No CFI Reviews?

DUCK!!! Another BS Recruiter Grenade. Never fails and never gets the message.

Bumping this…

X100 (Brad); when are you going to answer my question? What is a Mega Carrier Trap?

Mega Carrier trap? Please explain…

Well, it seems like CFI has a reputation for being a company where one is not just a number. There is one lady, Stephanie I think, who has been there for 39 years as mostly a driver.

My concern is they will fall into the mega carrier trap.

Brad

The only changes with Heartland is more places to park around the country. They will be helping us update our trailer fleet. We are treated real well. Safety comes before on time.

I had a face to face talk with my fleet manager and he said the office was looking forward to the Heartland deal. I was in Joplin and at the town hall with the President of Heartland. He had great things to say. Millis Transfer was bought by Heartland a few years ago and they have not had any major changes.

Come join the family.

Thanks, Scott. Very reassuring to hear from someone in the know.

X100 Fan is relieved:

Thanks, Scott. Very reassuring to hear from someone in the know

Wow… what compelling information in Big Scott’s pitch reassured you? He is a driver… we are typically not in the know or consulted with when it comes to merger or acquisition transition plans. Damage control trickles down to us…management always fears a mass exodus. Silly.

Many of us on here have enjoyed “being trapped by the Mega Carriers” for years. You have no idea what you are saying and have zero experience supporting your statement. Silly.

In addition many of us have been through mergers with other trucking companies or have been acquired. An M/A transaction rarely effects the drivers and usually has little to do with us. Truth.

CFI is a good company. No question. However we always, always recommend to NOT put all of your eggs in one basket. There are many, very good options. Don’t limit yourself to one. Truth.

X100 the truth is that most trucking companies operate the same way. The number of people working for said company do not matter when you get to be that big. You will likely deal with only the same handful of people. Do not fall into this trap of good or bad companies. What you feel are negatives I may view as positives. We all have different things we value when it comes to finding a trucking job. Hometime may be very important to me, but to another they may be more focused on how much they earn per mile since they plan to live in the truck. This is why we feel applying everywhere and then narrowing it down to those that extend an offer is the best approach.

You may hear negatives about the mega carriers more because there are more drivers. It's just a numbers game. Scott loves CFI, a few people here have gone there and has a totally different experience and left shortly after. Much of it comes down to your attitude and willingness to get things done. Your dispatcher also affects you. If you have a new dispatcher it will take time for them to learn the ropes and how you run to get the loads that can maximize your hours which involves building trust that you'll get a load there when you say you will so they can have another waiting to be picked up by you shortly after you deliver your current load. Trucking requires you being able to problem solve on your own and get your job done with no supervision. Many experienced drivers liken driving (even as a company driver) to being a business owner. At the end of the day most of your success is dependent on you doing your job correctly and most efficiently.

I am interested in this mega carrier trap you mention. As Gtown pointed out the things mentioned aren't any different from the other carriers out there. Safety is always number one with any reputable company. Swift (for example, since they're the largest) hasn't grown to the size they are by running wild. If they encouraged, or even tolerated, unsafe behavior DOT would have shut them down by now. There's a reason they constantly get the bypass and don't need to pull off to scale. You may get a dispatcher that tells you to do something that you shouldn't. All it takes is a message to safety. Safety is taken extremely serious everywhere. Swift ends up online alot for stupid mistakes. They also employ alot more entry level drivers that make typical rookie mistakes you see at other carriers. It's a numbers game. Just throwing a number out if 10% of new drivers do something foolish Swift having 15,000 drivers compared to CFI only having 2,500 of course you'll see swift doing something foolish more often. Individual behavior is at fault, not the company that's driving the truck. The smaller the company you get into the more likely you'll run into sketchy stuff. Fed Ex Ground contractors and 1099 companies out of the Chicago area come to mind.

If CFI matches most of what you're looking for jump at it. My point is everything you read is hardly any different than other carriers. My question for Scott would be what separates CFI from other companies? What amenities or benefits does CFI offer to drivers that warrant the lower pay in comparison to other carriers? If the company cares about you so much why pay you less than you could get elsewhere?

You may have more options to park due to Heartland deal but how often is that going to affect you? Are you going to drive out of route or shutdown with alot of time remaining on your clock? Most companies have Terminals or drop yards across the country that you can utilize for parking, Trucker Path app is also very helpful for finding parking.

The point I was trying to make was simply that one is more likely to be 'just a number' at the big mega carriers. Watching some of the videos by an older, very experienced Canadian driver online (his name escapes me), one gets the impression that he is not a fan of them. However, even he concedes that they can be a great choice to start out and I would agree.

Trap was probably not the best choice of word. Perhaps mold, model or even syndrome might have been better.

When any company in any industry grows larger & larger there are benefits and drawbacks. My concern was simply that CFI could lose some of that 'family' feel it appears to have as the result of this merger. Time will tell.

Brad

Bumping this…

X100 (Brad); when are you going to answer my question? What is a Mega Carrier Trap?

Mega Carrier trap? Please explain…

Well, it seems like CFI has a reputation for being a company where one is not just a number. There is one lady, Stephanie I think, who has been there for 39 years as mostly a driver.

My concern is they will fall into the mega carrier trap.

Brad

X100 wrote:

The point I was trying to make was simply that one is more likely to be 'just a number' at the big mega carriers.

LOL. You have no idea how wrong the above statement is.

At Swift, I interacted with the same 10 people every day. We were a team. No different anywhere else, and already stated in this thread by someone else. You failed to read it, or didn't believe it.

Although I was one driver out of 22,000, I never ever felt like a number or conducted myself like one. Careful what you watch and read...just because it was on the internet or You Tube, doesn't make it true. And for the record, I was at Swift for over 8 years running NE Walmart Dedicated; double diamond at the top 1% of performance among my piers. You have yet to start and already you are throwing down about the mega carrier myth.

Please refocus on reading and learning on here before making BS statement like you did.

One thing stated on this site often is to build a great rapport with your Fleet Manager (Dispatcher, DBL, etc). This is one of the things to lead to your experience with a company. This is just as important as your attitude. I have a friend, who is a new driver with CFI, he was having trouble getting miles. After taking my advice and speaking with his FM , he is now getting the miles he needs.

Kearsey wrote an excellent article a couple years back about how she's Not just a number. How is that possible when she drives for a company with 9,500 drivers according to FMCSA SNAPSHOT? Because she performs her job well and takes time to grow those relationships. As far as safety concerns I'm guessing those worries are in regards to inclement weather such as snow and ice especially. Well rest assured that regardless of your company you won't be forced to drive if its unsafe. Don't believe me? Read this thread about Winter weather. You'll notice that although we drive for different companies we're still encouraged (and sometimes forced) to shutdown.

I wouldn't want to drive for a small company that claims to treat me like family. Family and business very rarely work well together. I'm not OTR , and am paid hourly so that may be why I feel different than others. I don't give a damn if I'm just a number. As long as I'm left alone to do my job I'm happy. I can go weeks without talking to any office staff (aside from daily call asking what route I'm running the next day) and I actually enjoy that. The company knows I can do my job as expected and that if I have any issues there are a dozen people there I can call to get whatever issue handled. I prefer to fly under the radar. I go to work to work not socialize. I'll make small talk and be courteous and professional but I don't go out of my way to grow relationships. This may be me just getting ornery as I get older (I'll be 33 this year!) But I got into trucking to be left alone to do my job with little supervision. Some may interpret my personality as being stuck up and I don't care. I'm there to make money and provide for my family. Unless it adds money to my paycheck (like growing a rapport with your dispatcher) I'm not interested.

Excellent article Rob. Thank you. I have been reading many of the email feeds and somehow had not seen that one. I also really liked your previous comment likening being a driver to a business owner.

Kearsey wrote an excellent article a couple years back about how she's Not just a number.