Actually Sheepdancer has been a tremendous help. He has answered alot of questions I have had. He also told me about some things that my husbands recruiter may have been wrong about. Although I'm not saying my husbands recruiter necessarily lied to him, he may have just been mistaken on a few issues. I really feel Sheepdancer is being honest with me and although we have only sent a few messages to each other. I would feel comfortable with recommending him to anyone considering employment with JB Hunt.

 

I drove for JB Hunt for about a year and the only reason I left them was my dispatcher could not get me home on time. Being from Louisiana it was difficult for them to route me home and dispatch did not have a clue how to make it happen. The equipment problems I had with them was once again a Junior dispatcher not knowing how to do his job.

That being said, I was OTR and never had problems getting miles. My paychecks were always good with the exception of one or two! I spoke with alot of JB'ers on the road and at the terminals and without exception the ones that were getting miles were never late on loads, no accidents no tickets and very business like.

The ones who were not getting miles were sitting at the terminal bitching about equipment, telling me every one is late once in a while, saying that my dispatcher has no control of me etc. etc. etc.

I would have no problem going back to JB Hunt. Any company is what you make of it. Work hard play hard and you will be rewarded.

 

Lol...thanks guys.

Honestly I dont really recruit too many people out here. Im just out here for fun like everyone else. Most the time out here I get drivers who have talked to other recruiters and want a 2nd opinion or just want to know more about a job. I wont try to steal them away from that recruiter. That doesnt mean I wont help someone get on from out here....lol. I like money.
But really the law of averages are against me. If im out here long enough and recruit enough people....eventually someone I hire will not do well over here and come out here and call me a dirty lying recruiter. Did I really lie to them? I would hope my reputation would tell you no. But who you believe, would be up to you. I really dont worry about it.
Being called a liar is just part of the job...
I can tell you that I have been on many message boards and There was one hire I had a few years back that ended up doing really bad over here. He spent the next few months on a personal mission against me and JB. I knew his story, I knew why he failed. I can tell you it was 100% his fault. But honestly it didnt bother me at all. Its just human nature to place the blame of personal failure on someone else. I just let him rant. Even negative attention is good advertising.

Man its late....Im going to bed, I have to work tomorrow...lol
Y'all have a good night and drive safe!

 

we dont pay hhg rates....we pay rand mcnally. Just to clear that up...lol Personally, Im convinced that if all companies went to Practical Miles, you would still have just as many people complaining that its not HUB miles.
A little trucking urban legend that needs to be cleared up. Companys that pay HHG, Rand Mcnally or even Practical miles arent ripping off the driver and keeping any of the extra money from customers. If we are paying you rand McNally miles...its because we are charging the customer rand mcnally miles. Now think about this. If you were a customer and needed some freight hauled....both offered 2.00 a mile but one offered you the shorter rand McNally miles....which one would you choose to do business with? We live in a free country where the free market rules. Say you got 30 big trucking companies to all get together and pay hub miles....there would always be 30 other trucking companies who would charge and pay the shorter miles to get more of the business. The companies offering the customers lower miles and charging less money would grow...the companies offering longer miles and charging more money would lose business. A company that offers hub miles but doesnt have the freight doesnt do anyone any good. And when it comes down to it....we are all in this business for one reason....The CUSTOMERS
Without them, none of us would have jobs.....so naturally, what the customer wants comes first. Customers want the shorter miles. Its just the way things are.

 

I realize it is a catch 22, but I also realize that neither the company or the driver is getting paid for work they are doing. If it is truely as difficult to get drivers, and companies to haul freight(you know the shortage we keep hearing about) then it would seem that the costs can be passed to the customer for the cost of doing business.

You can be known as the cheap freight hauler, or you can be known as the reliable, dependable, customer oriented hauler that gets the job done and the customer keeps using them because they are dealing with a known entity. There appears to be more than enough freight to go around and if any company wants to eat away at the margins by hauling the cheap stuff, or the stuff that pays you for 90% of the work you do then so be it.

IMHO, I personally would rather work for a company that pays me for the work that I do. IE there is more incentive for me to do more if the reward is there. So JB really isn't on my list for companies just because I oppose those that feel it is OK to work for free and pass that character flaw(poor business model) onto me as the driver. Driving is long, hard work, that keeps the drivers away from family, friends, and home for far too long for anyone to be out here driving for free. So my shopping list only has companies that are practical miles or hub miles. YMMV

Sheepdancer, I do like what I see you doing to help folks here. Your right is appears to be about an 80/20 rule. 80% will be happy and content, and 20% will whine and complain no matter what. I too have talked to JB drivers that are happy so I know it isn't all sour grapes and angry unhappy drivers out there.

Longsnowsm

 

I work for Watkins Shepard and they pay routed Hub Miles. They do specialize in LTL furniture and carpet. (Limiting the competition)

I think the HHG miles started as a standard BOL rate back in the ICC/PUC days when trucking was regulated. Then when the industry was deregulated this method was still the standard. So an inertia for change is defiantly there. However, the free market includes more factors than just customers .. the pressure to compensate drivers is another factor. Getting the freight contacts is one part of the equation (Swift got lots of freight contracts but had great difficulty providing service) -- the second part is moving the freight at a minimum risk. Right now that takes skilled qualified drivers. Certain companies have changed they compensation packages realizing this fact. Watkins Shepard is one of them.

I happen to think this is a great way to compensate the driver. There is an expected mileage (the routed part) but if you have to deviate because of weather, construction, fuel compliance, detours, etc. and you can justify it . then you are paid the hub miles that you justify. Now if you wonder off to visit aunt suzzy . well you will be charged 1.05 mile for the deviation.

No urban legend .. HHG pays %10 - %20 less than hub. It all depends on the zip codes. Now if company 'A' pays .40 per mile HHG and company 'B' pays .35 per hub mile you might be hard pressed to understand the difference. (%10 makes the .36 normalized factor against a .35 factor making the HHG and HUB virtually equal. Using 20% and you have .32 CPM normalized against .35 CPM making Hub much better) The good news is that truckers are a pretty smart bunch. :wink:

 

Everything I have read indicates practical miles also comes out anywhere from 5%-15% better than the HHG. Anyway you slice it the company and the driver are not getting paid in full for the services rendered. So like Crackaces mentioned... Unless the company like JB pays a rate high enough to offset the miles not paid I wouldn't be interested in JB. There are several companies out there paying good rates, practical miles, and have good reps for taking care of drivers.

I just like seeing that Sheepdancer is on top of the JB questions, and looks to be looking out for folks. That makes an impact on what people think about JB when you have someone on his own time out here answering questions. TWO THUMBS UP!

CA,
I like that Watkins Shepard does the routed hub miles. What I don't care for is the low CPM. Last time I checked they were only paying .30 cpm. Is that still the case? If they would bump the pay I would seriously consider them. I talked to Clint a long time back about WS, and I was very interested until I discovered the pay wasn't all that terrific. If my info is old then I apologize. :cry:

Longsnowsm