STAR Transportation in Nashville

[Oldernewbie]

I'm a new driver (was student at Werner for 4 weeks but bailed out, for a lot of reasons). I have an offer to go SE Regional with STAR Transportation (Nashville). Money much better than Werner, supposedly home 36 - 48 hours every week.

Anybody have any info, + or -, on STAR?

That was my first company...not to bad of a place...they do actually get you home on the weekends, that part is definitely true.

[BigDawg]

it used to be an alright company till Coveant bought them out about 2 months or so ago,don't know how they will be now.

[ken_o]

i worked their for years hope you dont like sleepn their pay was shtty to say the least even whn i got a new truck it wasnt carrot enough for me to stay. but mayb thev changed in the last year or so, i highly doubt it since beth&gang sold out to covanent.
You know you wake up one morning and hope youl be bought out by fedx ups, nope you end up workin for covanent ouch star drivers.
i never waited so much in my lifetime as that first year or so at star. the last year or so was ok home every single weekend . their freight sucked for se heavy loads and alot of them.mayb look elsewhere but if your choice was werner or star id say star. keep lookin youl findsomethin.

[1xtruckindj]

I actually worked for Star on three different occassions. I can honestly say the the first time, I should not have left, and the third, I should not have returned.

During the latter part of my first and all my second stint, I had the best fleet manager I could have hoped for. He'd bust his butt for you, and did not forget a favor you would do for him. He got promoted, and my time with them dipped significantly in terms of quality.

I personally would be hesitant of returning to Star, now that their under the Covenant banner, as previously mentioned. But if they're running as a separate company with basic autonomy, then I might consider them.

You could do far worse. Best wishes to you!

[usdyver]

I have been at Star for a year and I can say that 99% of the time it has been a great place to work.

ken_o say the freight sucks but freight is freight no matter where you go. We all get heavy loads. My average weight for loads over the last 6 months has been 28000. Ive heard this "freight sucks" reasoning from him in the past and it isnt a valid argument. Every trucking company on the planet has heavy loads. We all cant haul plastic bottles or run empty for 500 miles. Sometimes we have to haul the bulk paper or the bottled water. you can argue company A or company B has better frieght but all companies get heavy freight. Its a part of the industry and it has to be hauled no matter whether we like it or not.

As far as the Covenant buyout we havent seen any changes in the way things are done. They arent running the company but they just want to own it. they have done the same with other companies. It seems to be a trend in the industry to buy money making compaines and let them continue.

I have a 2007 Freightliner and I average 3000 miles a week, I'm home every weekend I want to be home and I can run extra if I want the miles.

In my first year here I will make about $48000 for 2006 not too shabby.

My fleet manager is upfront with me and gets me the loads, the miles, and home when I want. He often calls me and asks me if I want a load before he preplans it to me. I have turned down loads with no bad feelings from dispatch.

i have been going to see my Dr on a Monday about every 6 weeks. my fleet manager has a load ready for me as soon as Im done at the Dr. Instead of being punished for starting the week at noon he works hard to find me loads to allow me to have a full week even if i dont roll out until late in the afternoon.

The pays is on time and right 99.9% of the time. The direct deposits are there on time. If you turn in your trip packs on time the checks are right.

Its like any cpmany, it isnt the right fit for everyone but for me and a lot of others its a good place to work.



The draw backs are;

Night Dispatch is mostly worthless (This is an indutry problem)

Insurance could improve (Every comapnies insurance seems to suck anymore but there is room to improve at Star)

Shop in Nashville is slow (Its actually been better in the last month and a small shop has been added in Knoxville and a new terminal in Jacksoin, MS)

The SE Regional gets lots of short runs, if i were to hire on here I would only want OTR, it isnt much different but the runs are longer and you go to the NE more.

Fuel only at selected Pilots (It limits food and showers but they have great showers and lousy food)

Are we talking about the red Star or the blue Star?

[1xtruckindj]

Blue Star out of Nashville, TN.

usdyver is very accurate, I believe, in his comments. It sounds very similar to when I left almost three years ago.

[ken_o]

usdyver
it is a valid arguement when iv picked up that shty freight star hauls around . when you move on to another carrier youl soon figure out that their are some other carriers who dont tolerate the same crp tht star has their drivers put up with.
believe me dude youl enjoy not having to turn your ppwrk in at a term and being able to scan it in at any truckstop. youll also enjoy what other carriers have to offer in terminals . do you know whats really nice in the last year or so i did not go to ralston purina once nor did i venture over to grab some gatorade at 1635 nor did i have to go to a nissan plant.
you know when you run into old star drivers and they tell you they had to draw the line at 4days with no sleep and you think wow i could only make it to 3. all the missippi fast freight trucks r now star trucks how long did it take about a year or so i feel sorry for you about covanent.
and wish you continued success at star/covanent.

[ken_o]

some more advice for you usdyver when you switch and sooner or later you will , dont log the star way, th sht wont fly at other compnys. i know it almost got me fired within the first 3 weeks at roehl.
is frank is still around in knox??

[usdyver]

Frank is still at Kville

I run close to legal as you can with this HOS crap system.

Ive never run 3 days without sleep or 2 for that matter.

Ive run some Nissan and I always got light loads and its 99% drop and hook.

Covenant leaves us be.

If you did **** you werent supposed to do and the dispatchers knew you would then maybe they expected it. I dont know.

I run hard and get the miles I want and the hometime I want.

[ken_o]

r u at least at .35 cpm usdyver

[Karnajj]

r u at least at .35 cpm usdyver

Why don't you leave the guy alone? You don't work there anymore so why do you care what goes on? I remember your scrap with Crte-drvr over whether Roehl was a good company. Listening to you one would get the impression that Roehl had God for a CEO and now you don't even work for them anymore. As far as heavy loads are concerned, every trucking company has them. At Crete we have Kal-Kan, Conagra, Georgia-Pacific, Alcoa and others that routinely give us 40,000lb loads or better. Who cares? You just grab it and go just like the lighter loads, end of story.

[ken_o]

i don't care what goes on. when someone starts a thread about star I'm going to give my 2 cents and seeing how i worked their that gives me the right to talk about it.
the weight of freight wasn't the topic at hand just a tid bit. nor the fact that i worked for roehl and still think their one of the best company's around.
if i have a question for usdyver i asked it to him, not you.
i was about to tell usdyver the story of the star driver who rolled over in the corn field,then the one about the star driver who payed a prostitute with starbucks, Or maybe the one where the star driver going down the interstate and pulls his emergency brake so he could get the tandems to slide. but you so rudely interrupted us
congrats KARNAJJ you got ken_O to reply.
Now dont be racing over to my fan club.

dont hate to love me; love to hate me.

[millersod215]

Hey Karnajj, and Usdyver, this character KenO likes to add his 2 cents about everything, and it seems any insight he adds on any topic always contradicts, or disaggrees with some, if not all the posters on the topic. In the forum for "New Drivers", check on some of his posts on the topic of "Panic attacks", makes you wonder if this so called truck driver, that is KenO, is really a driver himself, of someone who just gets his kicks out of making a fool out of himself. But wait, he must have been a driver at some time in his life, because he seems to have all the info on Star transportation, and all the reasons to stay away, and if i'm not mistaken, all those reasons are solely based on heavy loads. KenO, what seems to be the problem with heavy loads, do u expect to be paid more for these loads since you do have to assert a little more driving skill while in transportation, or is it because of the fact that you might have a tough time shifting a truck at 80,000? I don't get your arguments on heavy loads, i haul sod everyday grossing 80,000 pounds easily, and i find that it makes me a safer driver, and a more defensive one. And besides all that, if Usdyver is satisfied with his job, is it your goal to convince someone he is a liar? The more and more you post KenO, it seems the more and more people are finding out that they can't take much stock in what you have to say!

[ken_o]

its where the heavy freight comes from at star c how you like sitting at gatorade for 4/8 hours or if your lucky enough to have a p/u at one of the many pepsi bottlers. or even luckier the 1000mile turn in one jaunt with 4 stops on it.
but in reality i dont realy give 2shts about what anyone thinks of me.
yes i can stir the sht up people bait me and i play along.
which is what this is.
You love twisting words, i never called him a liar. In fact I believe him to be stuck at star just like i was you get so comfortable in a job you forget about better oppurtunitys elsewhere and before you know it years have gone by.
I am however glad your one of my many fans.

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[greg3564]

Some people just like to bitch and argue. Reference KenO.

[ken_o]

Its nice to see people whom have never worked at star commenting on this thread.
Your comments have no basis, not even for an arguement.
Although I will admit to enjoy argueing i schould have been a lawyer but my speelling and punctuation skills are on par with a fourth grader.
Didnt get enough in the panic attack thread you come here for more.
I see your are in the ems occupation how will this help the thread poster discover good and bad experiences with star.
If you all are going to hijack this thread lets atleast make it about something entertaining tell us a funny story about ems work.
I see only posters from the panic attack thread r posting their hate for me here on the star thread, because they disagree with my view on panic attacks. get over it this a forum and we discuss.

[usdyver]

Lets see, I get $.35, I haul Gatorade and NEVER have extra stops. I don't run 1000 miles in one shot.
Its a job, a place to work. Do I look at other places? Sure I do and if I find a much better deal then I'll look at it long and hard.
Its an easy place to work and I actually like most of the NJ runs.
Any company can be a crappy place to be but you have to make your own conditions!

...and YES thats me on the Dragon ridin the Grape Ape!

I've had trouble getting on since Classadrivers blocks the Siricomm IP from many Pilot locations.