I've narrowed it down from 4 to these 3 companies. How are these companies when it comes to hazardous weather? I know that there are good and bad dispatchers out there but how are the general dispatchers at these companies? Do they all use Qualcomm for communications and directions?
Okie, not ignoring you emails but cant send anything private yet, havent been here long enough. But I did get yours. How much freight is no touch or drop and hook with Crete and how much do you unload yourself? Any informaion would be appreciated. I am going to start calling companies tomorrow after work to narrow down our decisions.

 

In 2 1/2 years I have yet to touch a load at Crete.

 

On the weather topic, I would hope all companies are similar but I only have experience with CFI. Here, the driver is the captain of his ship. If it's not safe, you stop. If a dispatcher gives you crap, you go to safety. I seriously hope the whole industry, or at least the bulk of it, is this way. I am a little more comfortable in the rough stuff than most, but some people shut down after an inch of snow. There are chains in my sidebox, but the only time I used them was when I tossed a bag down as a massive wheel chock.

Dispatchers... it sounds to me like you already know the score. Mine is pretty good. I hardly ever talk to him and, when I do, the answer is usually "okay I'll take care of it." Others... well, like I said, you seem to know the score.

Qualcomm Omnivision, whatever that is. I have one of the older MobileMax units, but they use the Qualcomm in the new trucks now. I'm under the impression that they switch over all of the trucks whenever they are turned in (when someone quits, e.g.) but I couldn't swear to it.

You asked about Crete but I'll go ahead and answer your last question as well. I'd estimate 65-70% drop/hook since last July, but over 80% lately. It seems to be more and more as time goes on, but that might be a cyclical thing. I don't really know. I have unloaded one load and tailgated one load in a year and a half. The unload was a piece of cake, six pallets each weighing 400 pounds. The tailgate job were pallets of Red Bull. Heavy stuff there. I think my favorite way to get my $35 minimum is to pick up an empty at UPS. Those guys leave cardboard in our trailers, so we spend about ten minutes tossing it in a dumpster and collect the $35.

I try to be as real as I can with the blog that I keep each day, in case you feel like checking it out. You won't find my truck number anywhere on there. I'm not a recruiting pimp. I honestly don't care where people go to work. I just know that, last summer, I was the one looking for real information about what it was like and everything seemed slanted one way or the other. I try to give the most honest daily report that I can, but I'm a little nuts so some weird stuff shows up sometimes. Feel free to ask questions if you like. As I mentioned, CFI is the only company for whom I've driven so I don't know a whole lot about how the others run.

 

Hey Vito I got approved at CFI when I graduated back in July. However I am still in college and won't get done until May. When I spoke to the CFI recruiter he said that I had to come to CFI within 45 days of getting my license in order to go through their training. I plan on taking a refresher course in May and was wondering if you know whether or not I can still get on at CFI with that??? Thanks.

 

If you don't get the answer you like from a recruiter... try tomorrow. That's one thing that I've learned.

Seriously though, I believe this topic came up recently and one of the CFI recruiters said that a 40 hour refresher course would be required after the 45 days (and the 45 days is an exception to the normal 30 day policy). She told the person asking the question to call first and make sure it was all kosher before he wasted his money on the refresher course, assuming that CFI was his intended destination.

 

Vito, I see you are from Detroit, and I was wondering what kind of hometime you get with CFI living in this area?
Thanks

 

Thanks for all the info on these companies. It seems to be a toss-up between the three for us. I am waiting for information from the companies, I have talked to recruiters from each. Then we can compare them more. VitoCorleone99, I would hope that all companies would value their drivers saftey more but my cousin and her husband drove for Covenant and both tried to force them to drive last winter when I-70 was shut down around Oklahoma due to ice and no traffic was to move. They made them sit and extra 2 days for not going. With CFI they told me it was 20% fingerprint loads. Do they provide a pallet mover for you to use on these loads? How much of the unloading or loading have you done since you have been with the company? Where is your blog so we can check it out as well.
We feel that we have learned allot from this website and have done allot of reading and researching as well. We know that there is no PERFECT job out there ( I was even self employed for 15 years, no barel of funs either). But we felt we sure could do better than we are right now, no benefits, insurance too high to be able to afford, have to be there 5 years to get 2 weeks pd vaccation, no sick days,Vaccation is mandatory at last week of July and 1st week of August ( plant shut down). We know we will have some adjusting to do but are willing to give it a shot.

 

Well, hopefully they don't work for Covenant anymore. :lol:

Someone else posted something similar a while back. All I can conclude is that they're trying to tell you that 20% are live unloads and the other 80% are drop/hook. Lately that's probably about right. I've touched freight twice, with pallet jacks provided by the customer. The cell phones were easy and the Red Bull sucked. But, for five minutes the one time and a half hour the other, I took my $35 a pop and had no complaints.

Down there, at the bottom.

It's like nothing you've ever done. That's the one thing for certain. Doing the research was the biggest thing for me. I had the "here's my truck number" guys telling me how great it was. Then I had the omnipresent disgruntled former drivers telling me how horrible it was. The truth, at least for me, was somewhere squarely in the middle. I have no doubt that the vast majority of people that I know would hate this job, but for some of us it just seems to work.

 

I don't have a problem getting home. We have a terminal in Taylor at I-75 and Eureka. That's where they clear the paperwork for Canada loads so it seems to be pretty easy for them to head me that way (like right now, for instance).

The thing that sucks (sometimes) is that we put in a request when we want to go home. Then they have five days to get us there. No problem there as far as I'm concerned. But we might get home in one day. The most recent example - I was going to a Dropkick Murphys concert on 11/14. So, 11/8 rolls around and I'm in New Jersey. And here comes the conundrum...

Do I request home time and see what happens, six days out? Or do I wait a day and hope I don't get a run to California or something. If I'm heading west for four days, I won't get back to Michigan by the 14th, right? So I didn't take the chance. I requested home time. One load to Columbus and then a deadhead home. So I was home five days before the concert. That sucks, considering I earn zero dollars a day on my couch.

Then you have times like this one, where it doesn't really matter when I get home. So I requested home time in Nogales. They sent me over to another yard to grab a Canada-bound load. I'll be in Taylor on exactly the fifth day. :lol:

I guess I'm rambling, but the short answer is there's plenty of freight headed our way.

 

Ok, I think I understand how it works. But do you have to be out a certain amount of time before you can put in a request to go home?
Thanks