[silvan]

Originally Posted by Smooth

I'm on a dedicated account right now[...]week at a flat rate of $850 a week . It's a cake job , great pay for what I do , but it tops out there and the benefits suck .

I just got on a dedicated route myself. They run five trucks on this route, four company, and one O/O. I was lucky enough to be unemployed at the right time when the O/O's flakey driver quit. My predecessor was bitching because they changed the route up, and added a deal where you hook to an empty, drive less than a mile, bump a dock, and stand there a few minutes while a very efficient person crams pallets into the truck at lightning speed, then you drag the heavy 20,000-pound load back less than a mile, drop, hook, and hammer down. The extra droppy hooky thing is $36 for 1/2 hour of work. My predecessor quit over that?

Dumbass.

I had trouble believing this was real too, to be honest. But it really is. This has been going on in some permutation or other for years now, and I just stumbled into a river of gravy.

But like you said, it maxes out at $850 a week. That's cool now, but 10 years from now, $850 a week will seem less impressive, and I've got no bennies at all on this, except an unpaid vacation a couple of weeks while they shut down for retooling or whatever. Definitely a crappy job in the bennies department. OTOH, $20 an hour is $20 an hour. In an economy where I would have to feel like I got a really good job at $9 an hour, $20 will do.

[silvan]

Originally Posted by Ian Williams

They are the norm rather than the exception at private carriers.

Sort of. We had a dedicated customer base, but I had to work for several (maybe seven?) years before I had enough clout to dictate that I wanted to keep the same two runs every single week. Before that, it was a crap shoot which set of dedicated destinations I would get.

Careful what you wish for, driving to the same place on the same road gets old rather quickly.

It depends on your personality, I guess. After I did get my choice of runs, I did the same two forever. Three or four years straight, same two runs every week. I didn't love it, and some days I was ready to hang it all up, but in retrospect, those were the best years of my life.

OTOH, the deal I have now is the same exact run five or six days a week. It remains to be seen how quickly I will get bored. At least with the last job, I had two different ones, and some variety as to who would be on there.

(Not to mention three days off every week. Sigh. :sad: )

[shahan]

us xpress has alot of dedicated runs. I had a formica run that would get me home on the weekends and I would goto the same places with a 48ft. $900/ wk

[cockroach]

I drive for knight transportation and have a dedicated route, I drive the same trip every day, home daily, 61 cpm.

[Copperhead]

Being in Ohio, there should be a lot of dedicated routes available. You would just have to find the right carrier. Target those carriers that have a lot to do with automotive manufacturing (not necessarily the "big" three auto manufacturers.. take a look at the others as well). I ran dedicated (yes, only two locations) for several years with Mike Brooks, Inc out of Iowa. I ran Chicago Ridge to Kansas City for 3 years, then Grand Rapids to Kansas City for 2 years. I dropped at KC and live loaded at the other end.

Ohio, Michigan, Indiana area is real good for having a lot of third party suppliers that ship to auto plants. you take product to the plant, grab empty racks/bins, and head back to the supplier.

Depending on the routes, you can get excellent miles and be home regularly. I did 146,815 paid miles last year and was home a couple nights a week and off the weekends for at least 40 hrs. It all depends on your home area and the right company that can get you a dedicated route that runs thru your area. It will take a lot of effort to locate that situation, but will be worth the effort.

I have sinced gotten on with another carrier for various reasons, but still run only the area surrounding and thru Iowa, by the house just as frequent, and off on weekends. I have averaged just shy of 3100 miles a week since coming on board.

Even in these tougher times, the jobs are there for those that search them out. I would also tend to target the smaller carriers (100-300 trucks). They usually have their system set up for these types of freight lanes and are usually more family oriented and down right friendly places to work. You have a better chance of not feely like just a truck number.

[Double R]

Originally Posted by ohiomohawk

Right now I work the Walmart account for Shneider and it is ok I am learning a lot about driving a semi, map reading etc but it is very, very sporadic. You don't know from one day to the next where you are going.

My question is are there any companies with routes that basically run continious routes where you basically are going to the same places all the time? Perhaps driving back and forth between 2 places year round? What are the names of these companies??

Since I have no idea where in Ohio that you live, here are a few compaines that are 100% dedicated:
Autozone; warehouse in Zanesville,OH
New Bakery(Wendy's sandwhich buns); warehouse in Zanesville,OH
Both are private fleets.