[Superkid]

I will be driving for a family friend

[Sheepdancer]

Nothing wrong with driving for an owner operator. Just make sure he isnt paying you under the table. Otherwise that will cause problems in the future.
Save all your tax forms and all your logs because if you ever decide to stop doing that and drive for a company, that kind of work is a lot harder to verify. In the years Ive been recruiting, I have had to turn down twice as many drivers as I could hire who all their recent experience was with an owner op. A lot of times these owner ops dont want to verify the experience of their drivers because they had been paying them cash under the table. If that happens future,companies you apply at are going to count all that time working for the O/O as being unemployed. And that could screw ya big time.

[txdrvr]

Originally Posted by Sheepdancer

Nothing wrong with driving for an owner operator. Just make sure he isnt paying you under the table. Otherwise that will cause problems in the future.
Save all your tax forms and all your logs because if you ever decide to stop doing that and drive for a company, that kind of work is a lot harder to verify. In the years Ive been recruiting, I have had to turn down twice as many drivers as I could hire who all their recent experience was with an owner op. A lot of times these owner ops dont want to verify the experience of their drivers because they had been paying them cash under the table. If that happens future,companies you apply at are going to count all that time working for the O/O as being unemployed. And that could screw ya big time.

Good advice about getting paid under the table. when I was about to go local for Walgreens I was asked to drive for a O/O and get paid under the table and I turned it down as I had gotten audited by the IRS a few years earlier and it left a bad taste.

A few months later the O/O got audited by the IRS and he got a little less slapped because he told the IRS who had worked for him and who he paid under the table so they could go after them also. It never bothered him to snitch them out and if he hadn't he would have had to pay all the under the table stuff that the IRS estimated he paid with penalties and interest on EACH and not a lump sum.

[Superkid]

I have drove for this O/O before. He doesn't pay under the table. He has a run where i can be home on the weekends. I can also be home through the week if i want to.

[Sheepdancer]

That sounds like a good job, you should probably at least try.
Still, save all your logs, tax papers and paycheck stubs for future verification. It could save you.
Most of the time an owner operator saying "yeah he drove for me" wont work for a job refference. Trucking companies always prefer easy to verfiy jobs and companies that use DAC. Look at it this way....I send in two drivers to a company, one has spent 3 years working for 2 of the big companies, the other has spent 3 years working for a couple of owner operators or small mom and pop type operations. Now the person in the corporate office has two choices. Spend a few minutes verifying the first driver all on DAC, or spend hours and hours calling owner ops, faxing things, waiting sometimes weeks for a response. What I have found usually happens is that the driver working for the owner ops just gets "lost in the shuffle"

[Superkid]

I will make sure i hold on to everything. I will see if he can report it on DAC that i am driving for him.

[Karnajj]

Originally Posted by Geeeeeezer

I drove for both..... with Crete, I was out ALL the time. I did drive Souteast regional for a year, and it was home every other weekend. Not Tooooooo Bad, but still out longer than I wanted.
I started driving for the dreaded JB HUNT a little over a year ago with 1 goal in mind....... get on to a DCS route.
I live in North GA and drive for a DCS account out of Chattanooga, TN. I am home almost every nite, and am home every weekend no later than 13o on Friday after noon. I don't usually return to work until early am on the next Monday.
Now I will admit, I had to SUFFER thru the first year with JB to get to the goose that lays the golden eggs, but it was well worth it.
Between the 2 companies, I would definately go with JB HUNT. You should be able to get a DCS job relatively close to Charlotte.
Another good point for JB over Crete is their equipment. I know the trucks are much slower, but the trailers are in EXCELLANT condition. I have only had to take my 10 pound hammer to 1 trailer during the last year. When I was with Crete, every damn trailer I picked up required a hammer and a steel rod to slide the tandems, and usually added 30 to 45 additional minutes for a basic drop and hook.
Anyway, just thought I would let you know my opinion since I have driven for BOTH of them.
Good Luck with which ever you decide.

You obviously have no clue how to slide tandems. In nearly three years with Crete I have had to take a hammer to exactly one trailer. I've read your bitches about Crete before but at least have the decency to tell the truth once in a while. :roll:

[Karnajj]

Originally Posted by Barrelburner

Crete recently cut the "shag" or local pickup and delivery pay.

Crete's pay scale has stagnated over 10% since 2000 when adjusted for inflation, raises, the "practical route" mileage pay, and eliminated bonus.

Crete recently "updated" the practical route computations, which dropped the miles on trips I've taken. The practical route is better than the 'short miles' previously used-it probably split the difference between the 'short miles' pay and the actual miles you will drive.

Crete dispatches loads with a route given, and fuel stops to use along the route. However, the "practical route" that the trip pay is based on is frequently computed over a different and
sometimes substantially shorter route. For example, the first trip I took was Ogden, UT to Minneapolis, MN...the route they gave me was I-84 to I-80 to Des Moines, IA and up I-35...but the route they paid me for was apparently through Rawlins, Wy, up through the Black Hills, across I-90 to MN, and US 169 up to the Twin Cities....over 100 miles less paid miles than the route and fuel stops I was given.

Every shag I have ever run for Crete has paid exactly the same. $30 plus miles. Did two just last week got paid just the same as I always have.

[Geeeeeezer]

Karnajj, I don't even know how to reply to you anymore. I have said some good things about Crete and some bad things about Crete. But no matter what, I have always only stated the truth as I know it to be.
And YES, I do know how to slide tandems. It seems that you just can't accept the fact that when I drove for the General Mills account, the shippers and receivers, (General Mills), just didn't give a damn about how they treated the Crete trailers and would warp the doors, bend the slide rails, or yank the tandems so hard that they would not move from the back of the trailer. I had discussions with Patty and Jeff at Crete all the time about the condition of the General Mills trailers and they told me they had those problems ALL THE TIME.
Now, when I was just driving OTR trailers for other shippers and receivers, you are right, the trailers were in better shape and were not abused near as much.
What you like to call "bitching", I call the truth.

[Karnajj]

Originally Posted by Geeeeeezer

Karnajj, I don't even know how to reply to you anymore. I have said some good things about Crete and some bad things about Crete. But no matter what, I have always only stated the truth as I know it to be.
And YES, I do know how to slide tandems. It seems that you just can't accept the fact that when I drove for the General Mills account, the shippers and receivers, (General Mills), just didn't give a damn about how they treated the Crete trailers and would warp the doors, bend the slide rails, or yank the tandems so hard that they would not move from the back of the trailer. I had discussions with Patty and Jeff at Crete all the time about the condition of the General Mills trailers and they told me they had those problems ALL THE TIME.
Now, when I was just driving OTR trailers for other shippers and receivers, you are right, the trailers were in better shape and were not abused near as much.

General Mills does not have their own trailers. They are a part of the overall pool of trailers in the Crete system. I have pulled plenty of trailers from General Mills accounts and never had a bit of problems with any of them. Besides, you pretty much shot yourself in the foot when you decided to blame General Mills for all the problems. If that is true then Crete has nothing to do with it. Think before you post.