Thinking About Making A Move To Another Company - Help!

Howdy everyone. First a quick recap. I've been driving for just over two years. for the last 1.5 years I've been local out of Minneapolis. I was on a LOA for a knee replacement through November and December. Sine I've been back, For some reason, Freight seems to have slowed down for us. My FM is truly trying to keep me busy by adding trailer moves etc to keep me rolling. The way my pay is structured though, I don't make nearly as much on a trailer move as I do on a load. But for whatever reason, it's just not paying the bills the way it has been in the past. I'm short $2-300 per week from my average. I know there's freight out there, but for whatever reason, It's not trickling down to my company in my market. We went through something similar last summer and after several conversations and PC notes I finally sent an email to my FM's boss and he things got resolved pretty quickly.

I love the company, I have a great relationship with my FM. She has always worked hard for me and I know I get a lot of leeway that others don't get. With that as a background, I decided that I can't go through repeated periods of slowdown. In frustration last week, I decided I'd update my resume on Indeed and put out a few applications to see what's available. I learned two things in the process.1) Apparently there's some kind of a "Driver Shortage" out there 2) If you aren't serious about making a move, you probably shouldn't put your name out there as looking. I had more contacts than I could count within a couple days of making my resume public. I think I read something here that experienced safe drivers are in demand. I just didn't know how in demand we are.

Ok, so here's where I need help. I ended up with two offers that were so good, I don't see how I can ignore them. I'm wondering if anyone out there has insight on Dart Express or Tyton companies? Dart is based out of Minnesota, Tyton I think is out of Texas and is a Fed-ex contract hauler. I can't find much information on either company other than Dart serves disgusting BBQ sauce with lunch.

Any advice you can give either on the companies or if I'm being irrational by looking for greener pastures would be greatly appreciated.

Oh, and sorry for not being more active int he last year or so. I'll try to do better.

I don't know about either of those companies so I can't speak on how good or bad they are. As far as FedEx contractors go, always be careful when dealing with them. Since you won't be an actual FedEx employee, your contractor will determine how your experience goes. If you want to go with them be sure to ask all the right questions and know what you're getting yourself into. As far as freight levels go, I can only assume it's mostly the same for everyone. Freight slows down in the winter pretty much every year for majority of the industry. You may be able to wait it out and see how things move in the spring since you like the company. If not, do your research and make the move that's best for you and yours. With a few years of experience your options should be wide open. Good luck

Hi, Wild Bill ~!!

Good to see you around again.

Regarding Tyton ... would you be pulling dedicated for them? That's $26/hour. Yes, hourly. Intermodal is $28/hour.

The FedEx part of Tyton's business is mostly relays for FXF. Doubles (often) and starts at 0.55/cpm.

A guy that just came to Tom's company used to work for them; but relocated to Ohio, and works for FAB now.

Hope that helps!

In my 'limited' research, Dart Transit seems to 'ME' like more of a 'starter' company. They pay bi weekly; governed at 67, and like to push lease. If you really wanna jump ship Wild Bill, I'm thinking there's still something better than either. That's just MY (and my guy's inputs) 2cents!

~ Anne ~

ps: Have you looked into Mast Trucking? Garner? J&R Schugel? Just a few good ones we don't hear of, often!

Sometimes the grass is actually greener. Not always, but sometimes it is actually beneficial to move on. Leaving Swift for American Furniture was one of the best things I ever did. I wish I still worked there but lost my job when I got a ticket in my car.

I don’t know anything about those companies but just for some perspective it is totally realistic with a couple years of experience and a good driving record to get 100k a year or more in this market. I’d just know what the cost is with whatever company you go with. Will you have to team (fedex contractors often require teaming)? How are the health benefits? Time off? Accessory pay? Equipment?

Best of luck

Thanks for the input so far. Here's some added details about the offers that might help clarify the thought process.

Dart is offering $30/ hour (no OT) and saying their drivers are consistently getting around 60 hours per week. Its Monday through Friday with a 600 or 700 start time. They have two major customers Target & I forget the other 9plus some smaller customers). The job is shuttling loads to those DC's 80% drop & hook and they say they have plenty of work available year round. Not that it matters much but their yard is a nice paved yard with all the amenities of a terminal (fuel island, real bathroom, maintenance) which is much nicer than the mud-pit dirt lot yard I'm working out of now. Health benefits are more spendy, but a really good package. Vacation is 2 weeks off the bat with more in the following year.

Tyton is offering 60cpm (65 on weekends) with a 9:00 launch. They have two main needs. One is P&D shuttling from local plants like My Pillow to the terminal. The other is Linehaul running doubles to several different route (Madison, Sioux Falls, Fargo, Mason City) It's one of those deals where you meet another driver and swap loads at a central location. Health benefits are cheaper, but vacation time is only 1 week/year for the first two years.

Either one seems like it will get me $15-20K more per year than I'm averaging now. I'm not thrilled about doubles but it might something to challenge myself. One other thing, Tyton has room for part time fill in drivers where I could work a couple Saturdays a month to pick up some extra money.

My current thinking is to take the Dart Job and work for Tyton a couple days a month for fun money. I'd be leaving Roehl on good terms and can always go back "home" if things don't line up as advertised. Though I like where I'm at, It's also my first driving experience. I really don't know what kind of experiences I might find elsewhere. I'm sure I develop the same good relationship with dispatch at either place. It seems like a little hard work, being reliable and not complaining about every little thing can distinguish a driver pretty quickly in this world.

It sounds like either one would be all right. Are there any other offers you got that sound good? Those are both good from what it sounds like but I’m personally a little underwhelmed with them if you have two years experience with the same company and (I assume) a clean driving record. With two years experience if I were going to leave a job I’m happy with I would be looking for something that’s a little more worth while. A lot of companies are paying top dollar for safe experienced drivers right now. That’s just my two cents but objectively speaking they both sound good to me.

Also personal preference, if you’re going to take an hourly job I’d look for one that pays OT. That OT pay really adds up fast in trucking

Sorry if that’s too much personal preference lol, I just know I would be a little more picky if I were going to leave a job I liked but I think it also depends on the area you’re in. I’m in Colorado where the cost of living is pretty high

Another thing to consider is where will you be reporting to work? If you're going to be working 12 to 14 hour days you probably don't want to jump in your car and drive an hour home eating up your 10 hour break.

It's definitely a drivers market right now for SAFE, EXPERIENCED drivers. Have you considered UNFI / Supervalu off 169 and excelsior in Hopkins? They're advertising $30.12 an hour and union. I don't have any inside knowledge of how things up there are run but I've ran into drivers out of Iowa City numerous times and they have many long term drivers that are very happy. Mainly Cub Foods deliveries to store but they have other business as well like delivering specialty products to Hy-vee. I don't know if they unload their own trucks but down here they have electric pallet jacks on their trucks and some lift gates.

Retail deliveries seem to be love it or hate it. Personally i love it. We have many members that currently or previously deliver to Wal-Marts whether it's for Wal-Mart itself or a service partner like Swift or Crete. One thing you'll run into is most local jobs regardless if they're union is everything is seniority based. You may get stuck with less than desirable routes initially but things will get better the longer you stay. I also would imagine that you get OT after 40 hours.

It's that time of year freight might be a little down into end of March or early April at lots of places.... As far as greener grass, I was ok with CRST for the most part, besides they got me started. BUT Here, at New Legends, I'm making the same cpm with more perks, less headaches, and consistantly better weekly checks runnin 3,000 a week So far so good, for the short time I will be here. But, when I leave I will do so on good terms, because ya never burn bridges, you may need to cross again hahaha....Been there and done that at a couple of my mechanicin' jobs......

Hope you find what makes you happiest Bill

I'm not sure if you are looking for a more local gig, KLLM has been making some headlines. They are offering 60 to 70 cpm with what looks like a very competitive benefits package and perks for regional and otr also a pretty sizeable signing bonus. I don't know much about them, but I read a couple articles regarding it, one being from Fox news, the other an industry specific site. It perked my interest enough that I looked at their website and poked around a bit.

It has been awhile since I worked there but West Side Transport has a terminal in Minneapolis, they might offer home daily from there. They where a good company to work for I would have stayed had I not been able to get this linehaul gig.