Still Alive (Barely LOL), Updates, And Company Search.

Greetings to the men and women here on Trucking Truth. I know that it's been what seems like forever since I have been on here, especially when it comes to replying to a comment or posting a topic.

Last time I remember talking on here, I was a newbie trucker and was jumping from company to company. I was working at local company in Rustburg/Lynchburg VA area called Englander Transportation. Teamed with a trainer running reefer for a few months (Oct 2016 to March 2017) before we finally needed to break the team up (especially when you cross the line talking about my girlfriend plus attitude). I was eventually teamed up with another guy for 3 more months (April to July 2017) before we both decided to leave the company (low pay, company more focused on inbound cameras being covered instead of repairing equipment). So I went from teaming up with two different guys and gained more confidence. More importantly, I gained critical experience that made me feel more comfortable handling that truck going down the road.

I decided to take my first adventure into going solo, JB Hunt running dedicated with RR Donnelly. Because they have one just a few minutes from the house and I can bobtail or deadhead home, OTR for 12-14 days and home for 3 straight. I had a great relationship with my dispatchers, and my Fleet Manager was a character that you could BS with. I had been running with them since August.

So yeah I have survived my first winter as a SOLO truck driver, barely though. Driving through Atlanta on 285 and 20 with the roads not even touched by DOT , OK on 35 with ice coming down and 7 accidents happen in 5 miles. But these Nor'easters were messy. Unfortunately, I wasn't going to run Thursday (3/22) with 76,000 lbs load going down 77/81 into WV/VA mountains in the middle of a Nor'easter. Especially when law enforcement says stay off roads and already had 20 accidents on 81 alone in a couple hours. Heck even PA had a truck ban!

Things tend to change and unfortunately, the stress within was catching up because they pay by Postal Code mileage instead of Practical mileage. Just this past 5 days I ran, drove almost 3300 miles but was only "paid" for 2900 due to PC, that's miles I run that's not being paid for. Adds up over time as we all know. From Day 1 to this past Tuesday, I've ran 67k miles, but only paid for 47k. Those 20k miles add up to $9000. More reasons I had to leave was: The account is going downhill (via down-sizing), start of the year they had taken Love's off our fuel stop network, and now they're taking one of our home days away.

Now I was talking to a buddy of mine who's been driving for 9 years, running as an independent contractor with Roadrunner. Now, I was all set on calling them when I decided to check in before coming across Brett's article about the risk/reward ratio of being an Owner Op or Lease Purchase. That's another wake up call, and back to looking for another company.

Absolutely don't go to Roadrunner!

Absolutely don't go to Roadrunner!

Packrat, can you elaborate? Have you had experience with those guys? How did you come up with this warning?

Hi. Glad you made your first year and survived winter.

i want to point out a couple things though. Just because the company chose not to include Loves in their network does not mean they are down sizing or in financial jeopardy. Prime stopped using TA and Petro last year for a short period and it was about the discount. TA wanted to decrease our discount so prime decreased our demand. A few months later, back to TA we went with a better discount. CFI only uses Pilot/Flying J. It is all about the discounts, not necessarily about the trucking companys stability.

Also, many companies do not pay actual miles. If they paid the actual miles you drive, drivers would have a tendency to drive the long route every time and choose the furthest parking from the customer. Drivers would "get lost" more often to increase their pay.

Many companies use zip code to zip code or HHG (Household to Household Guide) miles. There can be a 10% difference.

HUB miles are actual.miles as in how many miles the HUB turned. This is when you are paid for every mile,, including laps around a customer or truck stop. Drivers can easily abuse this and is why it is not cost wffective for carriers.

Practical miles are a "practical truck route" which can still be more miles than HUB miles.

AJ find a company that pays practical miles. According to rand mcnally PC miles are the closest to the actual with about a 10% loss. Congrats to your friend at roadrunner for his sucess, they have had their up/downs for several years as a few others have. They were leasing trucks with Quality leasing headquartered in Indianapolis. Stay away from those folks as you can get. I know first hand the history there and Please stay away from them. I can give you more details if you want. I know people see dollar signs when these companies start talking leasing. I don’t recommend it at all. I did it for awhile and made slightly more than I did as a company driver on practical miles. Just wasn’t worth it too me. IF you were going to do that I would find me a truck and buy it on my own, then lease it on to a company and it would have to be one paying percentage not mileage. I wish you the best

A.J. I run zip code miles and have never experienced a 30% deviation from actual mileage.

I run zip code miles and have never experienced anything near the gap you claimed. On average it's plus or minus 10%, and in the long run sometimes in the driver's favor, sometimes not. But it balances out.

JB Hunt is a really good company. Incredibly successful. You have jumped around slot...I'd think twice before jumping to yet another carrier.

CFI pays practical miles. Also, we are paid on dispatch. They work to hive us an average of 2500 miles per week. They few drivers I'm friends with and myself average that. Almost all of my trips are within a few miles of what is dispatched. We pull dry van. And yes, we fuel at Pilot/Flying J. We have one or two Love's and T/As in our fuel network as well. Hope that helps.

I second what Rainey said about discounts. Wolding, which pays practical miles, stopped using Love's for over a year. Then they finally came back with a decent discount. Majority of our fuel stops are TA/Petro. Next in line is Love's now with a few choice Pilots/Flying J/ Road Ranger thrown in.

Absolutely don't go to Roadrunner!

Packrat, can you elaborate? Have you had experience with those guys? How did you come up with this warning?

As in don't go lease purchase.