Knight Reefer Drivers?

Looking for some drivers from knight reefer to tell me some about them. I'm with PRIME right now, not unsatisfied with them but with my mothers passing away a couple months ago I'm looking for a place that runs the western 11 and doesn't run their trucks at 55 to 60. I don't trust recruitera as far as I could push a kw with it brakes set. Bottom line main things I want to know is how steady the miles are if ur not picky bout yer runs. How picky they are about routing. General things to look out for, Satisfaction with pay and do they act like you owe them a favor when u take home time. Equipment tips would be good too I've gotten used to my apu and I know they don't have them... might need my own inverter and ten fans lol...

Reefer:

A refrigerated trailer.

APU:

Auxiliary Power Unit

On tractor trailers, and APU is a small diesel engine that powers a heat and air conditioning unit while charging the truck's main batteries at the same time. This allows the driver to remain comfortable in the cab and have access to electric power without running the main truck engine.

Having an APU helps save money in fuel costs and saves wear and tear on the main engine, though they tend to be expensive to install and maintain. Therefore only a very small percentage of the trucks on the road today come equipped with an APU.

Hi Michael,

I am looking into Knight as well. I spoke with a recruiter today and let them know what I was looking for and they seem to always say "YES, YES, YES!" to everything I ask for. It would be great if a few drivers from Knight would see this post and reply. Best info is from current drivers and NOT the former drivers with a grudge.

Best of luck to you,

Stacy

To both of ya i drive for knight and have for 3 yrs on the dry van side i dnt know much about the reefer division but do know quite a bit about the dry van division what is ur questions on them ill do my best to answer them

Hi Crazy Rebel,

Did you go to a private CDL school or a company training school to begin with? Did you drive for someone else before Knight? I have heard that some company schools will train you then give you the miles until after you complete time with your trainer then they cut your miles because they need to keep the new drivers busy.

I just had Prime call me to join them in their reefer division starting at $600 week for 6 weeks then .41 mile with 2300-2600 miles a week.

I was thinking dry van originally and Knight was my first choice.

Thanks for your input and help

I appreciate what you can tell me... I was told by the reefer guys that they are not forced dispatch (not a problem if they were but its nice to have options)..

I was told reefer side in idaho falls is good at keeping you moving, if you want to keep moving (which I do) 2400 to 3200 depending on how hot and how hard you like to run.

.33 a mile and higher for shorter runs, plus fuel bonus and quarterly bonus. As well as a production bonus for runnin 10k miles in a month...

Dispatched at 55 mph in 62- 65 mph trucks, so the runs can get real tight. I know the basics I guess and ain't afraid of it... I guess I just am looking for affirmation I'm not lookin to leave one place that treats me ok but keeps me away from my home region for 6 to 8 weeks at a time if i dont demand the *favor* of seein my family, to go to a place that keeps me closer but is a nightmare outfit ya gotta be a cutthroat to make it for. I just wanna work. And at least be close enough to remember where I live. Lol...

Almost all big companies give you routing that you have to follow. That means you can't go 50 miles out of route to make a quick stop at home. And most company are forced dispatched for company drivers. They tell you to go a certain place to pick up a load and you go. You refuse the load they give it to someone else and then you wait at the bottom of the list for another load. Its never a good idea to refuse a load just because you don't like certain areas.

Ok to both of you i went to a private school,knight does have a comapny sponsored schooled in arizona,but as i hear ya have to reside in az. and knight is not forced dispatchto point. you pick where you want to run,ex.if youre on the west coast ya can say i dnt want to go east of say ks.they will keep ya west of ks if they get a ld goin further est ya may get it but ull be dropping it in a yard for someone else to take. full otr drivers are the only ones who can say i dnt want that ld bc i dnt like the shipper or the area.

if ya choose to go regional its full forced dispatch bc its a small region ur running in.they will dispatch ya at first at 55 mph just tell ur dm hey im only avg 50mph and they will chnge the way ur dispatched.ya will avg 2700 mi a week.i shoot for more but my terminal mngr says he cnt push more bc we have so many drivers.im out of carlisle,pa.

they will not drop ur miles after goin through training if anything they will p/u. ive seen some newbies just get out of training and in their 2nd wk needed a break bc of running to hard.knight is high on safety do not run over ur hrs if ya can help it.

they give ya routing and specific fuel stops if ur within 10 to 20 mi from ur house and not under a hot ld just let ur dm know ur goin thru the house most wnt mind.in fact mine thought id go 50 mi out of rte once ,i asked if he was nuts.as long as ya treat the truck and ur job as ur an owner op with respect to the company and to the fuel usage ya will get along with all in the company.

they have a sliding pay scale the more miles ya make on a trip the less pd per mi the less mi per trip the more per mi.its no incentive but pays pretty good.im bein honest with ya on this post so here is something id never post before.on a good week i can bring home 800 dollars after taxes and my ins.my ins runs bout 100 dollars a week for me and my wife bc we smoke.on a bad week ive seen a paycheck as low as 100 dollars.

hope this helps answer ur questions ya had if ya have anymore plz do ask.

I have heard that some company schools will train you then give you the miles until after you complete time with your trainer then they cut your miles because they need to keep the new drivers busy.

You've heard that from lousy drivers who aren't getting good miles so they're looking for someone to blame.

You see, all trucking companies have plenty of freight to keep most of their drivers real busy. There are going to be times when freight is a bit light, but what they focus on is keeping their best drivers busy. That's how trucking companies survive - they place the bulk of their workload, especially their most important freight, on their best drivers. You want the hardest working, safest, and most reliable drivers handling your most important customers, right? Makes obvious sense.

So if you ever hear a driver say "Stay away from Company ABC because they won't give you any miles" then you're almost certainly talking to a driver who just wasn't one of their better drivers or didn't know how to get along with people.

If you have a great attitude, you're safe, you know how to get along with people, and you're hard working - you're not going to have to beg for miles. You might to have to beg for a break once in a while though.