Two years on at May

Hey all-

Just wanted to put some infos. out there about my experiences with May Trucking and “why” I have stayed with them for two whole years even though they were my starter company.

When I got my CDL in ‘21 my record was NOT pretty, I had three visible tickets with one of those being well in excess of 25 mph over posted, and we all know what THAT does to you, let alone the fatality accident in which I lost my Wife in ‘19 ( not at fault).
They put me through orientation for five days, sent me on a drive to Yolo, California with a guy from the Safety Dpt. for two days and cut me loose in a then fairly new ‘21 Cascadia and then the real fun commenced!

My first six months were the roughest, I got sent everywhere in the 11 State regional service area starting in late October so Cabbage was my first taste of snow, Wyoming winds out past Cheyenne, torrential rains and flooding here in Oregon, a freaking blizzard on Snoqualmie that I got turned around in due to closure and then drove down with NO chains as I couldn’t figure out how to attach them properly, to say it was rough would be a slight understatement! Sick as a dog stuck at the Ontario Love’s for Thanksgiving with food poisoning from the Subway there was a memorable low point.

But somehow I made it for six months, and feeling salty I asked the head of Driver Development what I was doing wrong to not be making the miles he talked about during orientation. Well, he looked at my numbers and came back at me with a proposition- I could leave the regular and regional fleets and join dedicated, which they had just recently started. The runs were either Portland to Tacoma or Portland to Ontario, California and they would pay a .10 a mile bonus if you hit ten thousand for all miles driven. You could take a 34 every week and either take the truck home if it was truck friendly or use POV if you live close (I do/did).

So making a long story somewhat shorter that is what I have been doing for the last 19 months. My base CPM is higher than what our competitors offer even BEFORE the bonuses, which they do not. I understand there is more money to be made and our trucks are slower than anything on the road but if you plan well and anticipate you can make pretty good money while still getting home weekly. Backhauls are problematic sometimes but since I am Dedicated and have a bit of seniority I don’t sit in LA for three days waiting on a load, it is very seldom even 24.

I have heard them called “no pay May” but I am earning almost 20k more a year then I had planned for by this time in my career in this and they treat me very decently including letting me go home whenever I want, take my dog with me since day 1, and drive trucks that are never more than 3 years old. My new Wife loves that I am home at least once a week and many times twice, I have a great deal of autonomy since not only am I in the dedicated fleet but my DM says I make his job easier because I usually have everything all worked out and all I need to do is let him know what we are doing, letting him focus on keeping me moving.

I for sure could make more money but money isn’t everything, sometimes not hating the people you work with/for is worth something, not having cameras pointed at you so some fat slob who has never left his cubicle lecturing you about Safety every time you pick your nose is worth something, and being trusted to take off with a quarter of a million dollars worth of tractor, trailer and load solo to prove yourself is also worth something.

My experiences may not be typical but I applied myself, kept out of the drama, kept my record clean and tried to be accepting of criticisms and new ways of doing things and it has turned out pretty well. My Wife is most likely going to get her CDL here in five years when she retires and then our plan is to do the O/O boogie although we still need to find our “niche”, but I have owned a successful business before that lasted well in excess of 20 years so I have a few skills I developed there, plus she has massive financial skills due to her occupation working at U of O.

Sorry if this was real long and potentially boring but I have heard a lot of negatives about May and I just wanted to share that not everyone’s experience is poor and that they have been an excellent company towards me so far, enough to where I have stayed for over two years.