Smith Transport perfect?

He said he was yhere for a year, I have never heard of such a thing either. god if drivers were responsible for everything a reciver wrecks we would all be broke.

 

I've spoken with many of their drivers. This company probably isn't any different from the rest of 'em from what I've heard. And I know that they advertise every freakn where. I have been looking for jobs out of state in online newspaper and I see that they are going to the extreme to advertise that far away. A good rule of thumb is this.....If drivers are pounding the door down to get into your company, you don't need to advertise. On the other end of the spectrum, If you are constantly loosing drivers...there's no other choice but to recruit new ones by means of want adds, trucking mags, ect.
Put it this way...How often do I see companies like Diamler Chrysler, Anderson Windows, or Ashley Furniture placing adds in truckers news for drivers wanted? Never
How often do I see companies like Smith Transport, TMC, or Maverick advertising? Constantly
That's proof enough for me to see where the turnover is and isn't.

 

very helpfull info for a newbie like myself. Thank you..

 

I worked with Smith for 1 1/2 mths. I left trucking, because it was not paying off.

I had a jacknife in my city of Atlanta, Ga. before I left. It was raining and I was for some reason loosing some traction before i got into a curve. coming down I85, at night on a rainy night. I hit the curve at 40 mph. the tractor times spent out and turned my truck the other direction. I call dispatch. They wanted me to deliver the ld to walmart anyway, because the owner set the load up. I told them, I just had an incident and i was shaken up. I tried anyway. Taking the west wall. I was loosing traction worse. I called and said I was going to the terminal. When I got there, I was leaking alot of deisal fuel. Long story short. On my DAC report it is listed as a preventable accident. I can't get a job. Was it retaliation or what? Only because I quit and the owner setup the load......

 

In my eyes it is preventable too If it was raining you are suppose to adjust your speed to keep traction.
40 mph must of been too fast for that curve on that night due to the rain and you have to remember that when it first starts to rain it will be slicker because of all of the oils on the road.
I belive that anyone else would of adjusted their speed.
The faster the tires are turning the less traction you will have it becomes a big problem when you are driving through rain or snow.

After the accident you should of made sure you were not leaking anything before moving it.
When you were leaking deisel fuel you are lucky that no one came after you or the company for dumping hazordous material all over the ground.
Anytime you see anything leaking on the truck antifreeze,oil,fuel, etc leaking you are not suppose to move that truck you are to get it fixed first.

In my eyes it was not retaliation it was the opperator's error that cause the accident the company reported it as they seen it. You are sol for the next year.

Then why did you not slow down if you knew you were loosing traction?

 

..hmmm, according to their website "our trucks are made of steel & iron will...so are our drivers" .. and .. SMITH is a "special place for special people, dedicated to excellence, devoted to drivers".. remember folks, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably isn't!

 

I worked for Smith last year. Thier big thing is they want you to stay out at least 2 weeks, they tell you that you can come home weekends but they strongly recomend you dont when you get to orientation. If you do come home weekly you will not get the miles and will not make any money with them, and all the time you will get at home will be a 34 hour reset. I also found thier mileage pay to be sub standard compared to others. Dont let the shiny black petes and trailers lure you in to them theres a reason why they peel through so many drivers, they pay crap and dont produce the miles for the family man. Another thing about them is they feel there drivers are less than intelegent enough to talk to "thier" customers, they do not allow you to call the customer for directions or for any other reason, this is a problem because the directions they give you via qual com are mostly inaccurate and out dated but have never been changed. I do not recomend them to anyone unless they want to drive for nothing just to drive the pretty black truck.

 

I'd stick to Crete if I were you.

Hunter

 

hey i was with smitty just over a yr..first six seven months was gd...then all went down.not gettin hme on wknds,wat really got me was that winter i was there,was delivering to a customer in erie,pa during a snowstorm,called disp.told them there was no way i would make in the drive,easnt plowed gd,they told me had to try,so ofcourse,got stuck,no damage to trk or property,but needed a wrecker to winch me backout.they charged me with a preventable....they used to be a kool company yrs. ago..now they are taken anyone they get...it seems the bigger a company gets,the less driver friendly they are

 

I worked for Smith for 3 weeks. I got miles and I got home on weekends. I left because they would not allow me to put my wife on the health insurance plan. They said she could get her insurance from her employer.