Is There A Truck Company That People Actually Like?

Back in July I decided to get into truck driving. The first company that would train and hire me was CR England. I did a little research on the internet about them and came across a bunch of people saying that it was the worst company out there, the lowest of the low, the worst possible choice out there. I remember thing to myself, "Man, I hope this works out". The place had a school nearby where I live and they only obligated me to drive for six months in exchange for getting me a cdl so I went with them.

It was not that bad as I remember reading. Sure the pay was low even driving in a regular team at 15 cents a mile. If we managed 5,000 miles that is $750 a week for each of us minus whatever the deductions were. I never had any problems with our DM or any of the staff I dealt with.

Now that my six month commitment is up I am looking to go elsewhere that can get me more hometime. I call up CRST and they offer me a dedicated route that passes through where I live and the promise of a couple days off every couple weeks. Pay was slightly higher than what CR England was paying. I look them up on the internet again and former drivers and stuff are once again saying the same thing. Worst people ever, the management needs to be thrown in prison, there is no way anyone should work there, and all that stuff.

Then I give other calls to more companies, all the big names I remember seeing on the road and the exact same thing is said about them on the internet. They are Satan's children, you got to be desperate to go there, folks are suing them left and right.

I finally decide to go with JB Hunt. They have a route that fits me perfectly, the recruiter set me a date for orientation and I am ready to give my two week notice to CR England. Of course the same exact thing is said about these guys as well.

Am I just looking at all the wrong companies here? Is there some secret hidden truck fleet out there where the majority of folks are satisfied?

It's just the internet and nature of driving and nature of drivers. Trucking companies employ A LOT of people and human psychology makes us more inclined to give negative feedback than positive. There are happy drivers at every company and there are unhappy ones. The reason is partly because of the driver, the dispatcher , the equipment, the alignment of the planets, genetics, voodoo, and many other things. lol.

I was with Schneider for 6 months and I loved it. No issues. Happy with equipment, loads, dispatcher, home time. But a lot of people hate Schneider. If they were a terrible company they wouldn't be the largest privately owned common carrier trucking company in the world.

Now I am with US Xpress and I have no issues. But a lot of people hate them.

If you want to be happy with a trucking company, YOU have to make it work.

The thing I noticed is from the research I did was there is always someone that will say something bad about a company because it didnt work out for them so they go on a tantrum about how bad they are blah blah blah. I got pretty lucky straight out of CDL School I landed a flatbed job with Modular Transportation out of Grand Rapids Michigan and they have been awesome. I also found some that said it was a dysfunctional company blah blah. I have been here about 2 months or so now and so far I have nothing but great things to say about them. The freight is there, the money will be good. I think its all personal preference. Pay might be low with those mega carriers but if you run for them Im sure you will make money. Im pretty new to all this but that is the impression I got. Drive safe out there.

Is there a truck company that people actually like?

No . We are truck drivers. Every company sucks, and every single truck driver hates life.

But honestly, I like my company and my DM. I might not like the weekend dispatch all that much, but that is only because he threw me on a load, late at night, after I had been up all day.

But, that is the life of a truck driver.

Dave

I love the company i am with and my DM is great. More miles than I like sometimes. Never slow down. We have a night time DM that i wish would move over to a full time dm. I would be on her fleet in a heartbeat. She is awesome and really gets things done.

I almost went to CRST until i spoke to several drivers that all had the same feeling. The couldn't wait to get through the 8 month contract so they could quit. I could not be more happy with the company i work for now and will probably be there until i retire. I have a good dispatcher and get plenty of miles. I have no issues with home-time requests ever and my pay is always there everyday. I run solo. The whole team thing was not for me, but they do offer teams if desired. We have a lot of drivers come over from several companies. I think they are getting picky about who they are hiring in order to make sure that they only have the best drivers on staff.

I was originally going to go with cr England-did not work out with them due to being slightly nearsighted-went with Prime and the pay is a lot better and I am happy with them. I agree with cr england not paying well-that is why I didnt go back after I got glasses.

I love Melton and am having a blast while earning a living. As has been said on here by Brett and the other moderators, it is all about attitude and the right fit for you. Then there is a certain part of the population that just likes to &itch, $iss and moan about anything and everything. The current trailer has been in the shop 3X in the past week, finished killing a traffic barrel after I ran over it in the middle of my lane with no where to go, got put in a crunch and have stayed in a gravel pit due to hours, froze my butt off, yada, yada yada. It is part of trucking. I have also seen sights that 90% of Americans will never have to opportunity to enjoy except in other peoples pictures or writing. Did I mention that I love my job? Yep, gotta have the "others" to truly appreciate the goods.

I love Melton and am having a blast while earning a living. As has been said on here by Brett and the other moderators, it is all about attitude and the right fit for you. Then there is a certain part of the population that just likes to &itch, $iss and moan about anything and everything. The current trailer has been in the shop 3X in the past week, finished killing a traffic barrel after I ran over it in the middle of my lane with no where to go, got put in a crunch and have stayed in a gravel pit due to hours, froze my butt off, yada, yada yada. It is part of trucking. I have also seen sights that 90% of Americans will never have to opportunity to enjoy except in other peoples pictures or writing. Did I mention that I love my job? Yep, gotta have the "others" to truly appreciate the goods.

Yeah Melton is a great company but i've spoken with a lot of the new guys I've ran into that complain about everything from Miles to their DM to the trucks and most of all, tarping. They don't understand that in the summer we have a lot of miles but in the winter the miles drop down and they can't handle that.

While not always true flatbedders haul mostly construction building materiel or raw items to build construction based building materiel. Building companies slow down during the winter due to a number of reason therefore the flat bed loads slow down but pickup again in the spring time. December through March has always been slow times and that will not change.