Improving Our Trucking Company Information

Ok....the list has been updated!

Deb - the policy for female trainers with male drivers and the waiting time for female trainers is now on the list.

Barbara - the hiring requirements will include whether or not they tolerate felonies, DUI's, accidents, tickets, and the like.

Scott - detention, extra stop, and other pay will be included under the pay section

Nomad Girl - the type of freight they haul will be listed under "Freight Types"

We're gettin there! More ideas?

Brett under per diem it would help them if you could list how much if any a company is keeping. With some companies keeping 2 or 3 CPM this can be an important figure to compare if a driver is considering per diem.

The most asked question of all time... DOT Drug Testing: Urinalysis or Hair Follicle?

Something else that occurred to me that might be useful would be if, once you've amassed this wealth of knowledge, it were organized into a table for quick reference and comparison.

Not that you don't already have enough on your plate.

Something else that occurred to me that might be useful would be if, once you've amassed this wealth of knowledge, it were organized into a table for quick reference and comparison.

Not that you don't already have enough on your plate.

You mean it's not fast enough to have all the info on one page and it's to slow to actually have to scroll down for more info or to click a link to go directly to the companies website to gets more info?

What's the point of gathering all the info on a company THEN condense all down to a quick overview which would mean having to leave some info out?

it were organized into a table for quick reference and comparison.

That's the biggest reason I'm redoing this section. I want everyone to be able to sort companies by any data we can think of - starting pay, types of freight, hiring areas, regional opportunities, number of trucks - anything and everything.

So you'll basically have two ways of looking at the information:

1) The first type of view will be by trucking company. You'll click on the name of a company and see all of the information for that company

2) The second type of view will be by feature. You'll be able to select a feature like starting pay, length of training, brand of truck, types of freight, etc - and it will list that feature for every company. So for instance if you want to bring a dog with you, you'll simply click on "pet policy" and it will list the pet policies for every company. If you want to be home every weekend you'll click on "home time policies" and you'll see how often each company can get you home.

You'll also be able to do things like put in your zip code and see only the companies that hire from your area or put in your experience and only see companies that hire at your experience level - things like that.

Over the years I've found that there are as many unique sets of preferences and circumstances as there are people in the world so I want to make it really easy for people to quickly find the companies that suit them best.

Maybe recheck the information on costs, etc. I am Starting with Central on the 2nd of June and the costs are different. The total is now 3900 taken out in deductions. There also is a deduction for the pre paid housing. The total ends up free for the tuition if you stay for 26 months. If you stay for 13 they pay for half. It kind of points out the free versus financed reality of company schools. Thank you also for this great place to come and get the facts about the business. I find myself really getting to know people through their diaries and posts. The old adage work hard and be nice and you will go far still works.

It's really useful to be able to look at what is possible with these different companies. I'm strictly going for daily home time so going down the list and control+f for "daily" lets me know whats there fast. Then I look for experience required, and then terminal locations. I've already found a couple of companies that fit my criteria, but can someone explain to me what "Hiring Area" means? Does that tell me what states a company will and will not hire employees from? And does "Operating Area" indicate the states where the companies trucks will or will not actually drive in?

So if a company both hires and operates in Arkansas, but only has a terminal in Mississippi , does that mean the Arkansas driver must move to live near that terminal in Mississippi?

It's really useful to be able to look at what is possible with these different companies. I'm strictly going for daily home time so going down the list and control+f for "daily" lets me know whats there fast. Then I look for experience required, and then terminal locations. I've already found a couple of companies that fit my criteria, but can someone explain to me what "Hiring Area" means? Does that tell me what states a company will and will not hire employees from? And does "Operating Area" indicate the states where the companies trucks will or will not actually drive in?

So if a company both hires and operates in Arkansas, but only has a terminal in Mississippi , does that mean the Arkansas driver must move to live near that terminal in Mississippi?

You have it right as far as "hiring area" and "operating area". As far as terminals it depends on what the company requires. Are you allowed to take the truck home? If the answer is yes terminals lose a lot of importance. Even then, if there is not a terminal near you, does the company have a drop yard near to you?

As an example: The company I work for has a single terminal. It is in Amherst, WI. I live in Clarksville, TN. When I am home on the weekends I park my truck at the Wal-Mart near my house. (I used to work there). My company does have a drop LOT in my town I can use. It is on the other side of town and takes 30+ mins to get to it. Majority of my loads (85% - 90%) are out of and into Cherokee, AL. (4 hour drive from my home). Since Cherokee is south of my home, for weekends I get a load running North out of Cherokee and just "swing by" my home.

I hope this helps.

West Coast Sand and Gravel (West Coast Logistics)

What should I add to this list?

Number of tractors 100-300

Number of trailers 100-300

Average Age Of Equipment 5 years

Driver Turnover Rate about 30% a year

Brands of tractors Peterbilt

Transmission Type 10 Speed

Company yearly revenues

Company total miles driven

Minimum Qualifications Class A Doubles/Triples Hazmat Twic they hire guys with no experience.

Speed Of Trucks 59 MPH

APU / Idle Policy? None

Electronic / Paper Logs? Paper

Hiring Area: Southern California (Buena Park, Corona, Riverside, Palm Springs, Thermal, San Diego, Ventura... Central California, Northern California, Phoenix Arizona.

Operating Area California, Arizona, Las Vegas.

Company Training:

- Duration depends on you - Pay 17-18 to start - Forced To Team After Training? No - Waiting list for female trainers? No - Policy for female drivers with male trainers? We have no female drivers. Types Of Freight: Construction Aggregates, Ash, Clean Dirt, Non Hazard Soil, Hazardous Waste...

Salary

- average weekly solo: Gross 900-1300 to start - average weekly team: no teams - pay during training: same as solo - starting pay 17-18 - pay after 6 months depends on review 17.50-18.50 - pay after 1 year 17.50-19... - per diem offered? Yes if you go out of town for a couple days.

Benefits

- list of all benefits - cost per week (single/family) - yearly deductible

Family of 4 dental vision medical is about $300 a month

Tuition Reimbursement? No

Fees Or Deductions From Paychecks? Taxes

Buy equipment? (load bars, locks, tarps & chains, etc) Company Paid.

Hometime Policy: home every night unless you run out of town for a couple days then you will be gone for a couple days but never passed Friday.

Electronics Policies (GPS, invertor, CB, etc): we use a Garmin.

Rider And Pet Policy? No Riders no Pets

Team Opportunities? No Teams

Canada Border Crossing Policy: No Canada yet

Forced Dispatch To New York City? No

Haul Hazardous Materials? If you want to

% Drop And Hook? 100% Transfer truck. Each stop takes about 30 minutes.

Forced Dispatch? Check your Start time. There is always work.

Local / Regional / Dedicated Opportunities?: Local with ability to run from California to Phoenix or Phoenix to California if you want to.

HAZMAT:

Hazardous Materials

Explosive, flammable, poisonous or otherwise potentially dangerous cargo. Large amounts of especially hazardous cargo are required to be placarded under HAZMAT regulations

Regional:

Regional Route

Usually refers to a driver hauling freight within one particular region of the country. You might be in the "Southeast Regional Division" or "Midwest Regional". Regional route drivers often get home on the weekends which is one of the main appeals for this type of route.

Doubles:

Refers to pulling two trailers at the same time, otherwise known as "pups" or "pup trailers" because they're only about 28 feet long. However there are some states that allow doubles that are each 48 feet in length.

Per Diem:

Getting paid per diem means getting a portion of your salary paid to you without taxes taken out. It's technically classified as a meal and expense reimbursement.

Truck drivers and others who travel for a living get large tax deductions for meal expenses. The Government set up per diem pay as a way to reimburse some of the taxes you pay with each paycheck instead of making you wait until tax filing season.

Getting per diem pay means a driver will get a larger paycheck each week but a smaller tax return at tax time.

We have a ton of information on our wiki page on per diem pay

Drop And Hook:

Drop and hook means the driver will drop one trailer and hook to another one.

In order to speed up the pickup and delivery process a driver may be instructed to drop their empty trailer and hook to one that is already loaded, or drop their loaded trailer and hook to one that is already empty. That way the driver will not have to wait for a trailer to be loaded or unloaded.

TWIC:

Transportation Worker Identification Credential

Truck drivers who regularly pick up from or deliver to the shipping ports will often be required to carry a TWIC card.

Your TWIC is a tamper-resistant biometric card which acts as both your identification in secure areas, as well as an indicator of you having passed the necessary security clearance. TWIC cards are valid for five years. The issuance of TWIC cards is overseen by the Transportation Security Administration and the Department of Homeland Security.

APU:

Auxiliary Power Unit

On tractor trailers, and APU is a small diesel engine that powers a heat and air conditioning unit while charging the truck's main batteries at the same time. This allows the driver to remain comfortable in the cab and have access to electric power without running the main truck engine.

Having an APU helps save money in fuel costs and saves wear and tear on the main engine, though they tend to be expensive to install and maintain. Therefore only a very small percentage of the trucks on the road today come equipped with an APU.