What to ask of a recruter

"Are you willing to put down all of your answers in writing?"

 

Employer Questionarre-
•How they dispatch loads (cell, qualcomm, preplanned) (dispatching and load planning)

•Is dispatched forced or non forced

•Safety Rating of the Company

•What things they pay you for and how much...layover, stop pay, loading/unloading,tarp,short hauls,X Crossing,Detention Pay

*AVG weekly gross pay for the Company

*AVG weekly miles for the company

*AVG yearly income

*AVG Haul Length

•Whether they pay using HHG, Practical Miles, Actual Miles or Hub Miles

*empty and loaded miles paid equally?

•How often you will get home

•What type of equipment you will be operating (apu?,Idle restrictions?)

•Retirement and benefits plans available (dental, vision, health,Paid Vacation)

•Insurance costs (Single and/or Family depending on your needs)

•Tuition Reimbursement

•If you have assigned equipment or slipped seating

•Turn Over Rate at the Company (Industry average OTR is 90% 2013)

•If there is a rider program/policy (if that is important to you)

*Fleet Options (specialized?)

*Governed Speed?

*Paper logs or EOBR?

 

Ask them to tell you the truth , and not the made up story they have written on a piece of paper they tell everyone else
oh wait they aren't gonna give you that yet , until after you start ..

 

pay,hometime,benifit package,and no east coast. that should about cover the important stuff. all the rest is just fluff. lots of luck on your choice

 

What is the difference between all these?

 

To the OP - I know you are new here and probably don't get the lack of respect many of us have for some of these companies, but if you want to know about these companies and trucking this is the place to ask all theses questions - not the recruiter: what they do know they will lie about. What they don't know they will BS about. They are like the worst used car salesman ever:

They are all dispatched about the same; the exact details of the planning or dispatch is what will matter to you but that information is proprietary and will not come out a recruiters mouth
.

Those are two terms that have little meaning now days. Non-forced dispatch companies will retaliate against you if you turn down loads just like forced dispatch.

Forced dispatch is just a form of coercion to take a responsibility for a load that un-doable, unmanageable, or illegal. What ever a company calls themselves check and do not accept a load that that will get you in trouble.

All the companies you listed have a crappy rating. Look them up. Better to ask the recruiter why they have a crappy rating? Ask them how their 100% turnover effects there crappy rating? Why they care so little about their safety rating and their drivers?

They all claim they pay this stuff. But with few exceptions they work hard to cheat the driver out of this pay they promise. It is a rare day when you get payed what you got promised. Better consider it just BS like they do. Ask them why they cheat their drivers out of pay? Ask them why they just don't pay drivers fairly by the hour?

Here is the great opportunity to BS you and they will. As a driver for these companies you will average 1700 miles a week at .25cpm with average haul of 600 miles. That means before taxes you will earn $425 a week and each load will waste two of your working days. Sound good? No, that is why recruiters lie. Those are the basic facts of the trucking industry. Ask them about that.

This question illustrates the various ways trucking companies cheat the driver out of pay. If you pay piece work you should pay hub mile: That is all the miles the truck rolls. Almost no companies pay that.

Actual miles is nearly fair in paying the typical miles the truck rolls in the course of work. That seldom happens.

Practical mile pays the driver on the shortest practical route. That route is likely not to be practical at all: It will often not be the same as the company routes you. It will be the shortest route that can be found on the map: often not even a truck route, often on a rural road, through 100 small towns, and cutting across someone's back yard. All just to shorten the pay the driver deserves.

HHG - House Hold movers Guide. Is the chart in the back of the the Rand McNally atlas. Years ago it was a poor way of estimating the costs and bills for trucking companies. It underestimates and rounds road distances between major cities not actual locations. Despicable trucking companys use this chart to round approximate locations down and then subtract a few more miles for good measure. They then use this lower number in determining what to pay the driver for the load. These same companies will then plan the load time with google maps.

Most companies are the same on this. What you want to ask is how long will they waste you time before they dead head you out of a place with no frieght?

Again the answer will be the same and a lie at that. They all want to keep you away from home as long as possible; planning is just easier when the driver never gets home.

Does this matter? Most drivers are at these training companies less than 8 months! You will get no retirement.

This too is all the same for all these training companies. Although reported turnover is closer to 100% and often over. Real turnover is higher yet.

You may think I am just being a smart-arse, but these are the issues I would throw in a recruiters face. You may want to or not. Just, do not suck up their BS like gravy. Bottom line is no matter how much you piss off and ridicule these recruiters the mega-crap will still hire you as a qualified inexperienced driver. Just do not give your name to the recruiter and your application will be processed just the same. I say have fun with them and tell everybody here their BS answers. People here will straighten out the BS for you.

 

Save your breath. Doesn't matter what you ask a recruiter they're going to blow smoke up your ###.