System Transport, Spokane Washington

Well...I can say so far that I made the right decision! Everything was great from start to finish. I would've liked a newer truck but you can make money in anything as long as it's runnin. Since I got my truck assignment on Thursday, I've run over 4500 miles. Fleet manager is great, terminals are all great. Fleet manager asked me what sort of schedule I wanted. Never actually sat down with a fleet manager for an hour and a half after an orientation just so the two of you can get to know one another. Told him I wanted to be out for 4 or 5 weeks and then home for 5 or 6 days and he said no problem. Runnin all 48 states gets you an average length of haul somewhere around 2000 miles which is exactly what I wanted.

On a different note. Something I've noticed here with the tSi drivers, whether it's Too Weak To Tarp, (that's good $hi+ 30below, heard that a lot since I started) or with the System guys, everybody is wearin the company tshirts and hats. Reppin the company!! That's gotta say somethin about them as a company. I used to work for Werner a long time ago and the only people who were dumb enough to wear their company clothes were the noobs. It only took them about a week to realize that the only thing that Werner tshirt was good for, was when you had to stop on the side of a highway somewhere and take an emergency $hi+, an realized you didn't have any tp, but thank god you bought the $17 Werner tshirt!!! At System, even the old guys that have been here for awhile are sportin em. Nice!!

As far as your question Sleepy, it depends on how much other experience you've got. I saw drivers Goin out with their trainers for 2 weeks, 4 weeks or even 8 weeks. If you're new to truckin then I would say somewhere between 6 and 8 weeks. If you're just new to flatbeddin, maybe as little as two weeks. Some of these other boys on here that were with them for awhile might be able to help you more. Or call recruiting and ask for Becka! She's the recruiter I dealt with and she was great. She could tell you anything you needed to know!!

I can tell anyone that reads this, that if you want a good flatbedding company to run with, I'd highly recommend System Transport. I've been under a flatbed for 5 years and haven't worked for anyone I've liked as much. Of course I'll post more in the coming weeks and let you know how I'm runnin and try to answer any questions any of you may have. Until then, just keep doin the deed, and try an keep the shiny side up!

 

Does anyone have anything new to say about this outfit? I am interested in their Chicago regional out of their Gary yard. I'd like to know the home time for this region, op area, what they haul etc.

 

Worked for System Transport from 1999-2001. Here's the general scoop from THEN (but doubt it's changed).

Training was 4-8 weeks.

First it's a great company to drive for if you want the miles. I was getting 8-10K miles per month as a solo driver, pre-hired from school.

Second you have to stand up for yourself, I didn't want to run 8-10K a month, what's the point of making money if you have no time to spend it? The main reason I left, I was weak then, but also the reason I'm thinking about going back now that I've matured a bit and the 14 hour rule is in place.

Third, when I was there, log book issues were my issues. For example I had seven days to go from say Spokane to Conn. If I spent three days with some women I met online in some state on the the way, then drove 24 hours straight to make up the lost time, dispatch knew where I was all the time and said nothing, on time delivery was my target and dealings with the logbook to make everything seem 'correct' was my problem. There is a downside to this: First it's highly illegal, logs are legal documents and can be used in court to destroy your driving career (never happened to me) and also dispatch knows where you are all the time, so yea, drive 24 hours to make the drop on time and you may, like me, suddenly get a 700 mile run that has to drop in 15 hours. And like me you'll miss that drop time and be on the phone to your dispatcher explaining the whole "got laid for a few days, drove for 24 hours to make the drop and you give me this, well I didn't make it because I went to sleep instead" speel.

Some actual experience people don't want to talk about for whatever reason (other then the log book stuff stated above):

No, they don't let you take the truck home, that's policy. There is/was a yard we could park at in my city and I just dropped the trailer there and took the truck home anyways. Make your deliveries on time and you can get away with alot. It's not your personal vehicle however due to the GPS tracking and they checked where you were all the time, but I used the truck as a personal vehicle anyways on occasion.

There was no structured home time. Sure the company said so many weeks out equals so many days off but that was written policy only. If you're on the west coast like me, all the freight lanes are not here. As a company driver I'd say at the end of a load (not two weeks or so prior like the policy states) "work me home I'm taking 5 days off" and they'd do their best to do so then lure me back on day three with a truck upgrade or awesome pre-loaded Genie load from Redmond, Wa to Fl with 3 drops. (and yes, I took both since on the road I never got those).

And the tarps. Heavy and 99% of the loads coming off the Qualcom wanted tarps- even the loads that would tear the tarps to shreads. This is where thinking and personal opinon comes in. I was never good at this, I did and still do what I'm told to do. From experience, Lumbar, Drywall, Insulation, Tar paper(Try not to carry this it sucks!) tarp all that with plastic underneath. Coiled metal going through California tarp also to hide the wacked out but effective securement methods. Anything else, tarp optional. But then you also have to think...Tarps hide things and no one checks under them. Tarp anything that is safe! but looks unsafe. (Ryerson Steel pre-loaded trailers were notorious for being safe but looked outright scary so were always tarped for example.)

Now back to tar paper. I only hauled it once from Canada and quit soon after. It's the only load I lost off the trailer as I, as said before, was weak and didn't tell the loaders to slow down so I could V-Board. Course I didn't really know what I was doing at the time anyways or even know what tar paper was. The whole load was lost in some mountian pass, didn't get past my tarps but the load was destroyed by a forklift trying to fix it. Systems at the time provided a disposable camera for these types of situations. I lost the load, never took pictures of the carnage, felt awful about it and was never repermaded for it, just asked what happened.

And here's some general shocks: Always tell the truth! Log is behind at a scale, tell the state trooper the truth and avoid a thousand dollar ticket! For that tar paper deal, I told the dispatcher and safety dept. the truth: I didn't v-board the load, I didn't know what I was doing, I had tons of v-boards but didn't slow the loader down so I could figure out what was going on. Never lie, always tell the truth, it's amazing what you can get away with.

Some more general stuff with Systems:

A driver can't get into Canada but you can, lucky you! You're picking up both your and his loads and usually your load gets swapped for his. And plan on a 14 hour day just to get both loads.

A driver gets sick, you're swapping trailers. He can't untarp, screw it swap tarp for tarp, securment for securment and call it dandy (this is why one can't replace the heavy tarps with lightweight(ish) ones unless you want to labor his tarps off, yours off your load and on his load and so on).

Break down? Which I did three times in a year and a half, constant harassment from dispatch about is the truck/trailer ready yet?

But if you break down your dispatcher has got your ### covered, period. <- This is all that matters. You're going to deal with tons of BS on the road (I'll cover more situations) but this is all that matters and what I loved about TSI (System Transport) You're in the middle of nowhere, a 78K lumber load and a couple trailer tires including hubs, sheared off. It's not just you and the wind, cold and snow. Or you're in the Texas desert in 100 degree sunshine franticly pushing the 'overide' button because your truck wants to shut down for some reason but you want some sort of civilization before letting the truck die. The dispatchers at Systems are always there, even when you think you're alone and they get things done to get stuff fixed. Again this is all that matters- you're not alone. At least during office hours.

For people just out of school:

It's a good, fair company.

Speak your mind but don't be a dick and you'll love it there.

If, like me, you chose flatbed so you didn't have to back up, well surprise! I had to back into so many f-ed up areas it made me sick. Couple examples, in PA I had to 90 degree sight side a 48' trailer into a dock but there was zero room to do it. I won't even mention how much PA's streets SUCK! Still have nightmares about this back. People there were nice though.

In Ca I had to back in off a busy street and the recievers refused to stop traffic to help me out. I avoid confrontations like the plague but had to jump out of the truck and demand the recivers to stop traffic, yelling at them that I sucked at backing up and they either stopped traffic or I'd take their load to a local yard and someone who is a backing superstar would pick it up whenever such superstar was around. They stopped traffic and asked me to backhaul pallets which didn't happen.

And then you have the really dismally awesome backing situtations. Full bright sunlight into a dark garage. Sometimes it's a nice straight back, sometimes sight-sided or blind sided and sometimes uphill but always with zero visability. Totaly awesome. Don't be shy, on occasion I'd say "You want me to back this there?" They'd reply, "Yea." I'd respond "take a break I'll get it there it but could take awhile", they'd usually laugh and disappear till I was in. Some would mock me, others usually helped me back in.

I weigh 135 lbs soaking wet. One shipper looked at me at asked, "You drive flatbed?" Anyone can drive flatbed. But those lumber tarps do suck ###.

Back to tarps, In my case tarps were ALWAYS forklifted onto the big loads. And it's kinda odd:

When your bed is being loaded, back off, let the loaders do their job. You'll get a feel if the load is correct or not based on the loader. If they ask alot of questions, yea the load needs to be scaled. If they just do their job and want to lift your tarps, scale the trailer but you're dealing with a pro loader.

Oh and for people out of school. Reefers. The bain of your sleep time. ###### Reefers. Those sons of #######. Don't let anyone fool you about "we have whisper quiet reefer motors". "We" doesn't equal "Them" and it's "Them" you'll have to tolorate. Motors turning on and off on and off. Life on the road, don't sleep in truck stops.

Think I'm done. And yea Systems Transport is a fair company.

 

Outstanding info thx... I have an interview with the Colorado Regional Manager Monday.

 

Awesome HD, report back how it all went.

Looked into their Lease/Purchase. Nothing available currently but not a horrible deal.

 

Its a great company for anyone who wants to make decent money driving a truck for a living. You get good miles for the 48 flatbed division and only tarp a couple times a week. Regional you tarp more and less miles but percentage pay.

Training is usually 4-8 weeks, your trainer decides, he gets paid while youre with him and hell get paid more depending on your 2 hour road test score after training before they assign you a truck. So they might keep you for the full 8 weeks.

Make sure trucking is the life style for you before going to any trucking company, they'll most likely keep you from home for the full 8 weeks unless your trainer lives near you or you live near spokane, wa. Also even if you just go to orientation and decide its not for you, you will have to pay the transportation costs it took to get you there.

Just a heads up, I was with them a little less than 6 months and since it was under 6 months I was charged $477 to cover my airplane ticket. Most expensive ticket from Chicago to Spokane I've ever heard of but theres no way around it.

 

I really want to start my career off with System-Trans. I hope they will accept me when I get out of training. Seems like most of the guys that run for System are happy. That's a good sign! Anyone drive for them currently?

 

Just talked to a recruiter at systems, seems like a good way to get into flatbed and they have a regional operation out of French camp which is 40 minutes from me.

Anyone on here familiar with their French camp operation? Would like more info on it.

 

its been a little more than a year since I ran that, so I don't know if it has changed much. its all right..home most weekends, you'll go up the hill alot with lowes loads (don't ever be late), you will haul alot of coils, you got to tarp most everything. alot of short loads. hardly any hazmat, and hardly any OD loads. I liked it, it worked for me...just not my wife. If they make you go with a trainer, to learn securement I can recommend one, if you have any other questions just ask

 

Thanks forthe reply. So basically French camp just runs California? I'm thinking of starting with them in may after I get my house moved. Seems like a good company from what I hear.