Just completed 1st month with Knight
 

Okay, I just completed my first month with Knight Transportation.
I am based out of Carlisle, PA. Here are a few points to discuss...
The orientation was pretty much like...Here's a book, look through it and if you have any questions just ask. Really, it was basically a do it yourself session. We had maybe 30 minutes where someone was in the room with us during the whole day. Otherwise we were on our own. Then were were told they would have trucks for us. While the second day was winding down we kept looking out the windows at an empty lot. No trucks ever showed up. We were then informed that ewe would have to fly to Phoenix, AZ to get our trucks. They said they would get us back immediately. Needless to say getting back home wasn't as easy as they said it would be. Once getting back to our home area we were informed that EZPass and NY HUT stickers would be about two weeks at the most. Well just yesterday I was informed that they weren't even ordered yet. Reason is because my truck is classified as a Arizona truck so they don't want to spend money on a truck that is not theirs. You may ask why is this? It's because each individual terminal runs as a seperate part of the whole company. So it would be wasted money to put into a Phoenix truck. I know it doesn't make sense but that's how it is. Also when I picked up the truck in AZ it needed new drive tires badly. Guess what I was told? Get new ones when you get back to Carlisle. That way AZ didn't have to spend the $$$. Pretty crappy to make a driver run inferior equipment just because you are worried about your bottom line.
So needless to say I have been running in and out of NY without a HUT sticker and paying cash for all my own tolls.

Equipment is nice looking, but very slow. 64 mph :cry: They said it would go to 66 if idle time is kept at a minimum. But I guess that won't happen because I like to be comfortable when I sleep. So I am stuck with a 64 mph truck. By the way that's on the pedal. If you put it on cruise you will only get 62 mph.

They also want you to average 6.75 mpg. Even at 64 mph it's impossible being I haven't hauled a load yet under 44,000 lbs.

Also they want you to fuel only at Pilots or Loves. I personally hate Pilots and Loves don't seem to be much better.

They stress in orientation that there is about 50-75% drop and hook and very little wait time over 2 hours. Well I can tell you so far I am blowing that theory out of the water. I have had only 2 drop and hooks in my first month, and I am averaging anywhere from 4-7 hours wait time on EVERY load! Then I have to beg for $10 per hour detention time. They also stress running LEGAL :roll: I have yet to run a totally legal week so far. Totally impossible with all the waiting time.

I have asked for a different dispatcher but the terminal manager said I have the best one they got in Carlise. :? If this is the best they got I am in trouble. I am big on communication and I try my best to do so, but my dispatcher is constantly screwing up. He forgets to make appointment times, etc. Then when I get to the consigneee I am told they weren't expecting me, all adding to my wasted time.

So far I am not impressed but I am willing to give it at least 90 days. I just hope I am not wasting my time.

tell me your B.S.'N please. :shock:

Knight
 

No, I am not BULL :dung: I have heard others say good things about Knight. Maybe I am just having some bad luck right now. I figure I have to get about the next 60 loads to be drop and hook to be up in their % that they told me.
I PM'd you with some other info you might want to read also.
They also brag about having satellite on all their trailers but when you are looking for an empty they can never locate one. :?:

no comment

thx dollarshort, i got your pm.

One other thing....You can't read the qualcomm messages while the truck is in motion. They expect you to stop anytime the damn thing beeps at you. Try doing that just anywhere. They also send so many meaningless messages during the day you are stopping way too much to read them.

I picked up the truck in AZ it needed new drive tires badly. Guess what I was told? Get new ones when you get back to Carlisle. That way AZ didn't have to spend the $$$. Pretty

What does AZ have to do with buying Drives? It's a company truck and they, Knight, pay for the Tires NOT the state.

Like I said it's hard to understand but each terminal runs as a seperate business. So if "Carlisle" buys tires for an "Arizona" truck it is money thrown out the window according to Carlisle. It is the most rediculous thing I have ever heard of but that's how they see it. I said the same thing. All the trucks are essentially owned by Knight, but maintenance is broken down terminal to terminal. And whichever terminal performs the best I guess gets some kind of bonus. Who knows? But when you have to answer to stock holders stupid :dung: happens.

I believe you when you said that-Just sounds like that Terminal was too lazy to put some new ones on for you

Dollarshort
 

At least you're not the Knight driver that closed I-5 North of Oceanside the other day. Allegedly, that driver is still in the lockup for operating his truck under the influence of drugs. Not a good thing to hit a guard rail, open up a fuel tank and go flaming A, B, C, and Delta on the shoulder. Even the Camp Pendleton Marines helped put out the fire. BOL

Re: Dollarshort
 

that driver better hope they was good drugs. :)

Re: Just completed 1st month with Knight
 

Aw man, you're just asking for trouble.

I know!
 

So far I have been lucky, but I can't believe they keep sending me into NY. Everytime I am dispatched that way I remind them I have no HUT sticker and they say "Don't worry about it"

Just to let you know how stupid my dispatcher is....Last week I called him from Connecticut to remind him again about having no sticker. He actually said "You don't need a HUT sticker in Connecticut" I had to explain to him that you can't get to Connecticut without going through NY :lol:

Maybe it's because he can hardly speak english should have been a clue that he is not familiar with the layout of the United States?

I used to drive for them out of Indianapolis. If I remember correctly, they are a non-forced dispatch company. So, if they dispatch you to NY or through NY then turn down the load.

Re: I know!
 

Yeah, DON'T WORRY ABOUT IT, THEN WAIT AND SEE WHAT THEY SAY WHEN YOU GET NAILED WITH THAT $382.00 FINE, OR IS IT $482.00?? I'll bet you a dime they'll say.... "You should have told us you didn't have one, yada, yada, yada.... :!: :!:

Tell the "dumbasses" you're dealing with that it only takes about 2 hours to get one (NY HUT Temp) through Comdata Services....and then they can fax it to you!! Then ABSOLUTELY REFUSE TO ENTER THE STATE OF NEW YORK WITHOUT IT!! If they refuse to get it for you, ask them where they want their truck turned in. I'm serious. If they are that darn cheesy over a crappy permit...whats next? And who cares what part of the country that truck originated in.....its their fault/problem anyway....they flew you to Phoenix :shock: Its their truck, they know the rules....but if you get caught... You will pay the fine, yep, you Mr. Truck Driver, and you will "play hell" getting them to re-imburse you.... Betcha an "internet dollar"...

You should never enter a state that requires a permit...without that permit, because if you do.... YOU ARE GONNA GET HUNG AND HAVE TO PAY FOR IT!!

So far, and based on your experiences.... I'm not impressed with your Carlisle terminal. Generally speaking, most of what I have heard about Knight has been favorable.... but it was not obviously about them.

A dispatcher whose "first language" or is not "fluent" in English??? Ludicrous!!! If he's the Carlisle terminal's "best"..... I'd never want to hear about their "worst"!

That is astounding.
They are one of the largest carriers in the country, yet run like a fly by night shady operation.

This is just jaw dropping. Lends to my theory the larger the company the worse it is ran.

As I see it the moral of the story here is don't be afraid to tell the company to pound sand when they ask you to cut corners.

You are the one who eats the fine or gets a mark on his driving record.

Talked to dispatch when I Saw this ( I have one of the few really good ones) He agrees with you about charlise, he even has trouble with them on his level.
Have you thought about being dispached out of another terminal?
There are some drivers who do this, I have talked to a few, and they say they have had no problems with doing it.
Sad to say, but yes, with this company your dispacher makes All! the diffrence.
I even quit once, till I finally got the one I have now, after that 99.9% of the problems went away.
I have a deal with my dispatcher that may help with the qualcom, If it is important he calls my cell, otherwise I do not look at it till I stop.

Re: Just completed 1st month with Knight
 

All that- plus they kept sending me over the George Wash bridge...not my cup of tea. I didn't whine- just turned my trk in after 2 weeks LOL.
They never even charged me the $150 orientation fee if ya dont stay 6 months.

Update!
 

Who needs to put up with this crap! I called my previous employer yesterday and they offered me my local gig back. Home every day and paid by the hour. Just another reason why you shouldn't burn bridges and always leave on good terms. I turned my truck in this morning. :D

ohhhh whatta knight....
 

read your posting. i'm leaving night after giving them three months.

1. they don't have enough trailers. you are hoping you have a live unload that way you don't have to play "trailer search". they say they installed this gps tracking system. you know what? my buddy found a trailer that someone ripped the tracking device wire out so the trailer wouldn't be found.

2. missed two big family functions even with proper notice....one time with one months notice and put in writing, with reminders.

3. running out of hours to go home: three hours to drive to get home. they wanted to send me two hours in the opposite direction to do a pickup. hmmmm....don't think so.

4. they do have non forced dispatch. thank god.

5. got a newer tractor with bad steer tires....instead of fixing it in town they wanted me to drive 500 miles to the nearest terminal to replace them. no way i told them this truck is moving anywhere until the tires are fixed. d.o.t. would love to see me with steer tires with chunks of rubber missing and huge tire wear showing an alignment was needed.

6. had a tractor with nonworking brake lights. oh that's okay as long as your hooked up to a trailer...those lights work.

7. the old call me on the cell phone gag.....let's have the driver call in for info then put them on hold while we sit and talk about the sox, cubs, blah blah blah....

8. wait...did i say you'll get paid for spending 7 hours looking for an empty trailer? hahahahha....maybe next year.

9. riddle: what did the knight dispatcher say to the driver sitting in georgia? answer: i don't have anything.

10. riddle: what did the knight dispatcher say to the driver sitting in philly? answer: i don't have anything.

11. riddle: what did the knight dispatcher say to the driver sitting in tennessee? answer: i can send you to georgia otherwise i don't have anything.

i'm done. they have cooked me. now, my buddy has good luck with them and that's because he swallows everything they throw at him. so even though he gets upset...he takes it.

Knight transportation
 

They where good
 

I came back my 2nd x, 2 what i thought was a good co. and things have changed ive been with them now 5 months, they run very low miles and will bring up we need help, if your in PA. they will ask u 2 dead head 2 NJ.
And help out, that has all ways been a problem, they dont hire local drivers there, but now it seems there freight pull of local runs has expanded and affects the other term.s, there growing with these short runs and the driver is losing. They had a fincial report out out in June of buying 90 some trk.s but no driver to be seated in them. At 1 x the majority drivers where happy @ knight, now most i run into r looking 2 get away from them them, there change in runs and there planning r not driver friendly. Hopefully sales will get better runs and go back the way they where, if not they will ruin there reputation.

finding an empty
 

I hear what you are saying about finding an empty. They blow off about having this great technology where they have satellite communication to track their trailers but don't know how to use it. More than once I have spend hours and hours looking for an empty that wasn't where they said it was supposed to be. Then if you were lucky to finally find one, there was usually something wrong with it. Since leaving Knight has called me 3 times begging me to come back. I wouldn't even consider it. It just amazes me how you still hear "you are the only truck in that area" when they have thousands of trucks on the road. Sorry, I just can't take being lied to.
Moral of the story......What's the difference between a truck driver and a dispatcher? The dispatcher get paid to lie, and the driver lies to get paid!
How true...

Knight
 

Get use to it Knight is the worse I have ever seen at lies it is their nature to do this.I would show you a video of what they did me but it would be XXX. It got so bad I actually bob tailed from LA CA to Gulf-port MS after disabling the QC system.Don't have the time to go into all the lies and there are plenty they play good guy bad guy on you they use every strategy at their disposal aka lie.
It cost me plenty to do this but it was the hardest and smartest and dumbest thing I ever did but I now work for Logex and driving locally clear over $850(I use this number because I expect each Check to exceed 850) a week no kidding we work for it but it is something that can happen every week last check I cleared nearly 1k after taxes and insurance that covers my family med dental life all of it and I have the time to use it. True other companies wanted to make an issue about wrapping the QC but Logex said we Dac only for driving record so I was in and I have the pay stubs to prove it. Oh yeah KNIGHT said they were not going to DAC me big lie too They wanted to say big misunderstanding we will not DAC and did so anyway all lies walk away while you have a good record these clowns are the reason drivers get frustrated and leave the industry and never return. I am now and forever a tanker yanker all business and no BS. Logex has the right stuff they are sound management that will always produce quality results they make my job more like a hobby than a job I look forward to going to work get there early every day and challenge myself to do my best because they are doing the best I have ever seen. I use to work with JB Hunt at least they didn't lie to me they were very professional toward me and I made good money because I worked hard hustled and made the plays for that game.

Wow, I am flabbergasted! Up until now I have heard very little negative about Knight... But now it looks like a dog pile! What the heck is going on over at Knight?????

That is pretty wild to go from hardly a negative word to "holy cow" what a crappy company... I can understand having separate business divisions, that shouldn't be a problem shuffling the funny money between divisions to cover expenses so that was some sort of lame excuse on the drive tires.

The others are right I wouldn't have taken any load where I didn't have the permits. It is the drivers arse on stuff like this. Refuse the loads until they get the permits. Refuse the load if the truck is unsafe.

Well the negatives on Knight now put them on the "warning, watch for more info" list. I guess we will soon see if this turns out to be a long term trend. All of the equipment I had seen was good looking stuff. So I am not sure what to make of all of this.

:shock: I always thought Knight was a good outfit.I'm glad I read this here to prove KNIGHT IS GARBAGE! :x

remember, each terminal is like its own company. I had a bad experience in PA, northeast also, but i noticed other terminals were run much better.
its like carlisle was a drop yard and they threw someone in their and said " make this into a terminal "

Anyway, Charlotte and Kansas City were run much better. You really should evaluate each terminal separately.

I am sure someone will agree on this.

Bad ones , Pa, Atl, Fontana
Good one NC, KS, Chicago

I just left knight after being there for almost 2 years. I'm out of the SLC Terminal. I don't know what is going on at knight but something is up. At our terminal alone we have allot of guy sitting all the time now and we're at one of the busiest crossroads in the us. my old dedicated account was from SLC to LA then back twice aweek, The last few months I have had a helluva time time getting freight to go down there. Knight grew too fast at the beginning of the year and they don't have the same volume that they did last year and have been steadily losing customers"at least in SLC". There's allot of guys only getting around 2000 miles a week and It's September! What's going to happen to them in winter. I got fed up with it after they're last hard ditch recruiting effort in the local newspaper where they where flat out lying and saying the new drivers with only 4 months exp would be making .36cpm after a 6 months. I got lucky, my dedicated customer here, Excel logistic which hauls Maytag and whirlpool appliances, hired me for local work. M-F 8 to 10 hrs, Home every day,paid for everything I do and I'll make better money. I should have taken cdlpx's advise long ago when he left em'. Now I feel bad for giving him a hard time. Sorry Buddy!

IT must have that Cummins ProSpec software that will up the trucks top speed depending on idle time and MPG averages and cut it back if things go sour.

No, it's software that the shops have to go in an change. They have a little hand held unitsfor both types of engunes.The volvo engines are the same, it's just a 5 min fix, if you have a good shop.

Interesting.

Does Knight use ICON (Cummins version of Opti-idle)? I was looking at their used trucks and was just wondering.

Knight
 

It's a shame I started at Knight when things seemed to be turning bad. Oh well, at least I didn't waste alot of time there.
And as far as opti-idle they don't use it. All they have is bunk warmers. Other that that they don't want you to idle. The trucks are slow but they have torque and pull hills very well. I would think buying an older Knight truck would be a good purchase. They were definetely not abused as far as speed is concerned.

quote
Does Knight use ICON (Cummins version of Opti-idle)? I was looking at their used trucks and was just wondering.


Knight doesn't have any of their engines with any form of opti-idle. Instead they put a 5 minute idle time limit. My volvo engine didn't have one , but my cummins did. But I also had the the volvo when it was brand new and my idle times are usually really low, so they might not have put it on.
Also if ur thinking of buy one of their trucks, make sure you ask for the maintenance history of it. That should all be available on their computer systems in the shop. Some of these trucks run like a dream, then you have others where the driver peed all over the place and spit sun flower seed all over the dash, like my old truck. Best of luck to you. In my opinion the shop in Salt lake city has them best running trucks.

Re: Knight
 

If I were in the market for a truck (I'm no longer OTR, I just happened to come across ex-Knight trucks in a google search on Cummins ISX engines), I'd seriously consider an off-Knight fleet Volvo VNL670 with the ISX. They're actually geared pretty well for a fleet truck. 3.58 rear ends and 10 speed O/D transmissions. Easily capable of higher speeds than 66 mph. :) 400hp (uprateable) with SmartTorque.

Try ryder used trks
 

Ryder fleets trks, have regular pms w/maint agreements. U will have a good waranty. My trk for knight is pm every 30,000 miles. And they want u to run your oil level to wear it shows add, no higher because its a waste of oil, and leaks out. Seriously reconsider a knight trk. Good luck on your trk purchase

lack of freight
 

Knight 4 sure is stuggling to get freight, there cust base has declined.
There terminals have expanded along with drivers, many drivers now may be sittin a whole day 4 a load. There is a lack of cooperation between terminals., they all want to b #1. and show profit. At this point i hope there is a grand plan. I surley dont believe Knight wants a driver mill.

GOOD LUCK!!!
 

THEY WILL LIE TO YOU THEY PROMISE THE WORLD AND GIVE YOU A LOAD OF CRAP..
I LASTED 6 MONTHS OUT OF THE SLC TERM.. SPEND MANY A DAY WAITING TO EITHER LOAD OR UNLOAD... :twisted:

Sounds like things have really changed since I left Knight a year ago.

Several years ago, from what I have been told, Knight went through some major BS with the terminals, the way drivers were treated, truck maintence.....heck you name it and it was going wrong. From what I was told Kevin Knight stepped in a gave everyone who did not sit in a truck for a living short notice to shape up and then started firing people left and right.

It is starting to look like Kevin, or somebody, is going to have to do this again.

The way things are set up at Knight works well if everyone plays by the rules. If they do you have a large company stability with a small company feel. The downside is that it does not take much to throw everything out of whack big time.

thet are to busy buying small fleets just to get the drivers.. i went thru this when they bought out edwards bros (id falls, id) they said they would leave us alone i had a dedicated run from pocatello to slc 5 days a week..knight ref lost the account, then said i would have to go otr or out the door