Gordon vs. May
 

I'll graduate from CDL school next Friday, and I'm torn between two pre-hires. Looking at the numbers, Gordon has a slight edge over May in pretty much every catagory. Mostly, I'm still considering May because their main terminal is 20 minutes from my home. Gordon's nearest is 90 minutes away, but they do have a dropyard (Target DC) that's about 30 minutes away. Should terminal/dropyard proximity even factor into my decision?

If not, the one thing that would really tilt the scales in May's favor would be the working environment. My instinct is that they might be better in this department since they're a smaller company than Gordon. Could you give me some opinions on how these two companies treat their drivers and their equipment?

Re: Gordon vs. May
 

To answer the question in bold, no! Gordon is a very good company. The extra ten or whatever minutes is well worth it for the company.

Only target freight can be dropped at the DC in Albany... The other drop yard is in Halsey at the Pioneer Villa or at Georgia Pacific right down the road...

I was talking to a May driver a few weeks ago and he told us they are charging the drivers for fuel if you idle over 35%

I'd go with Gorden. The drivers we have talked to seem happy!!

tootie

I don't see what's so bad about that when THEY are the ones paying for fuel. You wouldn't like it very much if someone took your car and let it idle for 12 hours and let you pay for all the fuel. Now if they said you can't idle AT ALL then I'd be a little upset.

It doesn't take much to get up to between 40-50% as a solo driver if you get sat for a day ,or get short mile loads with tons of dock time during the real hot or real cold times of the year ... :wink:

If the weather is bad all you have to do is call your osl or dispatcher and ask for some extra idle hours. I just dont like how they are getting rid of the 13 speeds and replacing them with 9 speeds. They also droped the pay 2 cents since i left them. Use to be 32 cpm to start and 36 cpm after 1 year, now starting is 30 and 1 year is 34cpm.

During the winter I wouldn't have a problem...But in the summer they would be getting calls every day ,As once it gets to about 80 it's to warm in the truck for me without AC , So if they didn't keep me running with good trips ,And had me doing a-lot of short runs with much wait time at shipper/receiver I would probably be well above 35%,..If they want to cry about fuel I guess it's time they get spendy ,and get some aalternative heating/cooling equipment installed :wink:

Oh haha, i also hated how they took your cruise control off when your lights were turned on at night. Some trucks you could bypass that by using the fog lights also.

LOL! You are definitely an old May hand! I worked for them for 7 years, on the road, in the shop, in the office. Last three years as an owner operator.

When I started, they charged for idle time over 10%! But you could call in and get more time if you needed it.

I thought they had too many screwy policies, I wouldn't want to be a company driver for them.