Moving To Knight Soon

It's not entirely click-bait! After my year with CR England, it's looking like I'll be hopping over to Knight. They're offering me pretty much more of everything(sign-on bonus, extra dime per mile, I-5 corridor with more home time, etc).

That's it! I will also say that this isn't 100% certain yet. I won't consider it certain until I get on my truck, but I'm told I have a spot at their July 31st experienced driver orientation so it's looking good. Also, I suppose I should apologize if this is somehow against the forum rules. My recruiter said it's perfectly acceptable as far as they're concerned.

Before the questions get asked, the reason I'm leaving England is quite simple: Knight is offering comparable miles but with higher pay and better routes. England has NOT been paying me poorly, and I am still a huge proponent of them. The only complaints I ever had about them was that others pay more(which will still be the case at Knight, just not quite as much) and they had a tendency to be impersonal. Neither of them I fault them with, they're still paying decent and within industry norms, and pretty much any large company is going to be a tad on the impersonal side.

Good luck with your decision

Dan, you do what you gotta do. I personally started at Central Refrigerated (Pre-Swift Buyout) and was at .32cpm at the end of my first year. I then went to Prime and started at .44cpm with them. That was a significant increase in pay and looking back now I can safely say it was the right decision.

The only Knight driver I know is Old School but I'm not sure if he would jump on your offer. Good luck sir and very kind of you.

I had a friend kind of shrug off when I mentioned the 10 cent raise. Makes me realize how adjusted to this life I've become, as they're thinking 'oh, 10 cents an hour. That's not much.' But figure 2,000 miles a week, that's an extra $200 a week, $800 a month, and $9,600 a year! Assuming my math is correct...

Dan R. wrote:

...and they (CR England) had a tendency to be impersonal.

Geez that's an interesting point, one that I cannot resist commenting on and one that I wish you would expand on. My experience with Swift has never been impersonal. I mean never. However, I work at making myself anything but forgettable in a positive, highly professional and enduring way. Honestly if you want personal treatment, make an effort to stand-out from the endless parade of folks "just-passin'-thru". Trust me, it's not all that difficult.

If the present merger plan filed with the SEC, Knight/Swift will become the largest trucking entity in the US. They will employ over 25,000 drivers. Regardless each Driver Manager only has a limited number of drivers on their board, 75-100. Your relationship with them is the one that really matters and needs to be constantly cultivated. If after a year at CRE, I hope that you have learned and realized this. No different at Knight...just read any of the writings of Old School about his relationships with Knight dispatch. Worth a read...search on his name and the word relationship. You'll get lots of hits.

Good luck!

Keep in mind (it may have changed) that Knight works on a sliding pay scale. You'll make more there than you will at CR most likely but if the number they quoted was the top end of the scale, you'll rarely see that rate because it's usually on really short mile loads. Don't let that deter you though, Knight is still a good company, I have several friends still working there.

G-Town, I don't think I made myself clear enough on what I meant by impersonal. With my DM it was very personal! But after hours, departments like payroll, logs, etc, any contact with them was impersonal in that I feel like they would have treated me the same if what they were getting from my truck was computer generated messages instead of a call. Even with my DM, but especially elsewhere, there were things that could give it a personal touch that would be incredibly easy to implement. Like with my DM, I always call from the same number, caller ID has been around for decades now, why do I give my truck number to him instead of, for instance, him picking up the phone with "hey Dan, how's it going?" Departments like logs could theoretically be the same way, or when they ask my driver code or whatnot, at least take a moment to look up my name to give it a more personal touch. Trust me, though, the DM and I are close. We keep meaning to get together when I'm in SLC, but the jerk keeps giving me loads right away(lol)!

Dang it, premature hitting the submit button!

Yes, Robert, I realize they're on a sliding scale. The dime raise is based on the lowest pay on that scale. It's a great improvement. :D

I like you Dan.

But your DM will answer the phone saying your name and without asking for a truck number once you are one of his elite, top drivers. As much as you say you two are close, I hate to break it to you but you're not as close as you think you are if he still struggles with this.

I have had 5 dispatchers and every single one of them answered with something along the lines of "Hey how you doing Daniel what can I help you with?". It took time but if you're really one of his go-to guys he will know you by name.

My wife is actually an OTR dispatcher so I know a ton about all the behind the scenes stuff. They'll know your name if you're worth remembering.

And don't expect that kind of attention from any department. Won't happen anywhere you go and its silly that it bothers you that much. I understand the low pay concern so let's just stick to that reason.

I'm top of the fleet in productivity, safety, miles, and on-time arrival(okay, this last one is a several way tie, but not having zero lates is obviously a great way to get on the DM's s*** list). For someone that doesn't know a single thing about how I drive, you're seem quite sure of yourself that you know how good I am, even better than the actual measurable facts. What I was referring to from the beginning is that by integrating caller ID into their system, they could give things a more personal touch. From the DM into the other departments. My whole point was that it would be nice, not that it was a reason for me leaving anywhere, that it keeps me up at night, or bothers me to any great extent. Just one of those things that if given a desk in corporate to ride that I'd see about changing.

The reason I'm switching, as I stated in the first post, is that all of the benefits improve on the good ones I'm getting in England right now.