Trade Fair At Humber College In Toronto This Coming Saturday (January 30, 2016)

Here's the flyer.

You'll note some USA companies have Canadian operations. Yeah, y'all knew that. Questions I should ask each company?

1. Tuition Reimbursement: how much, time period it's paid over.

2. Training/Orientation program: requirements to pass, does trainer sit in jump seat, how long is team driving if any.

3. CPM.

4. Increase in CPM for years of experience.

5. Types of freight,

6. Region of operation.

7. Other forms of pay (tarping, etc.), excluding bonuses.

8. Safety bonus, mpg bonus.

9. Size of fleet.

10. Make/type of tractors used.

Those are ten I can think of. I don't want to ask too many questions, so I'm looking for a few more, or better ones to replace what I have.

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Asking all those questions wasn't easy. Well, I'd not say it was impossible, but mostly the battery in my tablet gave out before I could ask more than two representatives. I'll try to give you the best report I can.

The majority of companies there were general goods carriers. There were three private fleets: Pepsi, Coca Cola, and Cascade, and one foodservice delivery company - Coremark. Everyone was willing to talk to new drivers, or prospective drivers except for Harmac. They were looking for drivers with hazmat and two years of experience.

In all companies were offering 37-41cpm starting out. The Easson's people said that they had a training program. Much like a US company they'd train you for CDL , give you on the job (or OTR) training, then let you loose with a truck of your own. They were looking for a two year commitment. It was pretty busy and crowded at some tables at some times. I didn't talk with the Schneider or Werner people, so they may have a program like Easson's. The majority of companies do x-border business, so a passport and FAST certification was a must.

In all I felt like I was told the truth about most things. Yes, they were recruiting and trying to paint a rosy picture, but they weren't out to sign folks into lease contracts right there, either. I guess that comes later ;-).

The only thing that felt hinky to me was one guys description about pay. Yeah, he said it was pay for performance, I knew that, and that the driver that hustled would get more than the one that didn't, that's fair. The hinky part was his comparison of two hypothetical drivers to Laredo. He said the guy that takes 2.5 days to drive to Laredo (from Mississauga Ontario) would be able to turn get a return load and make out better than a driver that made the trip to Laredo in 3.5 days. I said, "two and a half days, is that possible?" "Sure," he said, "we have guys that do it all the time." So I'd like to make this a question for the experienced drivers.How do you drive to Laredo TX from Mississauga Ontario, a trip of roughly 1,840 miles, in two and a half days?

At 50 mph it will take 36.8 hours.. Was this a team company??? Depending on what the truck is governed at you can get 660 miles in 11 hours at least. Then a 10 break then 660 miles in 11.. That's 32 hours with 1320 miles. Now all you need is another 520 miles... But that's running hard and I doubt they do that all the time.. But doable.

Sean O. I think you're on to something. I was naive in my thinking about days. The trucks are dispatched solo, and may be governed to 105 km/h. I thought about this and came up with possible trip plan that is 53 hours from start to end. It does not allow for a lot of delays (just 1hour at the border really). As two and a half days is sixty hours, this is kind of in the ball park, what I was getting hung up on was the days of driving. if you drive 11, 11, and 9 hours you don't really have a half day of driving left. Heck, if you have a live unload you may have no day left.

Yes, if you hustle you could make it to Laredo in under sixty hours, but you'd not be able to leave Monday and return before midnight Friday, or would you? Argh, I don't have time to look at maps and create make believe spreadsheets.

TY for your answer, Sean O.

Thanks for the info, Michael.

Are you quoting the cpm in CAD or USD?

Thanks for the info, Michael.

Are you quoting the cpm in CAD or USD?

The CPM was $CDN, some of the companies had a few more CPM other activities, safety bonus, on time bonus, different region bonus, etc. I think one or two even had a few more CPM for deliveries in the USA. Those were companies that serviced Ontario to the Maritimes, and parts of the NE USA.