Working for smaller companies

Smaller companies are SOOOOOOO much better. The lack of grief factor alone. I've worked for two that had about 40 trucks. I'll go back to the one when I go regional again.

1) You are a name. First name. You know everyone inside as well !!!!!!
2) No F QUALCOMM.
3) It's big boy trucking, these are the messages they want to here ; loaded, empty. Everything else is spam.
4) One paid every two weeks, one every week, both direct deposit.
5) Both, especially the one, kept me moving. The one I'm going back to would run you until you died if that's what you wanted.
6) Both of these I was leased on to, so I made excellent money.
7) One did trip paks, one I dropped the paper at the office once a week, no muss no fuss.
8) Truck is not governed, again company it might be.
9) Just the lack of BS, the lack of the Mother Loving QUALCOMM.
10) The one guy has company trucks, and they have insurance & vacation.
11) One's orientation was about 15 minutes. The other about a day.

All that being said, I'm doing a local right now for Schneider, I have to be home, and the bosses in our little niche do not mess with us, or at least me. My loads are all planned, I go balls to the wall 12 to 13 hours a day, 5 days a week. I have a good tractor. Its a daycab DD15 Cascadia, but its in good shape, and has a kick ### A/C.

Bad parts is I make less than half, or maybe about half, of what I was making described above. The QUALCOMM. The 97,000 QUALCOMM screens I rifle through ZOMG. My truck will do............ I don't know. I'm only supposed to go 59 top speed, but I think it will go up to 65, but 59 is where they want you.

For me the lack of the MEGA BIG BROTHER is worth a lot. You work off your phone lol.
That's why I through the Schneider thing out there, I'm about fair play, and they haven't been bad at all. But I'm in a little click of like 6 or 8 drivers, I don't imagine its like that in the OTR world.

 

If you've never been 1099 get some advice from those who have, everything from taxs to retirement to medical insurance is your problem. They can tell you if that great pay is really that great in the long run.

 

I guess I should have been more specific about my first answer; you are looking for specific answers to each question.

When asking about pay: you need to know how much you get payed, what is the pay based on, do you get any accessorial pay or bonus, and who doesn't get the bonus or accessorial pay.

Here is the deal. The more complicated the pay system the more likely you are to be cheated. Lots of accessorial and bonuses tell me the guy is not intending you to pay you much. Percentage often means he hauls cheep freight and will work over his numbers before he lets you see them.

When asking who and what you haul: Again your looking for specifics: You want to hear he has a contract running this stuff from xyz company. Then you want to hear about his backhaul in the same amount of detail. If he tells you he has a broker or runs off a load board be leery. Their isn't that much option for paying you good money if he is competing with the megas.

An honest employer will give have no problem giving you specifics about his business. He want's it to be run his way and will tell you about it. A guy that is skimming details is looking to fill a seat.

Example: We haul general freight, and out drivers average $60k. BS! Someone , other then the office gal, answers questions like that is looking to sell a job to a chump.

Catch phrases, like growing business, average income, based on your needs, 4000k miles a week, ect are all salesman catch phrases and reasons to forget the job. The same with 1099!

When asking about the safety record I am not looking for a specific answer. Before I apply to the company I have looked up the safety record. I am looking how honest this guy is with me. He wants to talk about it great. He squirms or he wants to avoid the facts or claims he doesn't know what his company has done, I hit the road. The guy can't be honest with his safety, he won't be honest with me. Their are always more trucking jobs.

 

Stay the heck away from these little 1099 companies! I can't stress this enough. You'll have no employee benefits and will be left holding the bag for a lot of IRS debt.

 

1099 means your going to pay your own social security taxes. They call it self employment tax. Right now as an employee, you 7.5% of your gross for S.S. tax, your employer pays matches that. If your are 1099'd you are an independent contractor, your going to pay the whole 15%, employer pays nothing.
As an IC you will have to get health insurance or eat the Obama penalty.
Your going to pay $600 or $800 for a proper tax return at the end of the year. You also have to pay your taxes quarterly, not just at the end of the year, or you will pay penalty & interest on the quarters you didn't send in, if you pay it all at the end of the year, and that can be a couple thousand dollars just in P&I, just cause you didn't file, and pay it like your supposed to.

Basically your becoming a businessman as well as a driver.

I've heard of guys spending 500 or 600 month for insurance. That's bananas. Your 23, if your healthy, just get blue cross, and your good.

Guys get in trouble with the taxes. You have to file and pay your taxes on time. If your up to the task, and want to be on your own someday, it could be for you, cause your gonna learn how all this works, and its a stepping stone to where you want to end up.

If you just want to drive, don't do it.

If you do any kind of lease, its 1099. 1099 for a company driver? Meh, I don't think I'd do that.

 

I agree with ya!

 

Your gut sees those $$$ lol.
Just get a book keeping service or an accountant near your home, and keep up with your taxes, get blue shield, and you won't lose your ###.
One in every four checks is for the taxman, just remember that, as long as you have the discipline you will be ok.