I felt the earth rumble, so it was either my blog being mentioned or the results from the last Taco Hell I visited. I occasionally thumb-finger comments at:
Lease Purchase Journal
I drove for CFI / Conway Truckload for 16 months, ending about a year ago. No real complaints except the trucks they ran (T-600 for solos) were too small and poorly designed for my taste. The miles were decent, the terminals were fairly nice and they are sticklers on maintenance and accounting, both big plusses in my book.
When I started with Hill Brothers, the pay was .32 per mile with four cents extra for various other things (safety is two cents, averaging over 2700 miles a week for a quarter is another, and longevity is another cent, paid at the end of January each year for the miles run the previous year). I did not care for the fact that they used forced per-diem (six or ten cents per mile) for reasons better explained over on the tax forum.
They require two year's experience to come on with them, or one year and a recognized truck driving school. That was then, not sure what the requirements are now. If you wish to lease one of their trucks you have to work as a company driver for a few months and put down a deposit ($2,500 on a new truck, $1,000 on a used truck and add $500 if you want a TriPac APU). The delay lets the company evaluate your on-time delivery habits, how easy you are to work with and whatever else floats their boat.
The primary reason I chose Hill Brothers was because I wanted to lease a Volvo 780 and most of their trucks are Volvos. I investigated every lease deal of every company I could find, spoke to many recruiters and visited several others in person. For me, at least, it was the best choice given the options available to me.
After three months I switched over to a lease purchase and picked up my new Volvo 780 on June 6, 2008. Since then I have been doing slightly better than I projected at the beginning. I post financial results each quarter and am about to finish my third quarter with them.
As far as miles go, I am no super trucker by any stretch of the imagination and I have averaged about 2,600 miles per week since I began. Last week was a monster for me, 4,019 paid miles, which is out of character. Most of the loads are in the midwest with a few heading towards the southeast (Mississippi, Georgia), a decent number to Phoenix, and some out to southern California. Compared to my experience at CFI, the trips are a bit shorter (average deadhead is 97 miles and average loaded is 559 for me, through last week) and there does tend to be more waiting at consignees, in particular. I would say roughly 1/3 of the loads I've touched were not temperature controlled and the other 2/3 are.
There are super truckers at any company and I've spoken to a few at Hill. Some can regularly hit 3,000 - 4,000 miles a week if you're willing to run that way and you are in synch with your dispatcher and the planners. I don't personally recommend this but to each his or her own.
In short, I would say yes, the miles are there. The pay scale is really closer to .36 than .32, given the bonuses. I personally have never qualified for the performance (2,700 per week) one, yet I sleep well at night. There is absolutely no pressure to lease a truck with Hill, and in fact the required delay and deposit work to keep out some that shouldn't be in such a program to begin with.
I don't write my blog as a recruitment tool or particularly care if you use me as a reference, but when you call the recruiters ask to speak to Jason and make sure you call him "NINJA!", he'll know where you got it from.
Good luck,
Jim
