Watkins & Shepard trucking
 

I think I'm going to give Watkins & Shepard a try
going form Terminal to terminal If I wait and pick all these Companies apart i will be 80 years old. Al

Going from terminal to ma & pa's furniture store is more like it. Enjoy!

That'll be the jist of it, too- terminal to terminal... they don't let you run the truck home. If you live 150 miles from the terminal... you'll be driving your POV 150 miles to get to the terminal to drive the truck, and 150 miles back to wherever you came from when you're done driving the truck. Myself, I couldn't make that work.

I talked to a couple of young guys at a truckstop in GA. They run brand new furniture to stores, and make a lot of drops. Since its all boxed, I think all they do is slide it to the end of the trailer and the stores staff unloads it. Then, they go to another terminal and do it all over.

They said they were on salary for $250/day. They each run their won truck, just happened to be talking.

Watkins & Shepard
 

I have been running 9 months with Watkins Shepard. I have run both solo and team.

As the previous posting point out Watkins Shepard mainly moves furniture and carpet. They have a LTL business where local drivers get pieces of furniture and rolls of carpet -- cross dock it -- and then move it to terminals where it is delivered to consignees.

Not all the consignees are delivered by local drivers. A lot of runs out of a terminal are multi-stop drops. You are paid to tailgate furniture and carpet. This occurs at some of the smaller stores. There is the infamous 15 - 22 stop Utah run for example. Now some drivers like this run because of all the stop pay. I have tailgated mainly the Utah run and nothing else.

Definitely the teams run terminal to terminal. Solos run some terminal to terminal. Everybody has to get brokered loads, or a Home Depot, to move the truck in position for the next load. Depending on your home terminal you might be running Staples, Home Depot or whatever. For example, no furniture or carpet is in Montana .. so we move paper, flour, talc, clay .. you et the idea ... from Montana to LA

Advantages: (In the order of my value system)

1. Not much interference from HQ.
2. Paid routed hub miles. NOT HHG or Practical miles. Meaning you get paid to go off the beaten path if that is a part of your route.
3. Great Selection of benefits.
4. 1 day off for every 6 but who is counting?
5. Pretty good maintenance at the terminals. Especially Missoula and Helena
6. 10 day oreintation rather than riding with a trainer ..

Disadvantages:

Regional Dispatch. That means dealing with multiple dispatchers rather than one Driver Manager. They also take the weekends off which means that if you do not encourage them to give you a load and stay on top of things .. you could sit for a weekend.

Home time. If you live off the beaten path you might not see your home for 4 - 6 weeks. If you live in a major area for furniture and carpet like Dalton Ga or Santa Fe Springs Ca, you could be home once a week.

No Trans-flo or Trip Pak. So you tend to turn in your trip packs when you hit a terminal which delays your settlement. You can Snail Mail your trip packs for free or UPS them for 20 bucks.

I am enjoying things thus far.

Any talks of them bumping up that cheap pay? 10 years exp. for 37 cpm is just not enough to turn the key.

I have 1.5 years total exp and I am getting 31 cpm Hub miles which is equal to 32 cpm practical.

I am getting a 1 cpm fuel bonus for following fueling directions.

I get the safety bonus for each month of about $200. It is 150 to each truck but some trucks do not qualify and that money goes into the kitty.

So at my experience level I am pretty happy.

Now I have not done a Salt Lake City or Grants Pass Staples run in awhile so my thought is doing the terminal to terminal stuff is so easy it is worth the 32 CPM. If I had to do Utah shuttles or Staples runs for 3 or 4 trips my attitude might change :wink:

The pay package is also a comprehensive offering. If CPM / miles was the first priority and benifits, company culture etc were not bug on your list then maybe W&S is not for you.

I think it was "One" who said that finding a trucking company is like finding a bride ... somebody you can out up with and can put up with you ..