North Carolina

[jonp]

I think I'm moving to NC this fall/winter. Any ideas on Companies down that way?

[Mr. Ford95]

Depends what kind of company your looking for. Flatbed, Van, Tanker? OTR, Regional, Local?

Food Lion(Regional/Local Reefer) has a decent thing, based out of Salisbury, NC
Maverick(OTR Flatbed) has their Specialized based out of Laurinburg, NC.

That is just 2 of many down there.

[HWD]

I think I'm moving to NC this fall/winter. Any ideas on Companies down that way?

Every day down here we see a new bunch of transplants from New England/NY/NJ...what the heck is wrong up there that all you want to move down here? I never hear of anyone down here going up there!

If you're sick of all the stupid New England liberals and their stupid tricks, might as well stay put...down here in western NC we've been overrun with them over the last 10 years.

To answer your original question, here's a couple from the Hickory area:

Sain & Heavner (actually in Vail, still Catawba county)
Harold Shull
Caldwell Motor Lines
CommScope (private carrier)
Merchants Distributors Inc (commonly referred to as MDI)
Thomas and Howard (restocks convenient stores)

There are more...the first four are OTR, the bottom two are regional/local.

[JeffTheTerrible]

Where in NC are you moving to? This state isn't exactly small, after all.

[HWD]

Where in NC are you moving to? This state isn't exactly small, after all.

That's true, NC is about 500 miles across, night and day differences between east and west. Hickory is in the Piedmont, on the edge of west.

Also, if cost of living is a problem I would avoid the west where I live in the mountains. If you like housing that *starts* at $275,000 come to the Asheville area. East of Raleigh is cheaper living but HOT in the summer, boring and flat. Central NC is mostly the Piedmont lots of counties where all the plants have closed and unemployment is high, but hey cost of living is low!

Hickory is my old home ground LOTS of trucking companies used to be based in Hickory, miss seeing the old ones like Tallant and Dietz motor lines, don't know if Gaines is still around but I will say if you can't score a trucking job in Hickory either your driving record sucks, you have a criminal history or you just ain't trying.

[jonp]

lol, we know all about new england liberals here in vermont, we are also overrun with flatlanders from conneticut/mass/new york who moved up here for the way of life and changed it into the ****hole they just left.
No, my girlfriend and I are looking to move south so we can ride our motorcycles year round. Thinking of the Charlottle area

[jonp]

almost forgot: tanker/flatbed/box dosnt really matter to me. However, I dont want to go over the road for weeks at a time anymore. 16years of that is enough. Thinking of day-runs or something with weekends off.

[Jay B]

No, my girlfriend and I are looking to move south so we can ride our motorcycles year round. Thinking of the Charlottle area

Charlotte sucks. Plenty of jobs, but the people are straight up rude for the most part and traffic is a nightmare.
I recommend Person County, Roxboro area. Small town stuff, but close enough to the triad for good employment and higher end night life. Good flatbed area with all the lumber mills nearby.

[wsyrob]

I grew up in Charlotte. Unless you just like cities or your wife needs one for work I would look towards the central part of the state.

Old Dominion is based in Thomasville and run nothing but day cabs pulling doubles

Superior Carriers have terminals in both Charlotte and High Point for Tankers. You could have 95% of your weekends off with them.

[HWD]

lol, we know all about new england liberals here in vermont, we are also overrun with flatlanders from conneticut/mass/new york who moved up here for the way of life and changed it into the ****hole they just left.
No, my girlfriend and I are looking to move south so we can ride our motorcycles year round. Thinking of the Charlottle area

That's what they've done here...turned into a mirror image of the hole they created then left...no shortage of "this is how we did it up north" crap stories.

Hickory is 1 hour northwest of Charlotte, between Charlotte, Hickory and Gastonia you should be able to find something that suits your needs.

[married to the road]

I have heard good things about Cargo Transport out of Claremont, NC which is close to Hickory. They run vans and used to start out around .37 cpm for some one straight out of school, may be more now.

[geeshock]

Where in NC are you moving to? This state isn't exactly small, after all.

That's true, NC is about 500 miles across, night and day differences between east and west. Hickory is in the Piedmont, on the edge of west.

Also, if cost of living is a problem I would avoid the west where I live in the mountains. If you like housing that *starts* at $275,000 come to the Asheville area. East of Raleigh is cheaper living but HOT in the summer, boring and flat. Central NC is mostly the Piedmont lots of counties where all the plants have closed and unemployment is high, but hey cost of living is low!

Hickory is my old home ground LOTS of trucking companies used to be based in Hickory, miss seeing the old ones like Tallant and Dietz motor lines, don't know if Gaines is still around but I will say if you can't score a trucking job in Hickory either your driving record sucks, you have a criminal history or you just ain't trying.

so long as you stay west of 95 you'll do well. i live east of 95 and had a very tough time finding companies that would take me, i live in that dead zone for many companies.

[jonp]

yeah, well i dont mind the winters myself. cold weather dosnt bother me in the least but my girlfriend is pretty set on moving and has NC on the brain. I dont care where as it might be time for a change of scenery.

[HWD]

I have heard good things about Cargo Transport out of Claremont, NC which is close to Hickory. They run vans and used to start out around .37 cpm for some one straight out of school, may be more now.

I forgot to mention them, but Cargo Transporters out of Claremont is a big one. There are also alot of furniture movers still in business around Hickory (not HHG I'm talking manufacturers)...some single-screw + single-axle trailer, others twin-screw. Hickory used to be a HUGE furniture manufacturing center, not a whole lot of furniture manufacturing left but big distribution centers a-plenty like Burnhardt, Century, etc.

Like I said if you have experience and a clean MVR, you WILL find a truck driving job in the Hickory area.

[JeffTheTerrible]

lol, we know all about new england liberals here in vermont, we are also overrun with flatlanders from conneticut/mass/new york who moved up here for the way of life and changed it into the ****hole they just left.
No, my girlfriend and I are looking to move south so we can ride our motorcycles year round. Thinking of the Charlottle area

Guess what? It's more the same in most of the cities here.
I hope you're ready to pay out the nose to live in Charlotte or anywhere else in Mecklemberg County.

What sort of driving are you looking to do, and how far are you willing to travel to get there? I recall that there was an auto haulage company out of the Greer, SC area... can't think of their name offhand, but their drivers all seemed to be pretty content there.

[jonp]

Not interested in auto-hauling or reefers. I dont really care what else I do. I wouldnt mind being home every night or every other night or working the week and having the weekend off. I realize that this might mean less pay but i'm willing to make the trade-off. As for distance to drive. Probaly 20 miles if off everyday 50 or so if off weekends. I dont really care what area of the state. I ran a charlotte/durham/greensboro dedicated run from the northeast for a few years and have been over most of the state and I was at Bragg for several years.. I think that if I was 30 miles out of any of the cities then i could find somewhere decent to live.

[golfhobo]

Not interested in auto-hauling or reefers. I dont really care what else I do. I wouldnt mind being home every night or every other night or working the week and having the weekend off. I realize that this might mean less pay but i'm willing to make the trade-off. As for distance to drive. Probaly 20 miles if off everyday 50 or so if off weekends. I dont really care what area of the state. I ran a charlotte/durham/greensboro dedicated run from the northeast for a few years and have been over most of the state and I was at Bragg for several years.. I think that if I was 30 miles out of any of the cities then i could find somewhere decent to live.

jonp:

You are a rookie on the board, but obviously not one to trucking. What have you done, and what are your preferences? I know you said you'd do most anything except carhauling and reefer.... but, that leaves alot of questions. flatbed? LTL? Team? You see my point.

HWD has given you much very good info. However, if you've been paying to live in the N.E. I doubt the cost of housing down here will scare you. Of course, the PAY may be alot lower, too!

They have an area down here they call "The Triad." It is really only a tri-city area. I have another definition for TRIAD down here. Draw a line from Charlotte north to Greensboro... then west to Hickory, and back down to Charlotte. This is, essentially.... the Piedmont area. There are hundreds if not thousands of trucking jobs available in that area, and housing is not too bad if you stay away from the bigger cities, and just in or outside of those lines you drew.

Type careerbuilder.com in your browser and specify 50 miles (or the next level up) from area code 28144. You will find lots of job opportunities! 28144 is Salisbury, NC and is pretty much in the center of "my Triad."

Just don't take the jobs I'M gonna be going after this next week or so!

Also, you will find that the western and eastern "legs" of that triangle put you close to the two largest LAKES in the area! If you like watersports, fishing, etc.... you can find housing close by them.

This area is a major "hub" for freight lanes moving both east coast and to all points west! Let me know if there is any other specific info I can help you find.

Hobo

[gondi]

If you're interested in doing linehaul work for any LTL comp. Charlotte is a good place to start looking. A lot of the LTL comp. have big terminals and I know of a couple (Estes and Fedex LTL come to mind) that hire you straight into linehaul.

[jonp]

Ok, should have been a little more specific. I am not a rookie, I am close to 2 million accident free miles and have been at it a little while. I have driven vans, reefers, doubles, flats and double flats and have haz-mat/tank endorsements. I am looking for a job where I get home a couple times a week, have weekends off or is local with every night and weekends off. I dont care to run overnights that is work nights with days off, I'm not a vampire. If line-haul i want to be home with weekends off and not 34 hr re-sets. Sat and Sun off. No teams. It looks like Raleigh area now.