunk. The bosses tried out a couple of Freightliner Cascadias and there is at least one Kenworth T660 in the fleet but all the new trucks being delivered are the Volvos. The local trucks are older Freightliner Columbias that used to be the fleet truck of choice as well as older Volvo 780s and one Peterbilt 379 daycab. The Volvo's intitially all had fridges as well as the inverter/shore power option but the Norcold fridges died rather quickly and due to the cost of replacement, they were removed and not ordered in newer trucks. I have a dorm fridge in the space formerly occupied by the volvo fridge and have it running through the inverter.

We don't have APUs but Munoz isn't anal about idling as long as you are in the truck and aren't leaving it running while you are inside watching TV in the lounge. If they're anal about anything, it's maintenance. When a truck returns to the yard, it gets a lube job at the minimum.

Munoz has treated me very good. I like the small family style atmosphere. Dispatch isn't hiding behind a locked door and the boss's have offices right there next to dispatch. The company is run by 3 brothers and one sister.

 

All I had to do was watch a couple of USExpress drivers play phone tag for over an hour taking turns holding the phone while on hold to get an approval for the company to pay for their motel from night dispatch while their truck was DOA at a shop to make me realize how nice it is to have the cell numbers to all the dispatch and maintenance people for after hours issues.

With Munoz, I had an express code for a room within 30 minutes of arriving at the motel when my truck was being repaired in Buffalo, NY. It only took that long because Lucy, my dispatcher, had to boot up her laptop to get onto the comdata website.

It was a DPF issue and by the time it was done, the repair, rental truck for the day to deliver my load and pickup my reload, motel room, and taxi bill came to over $8400.

 

$8400 for tree hugger bs repairs!!!! screw that. glad i bought a glider w/ a pre-emissions non-egr motor. several small companies near my house all refuse to buy newer trucks. they are rebuilding, repainting and cleaning the insides up. if i had the upfront cash and time i would have fixed one up instead of buying a new glider kit.

 

The pre DEF Cummins were troubleprone in that department. So far we've had better luck with the Volvo SCR engines. Juan Pablo Munoz is in good with the El Paso Volvo shop so any issues we have get solved pretty quickly.

 

I would definitely go with the smaller company! Keep in mind too that the companies with less bells and whistles and older equipment a lot of times pass along more profits to the drivers. The biggest benefit with the smaller companies is your relationship with your dispatcher. Because its a smaller company your dispatcher will have more time to work with you and this allows you to build a more personal relationship with them. They scratch your back and you scratch theirs! You are making money off the miles and they are making money off of you running the miles, so its in both of your best interests to work together and figure out what is going to be your best options when it comes to freight. Sure you will still get crap loads from time to time but that's all part of it. You sometimes have to take a crap load or two to set up for the good ones.

I'm stoked for you man! You really have a good opportunity here to make some good money and drive for a potentially great company! You will see a world of difference for sure!

Another advantage of a small company is that they may not have APU's right now however, do a good job for them and show them your interest in the company and they just may buy you that APU and who knows maybe even a brand new truck!