Triple Crown Services Co, - Fort Wayne, In.?

its going really well with them, there is no shortage of freight that's for sure. my pay check for the week of thanksgiving will be a little smaller due to me taking turkey day off, BUT I am making up for it this week for sure.

I just picked up a few trailers headed down to Dallas full of washing machines! If you like making money while being home every night you will love triple crown!

 

Thanks!!! I appreciate the info.
Now my major problem is I'm not an O/O!
Now I will have to look into investing in a truck!

 

I don't know if you have a certain favorite make/model of a truck but I went through Freightliner's first time truck buyer program and have nothing but good things to say about it. I didn't WANT a freightliner but I ended up getting a real nice used Century with $1000 down. Before I came to pickup the truck the dealer put the truck through the shop and went over the truck from top to bottom repairing or replacing anything that was broken. Got a free DOT inspection too. They also offer a 200k mile warranty if you choose to pay the extra cash for it.

 

Thanks! Come this spring I will be checking TC out, it's on my radar! I'm not oppossed to freightliners but I'm not sure if I want to jump into truck ownership and a new job right away. Does triple crown have any owner operators that need drivers? That would work out sweet, sort of do a trial run with the intermodel freight world! All I know is hauling livestock, I don't want to be job hopper but I also don't want to make a commitment to a job(buy buying a truck for a certain) then finding out it's not going to work, or that people are not the best to work with, digg it.?

Did you buy your truck at select trucks?, that is sort of the route I am thinking. I would like to get something with some kind of warrenty a little peace of mind!! That would be a disaster buying a truck, then having the engine or rear end go out! That would be an O/O worst nightmare!!

 

Yes triple crown has "fleet owners" or "multiple truck owners" whatever you want to call it. If you call recruiting to talk about a job make sure you mention that, I believe they have a list to put you on then the truck owners who need drivers can contact you.

You are right about owning a truck, It was a pretty intimidating road for me to go down. I'm going on 10 years of driving and all I ever knew was being a company driver. It's like starting all over and being new again. Also yes I bought my truck from selectrucks they really are geared towards the first time o/o and making sure you don't fail with in your first 2 years. if you go to a selectrucks dealer and get a truck make sure you give them my name! they will send me a $200 fuel card if you do haha, it's not much but I'll take any fuel that's free!

 

Since I'm strategically located in Elkhart, Indiana for their fort wayne, detroit and chicago terminals, would It be an advantage? or since I'm located more than 50 miles away from any specific terminal, would I not be considered?
Also, since I want to be an O/O, but haven't been before, Could I start in a Ryder rental, paying Close to $2200/month for a couple of months to determine whether this place is for me, and then buy a decent truck upon that determined time?
One more question. Since I don't have a year experience, say for instance I made a deal with someone like bgreyhart or just someone with a year experience to be the 'lead' driver. Could I partner with him or would they (or any other company with the same requirements of one year experience) disqualify me because every driver in the truck needs the one year experience?

 

Wow, maybe I should look into getting on with these guys then. Any TC dispatchers/recruiters do you have any work in the Newark (NJ) Yards?

 

I'd give them a call and talk to them. I know at our yard we are busy busy busy. I got sent into the Harrisburg PA yard last week and they were busy there too, not sure about the Bethlehem yard though. I almost had to run out there then got turned around to head back to Ohio.

Here is a link to their number http://www.triplecrownsvc.com/OOOps.html

 

Hi there kc8yhc, thanks for the info, I used to pull containers a few years ago in OR, ID and WA, but I moved to FL a few months ago; I'm pulling a reefer but I'm looking for more home time. I know there is a TC terminal in Jax FL, and TC seems like a good company to work for. I miss pulling containers because the pay per mile was better, they would pay round trip so you would go loaded and return empty and I was home very often, could you tell me what it is your average week after pay for fuel and deductions? Are you working every weekend? February used to be the slowest month, are you guys busy? I know it may be different in FL but any info helps....How much did you paid for having the qualcomm installed in your truck? I used to have really long long days because of delays in rail terminals and containers yards is that your case? do you use paper logs? are TC terminals in good shape? rail terminals? I used to go to really bad places for the tractor, a lot o dirty places and roads really bad. I know you're maybe busy but thank you for your help...Pilot 500

 

after all the deductions like Insurance, baseplates, qualcomm, fuel, reserve fund, ect I am getting about $1,500 a week in my hands. Sometimes it's more, sometimes its less. We have to work every other weekend, you get to pick what day though.

I didn't have to pay to get the qualcomm installed in my truck but they do charge you $15 a week just to use it, and you don't have the option of NOT using one. If you ever change trucks then you have to pay to have it moved into your new truck, unless you do it yourself.

We don't have many delay's. You come into the yard, drop your trailer and find your next trailer (loaded or empty) hook up and get out. Almost all of what we do is drop-n-hook... at least that's the case at our terminal. This week we had to do a little waiting around but that's because we are so crazy busy that the trains can't keep up and supply us with enough empty trailers.

The terminal's are really NOTHING to brag about. Our "terminal" is mostly all dirt with a small building (referred to as the "Gatehouse") that has a break room with men's and women's restroom's and a small area for the drivers to hand in or receive BOL's. The FL terminal could be a diff story though, I haven't been there.

If you like to be home A LOT then TC is a good company. I might stay out overnight 2-4 nights a month. But the thing I don't like is that they claim NO FORCED DISPATCH but that isn't the case. If I try and turn down a load my terminal manager is on the phone calling me.

Honestly you could make more money as an OTR driver with another company, but you can't have OTR pay with TC's home time. If you have any other questions feel free to ask me anything.