Smithway, Arrow, Swift, Covenant, or Davis?

[dcedlr]

I have prehires from all the above companies and would like your opinions on who I should go for. Thanks for your responses.

[BiGG T33]

use search engine on those companys it'll help you decided better...i'll leave it at that..

[BigDawg]

i talked to Covenant driver today at the fuel island which he told he was on dedicated reefer run and only got roughly 2000 mpw he said his weekly pay checks has been right at $550 gross.u might try KLLM put it on ur list of maybe's

[greg3564]

Davis Transport. Very good reputation and there are a few current drivers here you can ask questions of.

[greg3564]

Oh yeah, Covenant is one of the worst around. I don't know a lot about

Smithway, I usually don't her bad things about them.

Swift. Well, its Swift and there are a lot of opinions about them. Big company, lots of miles, better opportunities to get dedicated or regional jobs. Downside is because they are huge, you will feel like a number because to are treated like one.

[Ian Williams]

i talked to Covenant driver today at the fuel island which he told he was on dedicated reefer run and only got roughly 2000 mpw he said his weekly pay checks has been right at $550 gross.u might try KLLM put it on ur list of maybe's

Ha! $550/week gross! You are better of staying home and working two regular jobs 60hrs week.


Try and stay away from all the McMegaCarriers. If you have to use one for 4-6 months and move on to a better gig.


I gross $800-900/ week working 40ish hrs. If I wanted to work 60ish hrs/week on graves I could be grossing $1200-1400/week.

[Piece Of Work]

Have you checked out CFI? Many new drivers are happy here!

[Karnajj]

Have you checked out CFI? Many new drivers are happy here!

How have your miles been the last few months? I was up at Phelps-Dodge in Norwich Ct. a while back with about 6 CFI drivers and everyone of them was bitching about lack of miles. Most were saying they were lucky to get 2500/wk.

[davemaes]

Arrow only if you don't like home time, not getting paid for securing etc. for 2 hrs. or more, or even setting waiting as long for someone to load you without getting paid for it.

[Triple Digit Bob]

i talked to Covenant driver today at the fuel island which he told he was on dedicated reefer run and only got roughly 2000 mpw he said his weekly pay checks has been right at $550 gross.u might try KLLM put it on ur list of maybe's

Ha! $550/week gross! You are better of staying home and working two regular jobs 60hrs week.


Try and stay away from all the McMegaCarriers. If you have to use one for 4-6 months and move on to a better gig.


I gross $800-900/ week working 40ish hrs. If I wanted to work 60ish hrs/week on graves I could be grossing $1200-1400/week.

Covenant is good company. At J.B hunt I make 275.00 a week. Does Covenant have fast truck?Maybe I go there but I have to drive by myself.I cannot team. I fartz too much.

[dcedlr]

I am leaning towards Arrow for the following reasons:

1. $.34 per mile, and 3 mo go to $.36 (not bad for no experience)

2. $275 per quarter safe operating bonus (possible)

3. Incentive pay of 10-14K miles per month + $.01 mi <14K + $.02 mi

3. $30 tarp pay

4. Detention pay

5. Layover pay

I have read a lot of negative on Arrow on here but I do not understand how you cannot make money driving for them. Lets say you only get 2000 miles a week. That is still 2000 X .34 = $680 wk = $35,360 yr. I will not get rich off of that but I certainly will not be starving. As for being out 3-4 weeks at a time, I have no family so it really does not matter to me. As long as my mortgage and car note gets paid and I have a little spending money I will be happy with $35K minimum my first year in this business. Hell, driving only 2000 miles a week, that potentially gives me some time to see the sites or relax and kick it some. If I am missing something please tell me because I am interested in hearing both sides. However, I just do not believe that drivers are not getting at least 2K miles a week or nobody would work for them.

[Karnajj]

If you only avg 2000/wk you will be sitting more than you are driving. Believe me it gets boring really quick regardless of the number or kinds of toys you may have to kill time. In addition, if I am going to do all the work entailed with pulling a flat, I sure as hell want to get paid more than $35,000/yr. Lastly, a lot of companies offer detention but rarely if ever pay it. They can always find a reason to deny the claim.

[Skywalker]

Covenant is good company.

:dung: :dung: :dung: :nervous: :nervous: Would that be a "trucker's story" or a "fairy tale"? If you actually believe that I have a t-shirt for you. On the front it has this: :withstupid:

[Triple Digit Bob]

Covenant is good company.

:dung: :dung: :dung: :nervous: :nervous: Would that be a "trucker's story" or a "fairy tale"? If you actually believe that I have a t-shirt for you. On the front it has this: :withstupid:

It iz better than J.B hunt. I make 275.00 week extra,OK? I call them and they say they only want team but I cannot team because of my gas problem.

[davemaes]

I am leaning towards Arrow for the following reasons:

1. $.34 per mile, and 3 mo go to $.36 (not bad for no experience)

2. $275 per quarter safe operating bonus (possible)

3. Incentive pay of 10-14K miles per month + $.01 mi <14K + $.02 mi

3. $30 tarp pay

4. Detention pay

5. Layover pay

I have read a lot of negative on Arrow on here but I do not understand how you cannot make money driving for them. Lets say you only get 2000 miles a week. That is still 2000 X .34 = $680 wk = $35,360 yr. I will not get rich off of that but I certainly will not be starving. As for being out 3-4 weeks at a time, I have no family so it really does not matter to me. As long as my mortgage and car note gets paid and I have a little spending money I will be happy with $35K minimum my first year in this business. Hell, driving only 2000 miles a week, that potentially gives me some time to see the sites or relax and kick it some. If I am missing something please tell me because I am interested in hearing both sides. However, I just do not believe that drivers are not getting at least 2K miles a week or nobody would work for them.

It amazes me when someone asks for help finding a company to drive for when they really don't want it cause they've already made up there mind no matter what anyone tells them. If you mean what you said ARROW'S GONNA LOVE YOU!!!

[dcedlr]

I am leaning towards Arrow for the following reasons:

1. $.34 per mile, and 3 mo go to $.36 (not bad for no experience)

2. $275 per quarter safe operating bonus (possible)

3. Incentive pay of 10-14K miles per month + $.01 mi <14K + $.02 mi

3. $30 tarp pay

4. Detention pay

5. Layover pay

I have read a lot of negative on Arrow on here but I do not understand how you cannot make money driving for them. Lets say you only get 2000 miles a week. That is still 2000 X .34 = $680 wk = $35,360 yr. I will not get rich off of that but I certainly will not be starving. As for being out 3-4 weeks at a time, I have no family so it really does not matter to me. As long as my mortgage and car note gets paid and I have a little spending money I will be happy with $35K minimum my first year in this business. Hell, driving only 2000 miles a week, that potentially gives me some time to see the sites or relax and kick it some. If I am missing something please tell me because I am interested in hearing both sides. However, I just do not believe that drivers are not getting at least 2K miles a week or nobody would work for them.

It amazes me when someone asks for help finding a company to drive for when they really don't want it cause they've already made up there mind no matter what anyone tells them. If you mean what you said ARROW'S GONNA LOVE YOU!!!

Well, I had not made up my mind when I posted it, but soon after. At the time I was actually leaning towards SMX. I talked with one of my instructors at driving school who used to drive for Arrow and he thought Arrow was a good company. His opinion was that drivers are probably complaining about miles because they are turning down loads or want to be at home all the time. Like I said, if I can get at least 2K a week I will be happy. The weeks I get more than that, I will be very happy. Also, they do not give you per diem so I can write that off myself at the end of the year. SMX pays $.33 but $.06 of that is per diem. That was kind of what pushed me to Arrow as well. I truly appreciate all the opinions of everyone here that takes the time to respond.

[matcat]

per diem is an OPTION, you can say you don't want it at ANY company.

[dcedlr]

per diem is an OPTION, you can say you don't want it at ANY company.

I was told by SMX that I did not have a choice. They pay $.33 per mile and $.06 of it is per diem.

[matcat]

Then they are breaking federal, and state laws if they are forcing it.

[ksctrucking]

We leased on to SMX (as a team!!) and it was the WORST decision we could have made!! Within 6 weeks they broke us.
Their rates are horrible!! They think that .92/cpm (which includes FSC) is a good rate for an O/O. Their rates are geared toward bankruptcy!
Most of the loads we were offered (given) paid just over $1.00!!
They assure you of tarp pay and then you never see it (if you're flatbedding); they ask for favors and then you never get paid for it.
We did a job for them and were quoted a figure for payment. We quit 5-1/2 weeks ago and were told we would get the money by the end of the month. We still haven't received it.
Stay away from SMX if you're an O/O. Promises are only worth the paper they're written on. But SMX doesn't live up to them.
There are many other things we could say about SMX to try to convince drivers-O/O to stay away, but we'll just leave it at this:
Go elsewhere. Stay away from SMX