These mega horror stories, how prevalent?

Megas aren't usually the ones to beware of. Chicago area 1099 companies are the ones to avoid. For that matter, almost any company that pays 1099 deserves some care before you decide to sign on.
Companies with dispatch services in foreign countries might be a red flag too.

 

That's the thing with turnover rates.
Once the newbie get a little experience they want to find something else.
Sometimes it is better, sometimes not. But that does contribute to the high turnover.

People on this forum will advise the new people to move on as soon as they can.
But as many can attest to, those greener pastures don't always turn out to be so green after all.

I have been at the same company since I began trucking, and it is a mega.
They have always treated me well so the desire to leave really isn't there.
A few cents more per mile is no incentive to me, when I can control so many aspects of how I do things where I'm at. Add to that the great people I have had the privilege of working with.

I recently went to my terminals Million Mile Event. It is a banquet in honor of the million+ drivers.
It was held at the Radisson in Green Bay, and they even paid for the room if we wanted to stay the night.
We have around 160 drivers in our little terminal, and nearly 1/3 are million mile drivers.
That means that many of us have stuck around for around 10 years, or much longer in the case of the several 2 and 3 million milers.

 

I believe starting at a mega is the right step for most new drivers. They're typically more forgiving of rookie mistakes, and if you get with the right trainer you can learn alot. Even a "bad company" can be a good learning experience, and as we've seen before and @Moosetek13 mentioned some drivers are happy to stay with a company others negatively talk about.

Unfortunately there are bad trainers as well, but you can run into those whether at a pay your way school, a mega, or even a small outfit that offers training. I was lucky enough to learn from family, but I still made some screw-ups early on and FFE despite their being horrible about pay inconsistencies (from charging the driver back for lumper fees to charging back for work claiming they didn't receive receipts), they coached me on what to do in the situations where I got myself in trouble.

 

Medium sized companies are my best experiences so far. Good equipment, well established, and a good mix of contracted/spot market freight to keep it familiar and interesting at the same time. Your dispatcher will know you by name and learn how you like to run, but other than that, you get left alone.

And to note, there is a big difference between megas. Western Express and KLLM are going to be very difference, so it’s on drivers to find the best mega they qualify for based on their situation.

I’ve never driven for a mega, but I think megas get a bad reputation partly because of inexperienced drivers. Drivers don’t have time management understanding yet, don’t understand what kind of lanes are actually out there, don’t have give and take, etc.. They think they’ll hop behind the wheel of their brand new Knight truck and get a 2000 mile run straight to the west coast because that’s ‘what trucking is all about’. Then they realize, some weeks are nothing but 500 mile runs. Some weeks happen to be bad days at warehouses and they sit for 20 hours total in a dock for the week. Then, they get upset and think the megas are singling them out and hate them, and their only option is to move on to a different company after they get a year of experience.

They switch jobs to a medium or small carrier and realize they’re doing the exact same thing they did at the mega, except they get 4cpm more and slightly friendlier office staff. Now they realize “dang, trucking isn’t always sunshine and rainbows”. They’re now better at time management, have more patience and understanding of things not always being great, and are a better driver overall. They’re earning a bit more and having a better experience. They probably could’ve had that same experience if they moved onto a dedicated account, got some seniority, requested a different driver manager, etc. at their mega carrier job. But, they didn’t and now they’re too prideful to ever consider working at a mega, and they don’t want to be the odd one out to say “y’know, Knight (as an example, I don’t know much about them) is actually a pretty good employer and the perks of megas, such as multiple terminals, brand new equipment, drop and hooks, benefits, etc. is really nice. I think it’s better employment than Random Joe Trucking”.

 

No matter how many spins you put on it the facts speak
for themselves or polishing a turd will not turn it into a
golden apple. Self insured Mega loves to suck in, vomit
out as many new drivers as they can the cost of training+
misc, all of it is covered in two to three weeks driving, the
rest is .44 cents to .75 or whatever the pay is for the noob
while they service almost uninterrupted contracts at pre
negotiated long term rates, having a limitless pool of truckers
is the uninterrupted part or their contract gets terminated.

10 million CDL license holders vs 3.5 million trucking jobs,
6.5 million of those can't be accidents, DUI, failed drug tests,
retired, failed DOT medical, this was a good blue collar job
at some point but since we are in a intentional 'Shopkeeper
economy' its just another rainbow flavored turd. Oh and we
are in a forever 'Trucker shortage' gee I wonder why. Basically
if a 100 people get a CDL, 65 say f this bs and Kiss My ##* to
the Trucking profession in their own special way.

 

I started off at Schneider National, a mega.

1.9-2.5 stars is about right, honestly, but I won't often badmouth them. I mean, they took an office worker and made him into a driver, and provided me with the experience that allowed me to move on to jobs that pay more than double what they paid me.

They're not a good company to stay at, but a good company to eventually leave for the right opportunity.

 

One thing you need to know about megas. They are a large business, and like most large businesses they have a policy for everything If you learn the policies and use them to your advantage they tend to be ok places to work. If you ignore the policies then you won't last long.

 

There’s a huge percentage of people that get into trucking because they

1. are mentally lazy and never learned how to LISTEN and follow instructions
2. suck at everything
3. rate their own lives at 1.9-2.5 on average
4. have zero work ethic and zero work experience and lived in Granny’s basement and smoked weed and played video games until they had to finally get out and find a place to live when Granny died.

Megas aren’t good, but I’ve seen worse. But then, I haven’t been a rookie since God was talking to Moses. An experienced driver would rate things differently from a rookie. Any place that caters to rookies will have a lower rating. Especially the ones that send recruiters to schools with pre hire letters. That company will instantly scoop out all the scum in the trucking school with one swipe.

 

Every time I read a post like this I remember the majority of the folks I went to school with and it all makes sense. They're the ones writing those reviews...lol.. If you're any good at reading people you can pick out the ones that will make it and the ones that won't right from the get go.

 

I believe 90% of trucking companies are shady in general. However, Mega's are just the bigger ship versions that take an much longer time in reaction time to become acknowledged of the 2. Yes, there will always be that Manager who wants to mess with a drivers check or that Dispatcher when favorites other drivers at the end of the day. I just say speak out and stand up when something is wrong. It recently, happened to me and I was going to simply leave and the company owner (mind you this is a smaller fleet not a Mega) talked to me and researched my concerns & issues to resolve them. However, I'm always on the edge so I am still watching for other problems in case they arrive. I never believe on trusting a company 100% so never let your guard down.