OK, ...I'm in. **UPDATE: Quit! Now TransAm or JB?**
 

I sealed the deal with the small company today.
Went in for a driving test and very breif orientation, and I start tomorrow.

I found out all I didn't know about the company.
Pay is based on gross truck revenue.
Average revenue is $1.60 per mile. The goal is higher revenue, because pay is better based on revenue.

So for $3200 revenue (2K miles @ $1.60) my gross for the week is $960.
But $2000 revenue (1250 miles @ $1.60) is only $400 gross.
At that rate pay is between 32cpm to 48 cpm.

It is all flatbed, no tarp, less than 28K lbs, styrofoam insulation.

Prolly the worst part is MOST loads are PA, NJ, and NY.

Best of Luck to you

Ok lets get this thread off to a better start,Good luck Bro.

Is this as a company driver?

That's the ONLY way I'll fly (er, drive) for now.

Good luck Spenc
Hope it all works out for you! :wink:

You never know about the real story until you start driving for them so good luck I hope it all works out for you

Well, I have spent 2 days on the truck (actually a little over 34 hours.)

I showed up yesterday about 10am to work. I have never flatbedded before so they were going to show me how to properly strap a load.

MY trip was already assigned. Ohio to PA, to Buffalo NY. A little over 600 miles, but they only show it as being 500.

The guy that was supposed to show me how to secure a load wanted to have lunch before he helped. So I sat until after 1pm.

His instructions were "just throw the strap over". Very helpful.

I secured the load then went back to the terminal so it could be checked out. That ended up taking over an hour as the people there are very lax.

My first drop was in PA at 7am. My second drop was in Buffalo at 2pm. The first drop was an all day appointment, so anytime I dropped it was fine. I told dispatch I may just drop the first one about 10am that way I could get reloaded and not be out of hours.
Their reply was "Nah, drop it at seven. If you run out of hours you can always fix your logs". Great advice on my first run. :shock:

So I head out finally at almost 4 PM. I have 400 miles plus a 10 hour break to do in 15 hours. Plus I have to fuel and check the load (only half an hour). That leaves 400 miles to run in 4 1/2 hours.

It didn't happen. The mountains in Morgantown WV were ice patched. The secondary roads in PA are still crap. So I dropped the first one at 1pm. I was there before noon, but people were going on lunch.

I called dispatch at 10am. His reply was to "Keep your foot on the floor".

I missed my second drop, so I am sitting here at a TA in PA til Monday.

Oh, and flatbedding is COLD!!!

On a side note, I talked to another driver when I was waiting around at the terminal. He said they can't keep people because they do too much deadheading. He told me there won't be a load out of Buffalo, I will probably deadhead to Cleveland. He estimated 1/4 of all miles I run will be deadhead. Not good when I only get paid for revenue generated, not miles.

Well, maybe it will all work out for you. But keep your miles in mind. No cents in driving for free. I had one of those jobs, deadheading just as much as driving loaded.....just not worth it to me.

If you can make it work for you, great. Maybe it will average out. Keep us all posted, and good luck. :D

You can usually get a load of steel out of Buffalo, but it is often cheap.

re
 

Spenc, why don't you just get with a (decent) company. you are not going to have the best truck, the most money to start with. This is in no way of trying to say Hey I told you so, or hey lets bash spenc.. but you do have to pay your dues. I am not trying to sell Knight to you or any other company, however you can do well with a bigger carrier and pay your dues. I hope you take this as constructive criticism and not another lets bash spenc.... bol in your endeavors.