Profile For Nathan S.

Old School I find it hilarious that you and so many others on this forum assume they know what my actual real life experience is with CFI. Instead of contributing to the thread in response to my question I get a 6 paragraph diatribe about my failures and inabilities. I’m not perfect and I have much to learn but this is the second time in a year I have posted on this forum and have been mercilessly ridiculed for speaking MY TRUTH about a company. Well I won’t be making that mistake again. You all have a good a safe trip down the road. I won’t be contributing to this place any longer ✌🏻

So I drove from Kansas City northwest corner down to Niagra bottling south of Kansas City. 24 miles and because they have the same zip code I didn’t receive any pay for that. It’s working for free and as a company driver that’s bull crap.

Also thanks for the suggestion. I really didn’t want to turn this into a b@&ch fest thread lol I just was looking for other professional driver opinions.

Tractor Man on here went to Danny Herman for dry van. He usually has longer loads and shorter ones.

Check them out.

The economy is changing though. My company slowed down on hiring and has been shifting trucks out of certain areas for better freight.

I don't understand your comment that you are getting paid for dead head though.

Oh and since it’s zip to zip mileage more than a handful of times I’m dispatched with no pay to DH to a load. Not even a couple bucks to drop and hook.

I’m not trying to knit pick but start adding up the ****ty pay and lack of basic compensation that numerous other companies offer it’s time to move on.

I was just looking for some real life recommendations not a CFI debate. It’s a great starter company and they do treat drivers with respect but that’s where it ends.

Not breaking 2,000 miles a week, sitting for hours waiting to be dispatched (4-7 regularly) No more quarterly bonuses, no fuel bonus, .47 cpm $200 week for benefits. Should I go on?

How is CFI a former shell of itself? Just curious, I see them running all the time all over the place, West Coast (where I live) up and down the five , 80 etc, to the Midwest. What has changed in the last year?

To be blunt with you, the freight market is really a whack right now due to various factors (economic, policy, supply chain woes still lingering from 2020). They are giving you work I mean. I can run 560 to 600 in a single day (maybe a day and half if a live load and delayed) that aggregate adds up to pretty good weekly miles….if you run it hard….just saying

Multiple times but it’s way more than that. My current company is a shell of itself from when I started a year ago.

I also fully understand every trip isn’t going to be 1800 miles. But I’m sick of 400-500 mile runs in the Midwest.

Have you spoken to your dispatch/drive manager/fleet manager about your concerns, worked with them? Keep in mind OTR doesn’t always mean “I get to run coast to coast every week”. There’s a lot of freight out there that has to be moved and often times a shortage of drivers in a specific area to move it.

Yeah…for the moment haha

Are you still at CFI?

Multiple times but it’s way more than that. My current company is a shell of itself from when I started a year ago.

I also fully understand every trip isn’t going to be 1800 miles. But I’m sick of 400-500 mile runs in the Midwest.

Have you spoken to your dispatch/drive manager/fleet manager about your concerns, worked with them? Keep in mind OTR doesn’t always mean “I get to run coast to coast every week”. There’s a lot of freight out there that has to be moved and often times a shortage of drivers in a specific area to move it.

Yeah…for the moment haha

Are you still at CFI?

Yeah…for the moment haha

Are you still at CFI?

I deal with this almost daily. I’m governed at 65 and when I try to pass some yahoo on their phone whose zoned out they speed up and trap me. So I do what you do fall back and try again down the road.

One thing I have learned here is to be professional and courteous on the road. There are so many drivers that don’t have a clue as to what that means.

For example, I often come up to a truck going slower than me. When it’s safe, I will pull out and start to pass. Then I see that the other truck has increased speed and is matching my speed. What are my choices? I can stay in the passing lane and irritate everybody who has come up behind me, or I can slow down to fall into the slow lane, further irritating those behind me who don’t realize what is going on. This is really no choice at all, I have to slow down and get into the right lane so as to not impede traffic. More often than not this type of situation is caused by what I call a “yo-yo driver”. This is a driver who has inconsistent speed for no reason at all. They seem to delight in going slow to require other trucks to pass and then speeding up to play some sort of stupid, sadistic game.

When I encounter this, I slow down so as to get away from such an unprofessional driver. Unfortunately, I might encounter him again up the road.

What’s my point? New drivers, learn to avoid bad habits like this. We, as drivers, have a responsibility to control traffic within our area of travel. Have situational awareness. Don’t get into turtle races. If there is another truck trying to pass you and they are just 1 MPH faster than you and there are vehicles behind them, reduce your speed enough to let the log jam clear. This is called profession courtesy. It seems like there are more and more drivers on the road who have no concept of this issue.

I’ve been trucking for about 13 months and looking to move on from the starter company I’m with. The problem I’m running into is everyone runs regional, dedicated, or an abbreviated OTR program. I actually want the chance to get long haul loads every now and again. Not being shoe horned into 500 mile runs everyday. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

I went to CDL school in Ohio. I live in Michigan so maybe this is applicable to your situation. The examiner told me that to get the manual restriction removed from my license I could test in a manual straight truck and my Class A would be upgraded with no manual restriction. So it's a possible workaround if you have any reservations about passing the road test. But from what I understand, you will just have to road test in a manual no other portions of the test need to be retaken.

A little confused and I apologize if its misreading. Are you with Prime or Wilson Ligustics?

He was with Wilson Logistics but since his last post, he's been MIA. I feel based on the demeanor of his posts he probably dropped out of training. Going through training was the hardest thing I've ever done. Especially, if you don't get a good trainer! Some of us push through and some of us don't have the mentality it takes to succeed in this industry. He seems like a really nice guy and probably more soft-spoken. (as am I) I don't respond well to type A personalities or aggressive people.