Superior Carriers, 2 years in review

Thought I'd take a bit of time to share my little bit of experience with this company so far for anybody who might be interested.

To start off, I still consider myself fairly new at trucking. I got my CDL in 2014 through Prime's reefer division. I'd wanted to go into tankers from the start, but I wasn't a fan of how Prime ran their tanker operation at the time. I worked there for a couple years before I started looking for greener pastures. Superior Carriers offered me a job out of their Markham terminal and I've been here since 2017. So far I've found things favorable here. As with all companies your training experience will differ depending on the trainer you get, but I felt mine was very thorough. My trainer was very anal about details, but I realize you have to be in this field. I felt very confident when I was given my own truck.

Every terminal is a little different in terms of the kind of work available. The one I'm based out of has a lot of regional dedicated accounts so majority of the work is out-and-back. I rarely spend more than a few days sleeping in the truck, and they get me by the house for a 34 almost every weekend unless I ask to stay out longer. Pay is great, we're paid loaded and empty miles, as well as accessorials for just about everything. Hourly pay for any load under 125 miles. Really easy to gross 1500 a week and still be home often. You can do a lot better if you're willing to run system. I have a good working relationship with my dispatcher and I don't ever have any issues with the loads I'm given or helping him out with a run occasionally. I've also never had any issues with getting time off for whatever reason.

Fleet is phasing out all of their older trucks for an all-automatic fleet. Mack Anthems and International LTs. I had an older Pinnacle with a 10-spd that I loved, but was moved into a new LT last November. I'm skeptical of Internationals, but since this one was brand new from the factory I gave it a chance. Long story short, I'm not impressed. But they've already moved another driver into my old truck so I guess I'm stuck with this one. We use Qualcomm for e-logs, and the number of driving nannies depends on the age of your truck. No inward-facing cameras as of yet. I believe Superior is self-insured and that has something to do with it.
Trailers are well-maintained for the most part. Depends on how well the drivers at your terminal are with reporting defects. Our terminal has a tank wash for most products, and we work with a couple within the city for the more caustic stuff.

My verdict is that the job is what you make of it. I've talked with drivers of other companies, and for the most part they all say Superior is definitely one of the better chemical tanker companies you can get on board with. I also see a lot of owner/operators pulling our trailers. I've put a lot of thought into going that route in the future myself. Interested in seeing what my future with this company will bring, but I have very few bad things to say about them at this point.

 

Most of the freight out of here is with dedicated accounts in the city, so majority of our runs start and terminate at Markham. Great if you're based here and you like being home a few times throughout the week. Not so great if you're a system driver trying to get back home soon.