Anyone here work for Interstate Dist. Co. ?

[Sal]

Just put a pre hire application in. The starting pay isn't great or even good. But are they a decent company to work for other than that? Would appreciate any information , positive or negative ? Thanks

[Radaremtjcw]

I worked for them for a while, not bad, they get you home, pay isnt bad, the only issues we had were sitting towards the end, sat in salt lake city, and in fontana,and they are having some on time issues with freight though. so some customers give the freight to other carriers.

i think they are about the same as every other company, however the terminals are NICE, the laundry is free and they provide soap, showers in terminals are extremely nice (towels provided but not a washcloth)

Tacoma has a cafeteria and the food is good.

Solos get Volvos or Columbias with auto shift, teams get columbias

i left because i did a booboo and was teminated but i do not blame them at all because i was at fault (missed turning in some log sheets)

they have the same issues as other companies, but i would say they are on the more positive side.

[AlexJ81]

Where do they have terminals?

[Sal]

Where do they have terminals?

Well I know they have one in West Sacramento. Get on their Web site it looks like there all over the place

[Radaremtjcw]

Tacoma,WA HQ
Near the TA in Portland on I-84
Yard at White City,OR
Orland,CA
Sacramento is a yard
Fontana,CA
Fort Worth,TX
Little Rock,AR
Lebanon,TN
i may have missed 1 or 2 but got the major ones

[softnrough]

I went through Interstates training program and quit with 2 weeks left. The reasons:
Both of my trainers had me falsify my logbook (the latter wanting me to drive for 3 hours WITHOUT starting my log). I was actually on a truck for 15 days the rest of the time I was waiting for the trucks to be repaired.
The company is team orientiated. If youre a newbie, you'll get suck on the I-5 corridor with frequent stops in SF.
Many drivers were quitting or complaining of wait time.

Aside from that, the Tacoma terminal is nice, equipment is nice. The do allows pets except for , GSD, Rotts, Pitss or chows. Although I did see a few timberland wolfs on the trucks.

[glasman2]

I went through Interstates training program and quit with 2 weeks left. The reasons:
Both of my trainers had me falsify my logbook (the latter wanting me to drive for 3 hours WITHOUT starting my log). I was actually on a truck for 15 days the rest of the time I was waiting for the trucks to be repaired.
The company is team orientiated. If youre a newbie, you'll get suck on the I-5 corridor with frequent stops in SF.
Many drivers were quitting or complaining of wait time.

Aside from that, the Tacoma terminal is nice, equipment is nice. The do allows pets except for , GSD, Rotts, Pitss or chows. Although I did see a few timberland wolfs on the trucks.

ya ya we all have training horror stories, thing is, you need to talk to someone instead of quiting. I opened my mouth on my trainer. he is not training any more, i got a new trainer, got my truck, then got sucky miles.

I think it was 1 of 2 things ( mile wise ) they were feeling me out / dm needed to do a better job. don't get me wrong, i liked my dm , i just wasn't getting the miles i wanted. infact i was thinking of finding another job when my dm moved to another spot in the Co and was given a new dm. now I love the miles i'm getting , very little sitting, most of the time i have my next preplan 2 hours before my drop.

anyways, i like interstate, good company, good people ( for the most part ) ( meaning my weekend dm he sucks and rude as all get out ) other drivers help you out, answer questions, and give good advise.

[Roadie]

We (wife and I) aare looking to go to school and team drive. Sounds like Interstate is really oriented for team drivers??? Good place to start? Compare to CFI??
Thanks for any info!!

[Karnajj]

Just put a pre hire application in. The starting pay isn't great or even good. But are they a decent company to work for other than that? Would appreciate any information , positive or negative ? Thanks

Other than that? If you are not going to be paid a wage that makes it worthwhile to stay out for weeks at a time, what other possible reason could there be for wanting to drive period?

[Skywalker]

Just put a pre hire application in. The starting pay isn't great or even good. But are they a decent company to work for other than that? Would appreciate any information , positive or negative ? Thanks

Other than that? If you are not going to be paid a wage that makes it worthwhile to stay out for weeks at a time, what other possible reason could there be for wanting to drive period?

Ditto!! 8)

BTW, Karnajj..... I like that definition of "Vegetarian"....

[Skywalker]

We (wife and I) aare looking to go to school and team drive. Sounds like Interstate is really oriented for team drivers??? Good place to start? Compare to CFI??
Thanks for any info!!

I was not aware that Interstate was "team oriented". When did this come about? I seem to remember that they had an awful lot of solo's.

I'm not sure how they would compare to CFI....but one area of comparison to check is whether or not they pay practical miles or not. CFI does. Plus CFI will pay an additional 5 cpm for all miles dispatched in the 12 NE states, and 3 cpm more for placarded loads ....if you have the hazmat endorsement. (Without it, you will not be assigned hazmat loads) It would seem that Interstate has shifted to "autoshifts". CFI is all 13 speeds. They may still have a few autoshifts in the fleet, but I doubt it. They tried them, and decided against continuing using them.

In my opinion....if you cannot adequately use a manual shift, and are only used to driving an automatic.....you will be married to that company pretty much. Its not easy to pass a driving test with a new employer if you can't shift a stick after driving an auto.

[Sal]

Just put a pre hire application in. The starting pay isn't great or even good. But are they a decent company to work for other than that? Would appreciate any information , positive or negative ? Thanks

Other than that? If you are not going to be paid a wage that makes it worthwhile to stay out for weeks at a time, what other possible reason could there be for wanting to drive period?

Yeah other than that..... If it's a good company to get some experience with then I wouldn't mind the low pay for now. :?

[CrazyTulip]

IDC is gearing more and more towards teams and they also advertise as such. I'm Radaremtjcw's wife so you can read his input above, but I would also like to give you my $.05.
As a solo, if you don't mind running I-5 a lot and sitting a lot go ahead. We knew a lot of solo drivers at IDC and I haven't met many that were satisfied with the amount of miles they got per week. A lot of them barely went over 1500 miles a week which is not a lot to say the least.

Now enough complaining! Other than that the company was great, terminals were very nice and the people were very helpful and I always enjoyed hanging out with them. So it's up to you to make the decision.

Oh and regarding the training program I saw someone mention above as well: they just started their training program I believe in Sept/Oct of last year so they're new to it. If there were problems I agree you should have talked to the head honcho in your home terminal to get the situation fixed, which I am sure they would have.

[CrazyTulip]

P.S. Do NOT go on their refrigerated fleet as they sit a whole lot more than the dry van!!