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Originally Posted by AbenInNashville
Why is it that a great portion of the threads here turn into a battle of words about JB Hunt and what poor/good company they are to work for? I mean for some reason every time someone says that something went wrong or they disagree with the policies of a company it goes back to where everyone starts having to read a bunch of junk about how JB Hunt does this and then why have to get into their recruiting and their turnover rate. Just an opinion.
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Turnover rate is a very important statistic because it's correlated with driver satisfaction. Obviously, if drivers are happy and well-compensated, they'll stay with an outfit. If not, they'll leave. So when you see 120% churn rates at big companies like JB Hunt, the market (in this case the labor market) is telling you something. It's saying that the vast majority of people who hire on there are for one reason or another dissatisfied with the job.
I've never driven for JB but there's some things I know about them which would preclude me from working there. For one, they pay on HHG miles, which means you'll end up driving about 10% of your overall miles for free. Second, their average length of haul is pretty short - around 500 miles or so. This is because they're really big into railroads and intermodal, which is where the majority of their long-haul freight now rides. What does that mean to you, the driver? Shorter trips = more bumping docks and more unpaid waiting around. This means less time that your wheels are turning under a load which = less $$$$ in your pocket. Plus, everytime you empty out, you've got to send in an empty call via the qualcomm to get your next load, which means more unpaid waiting and less driving.
I'm not making this stuff up. JB Hunt is a public corporation and you can find all this info in their reports to stockholders. If you call them up and ask them about it, they're not going to lie to you. What they'll say is that they pay more on the mileage rates to compensate for the decreased productivity involved with regional-type, shorter hauls. The problem is, the extra .05 cpm premium they pay is NOT a fair shake for your extra down-time. That's because for every 1,000 miles X .05 cpm = a lousy 50 BUCKS!!!! That's bogus, man!!!
Contrast this with a carrier like CFI who's average length of haul is 900 miles (plus they pay on practical miles), and it is a wonder why anyone in their right mind would pull for JB Hunt.
Third, JB Hunt payed upwards of .42 cpm 8 YEARS AGO. After freight slowed in the early 2000's, they rolled back pay across the board by a NICKEL A MILE. No, I am not making this up, it is a FACT - something your good friend Sheepdancer will not bother to mention. Do you really want to work for a company like that?
Bottom line = stay away from JB Hunt. There's much better deals out there if you know where to look.