People who enjoy driving for megas

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Artistic_Alfalfa_860@reddit

I am with prime and i think the only people who stay with them past a couple years mostly are trainers and married team drivers.

You can clear 100k after taxes as a trainer, if you have no life.

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Quirky_Science_6584@reddit (OP)

I assume you’re a newer driver? Would you recommend Prime for new drivers for experience? Or should they go elsewhere?

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GT3Racer@reddit

They're decent for someone starting off, but I was there before they implemented the cameras in the trucks.

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Artistic_Alfalfa_860@reddit

New-ish, almost a year

I'd say if you have a real drive to make money, yes

If you need mental health days, no

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CannibalAnus@reddit

Are you reefer? Flatbed goes to some interesting places and usually not stuck waiting on shippers like walmart.

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Artistic_Alfalfa_860@reddit

Yeah I am reefer are you in the flatbed division?

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RealSharpNinja@reddit

What is a good mid-size carrier in TN you guys would recommend for someone looking beyond Western Express?

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snownight77@reddit

Averitt Express is based out of TN. Good company that offer a ton of stuff. Regional, LTL, Touring, and have terminal’s in almost every major city in that state.

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snownight77@reddit

Yea been here 5 years. Started regional home on weekends in a sleeper and now I drive LTL line-haul in a day cab. Home every night

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3-6 months for regional they just upped the pay so think they start you out at .65cpm now. Not sure if hazmat is required. Haven’t been running regional in a year or 2. Line haul is hard to get into but you can change divisions after a year once one opens up apply I make .83cpm home every night and run 500+ miles a day.

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RealSharpNinja@reddit

Thank you!

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Own-Load-7041@reddit

Safety is a 3 strikes system. They don't play.

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IndexFingerTypist@reddit

I'm with prime, flatbed division. Over a year later and still driving for them. I'm treated well, when I call in for whatever reason there is no complaints from dispatch, home time is plenty, being regional. My only complaint is pay. Other than that, I really enjoy my time here as my first driving company.

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A_Dash_of_Time@reddit

I drove for 2 megas and 3 mid-size companies that operate like megas. The only one I found to be decent was Ruan.

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diragono@reddit

I remember the first day I met my replacement trainer when I first started. He said, “this company isn’t good, but it isn’t bad. It’s a company to get your experience and then you move on. You don’t want to work for a trucking company, you want to work for a company that has trucking”. That’s stuck with me to this day and at least in my case, the latter statement is true. I did a dedicated account with Walmart where I only interacted with them and it opened my eyes how different things could be.

I now work for Coca Cola Consolidated, the drivers are mostly treated as any other employee. We get the same benefits, paid holidays, paid vacation etc. It’s nice to still work in trucking but it feel a lot more like a typical job. Hell, even more so sometimes. Not many trucking jobs where you rack up 3 weeks of paid vacation your second year and are allowed to call in 12 times a year

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skeletons_asshole@reddit

I had a really good time at Knight for the most part, it just didn't pay enough and I wanted to go home more. Dispatch office out of Dallas was great, never had too much BS from the company, just drove and did my thing. Went all over the country.

I think if I had started earlier in life and didn't have any family or home, I'd have been pretty happy living in a Knight truck for a few years with my dog or something.

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Guilty-Tale-6123@reddit

I started with Schneider, it was absolute shit until I got onto a dedicated account with guaranteed pay. My manager would give me shit about my idle time, but what the hell am I supposed to do in Buttfuck, Nowhere when you don't have any loads for me?

If you can get onto a dedicated account or something with guaranteed pay, do it. Even if it sounds shitty, it probably won't be as shitty as you're thinking it'll be regardless of who you work for

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illiadria@reddit

First dedicated account with Schneider as brand new drivers was a micromanaged shit show that refused to give us home time until I was almost out of medication. 6 weeks is a long fucking time when you are brand new to driving and trying to adjust to sleeping in a moving truck and sharing such a small space. It was supposed to be 3 weeks out 3 days home. And we were only making $800-900 each.

We left for a different dedicated account 2.5 months in. NIGHT AND DAY. Like working for a completely different company.

We're still on the second account 3 years later with no plans to leave. We net $1500-1600 a week each on average. Home every weekend for 34 hour reset. Account loads out M-F so home time is 8.5 days. We can take home time after 3 weeks out but we usually do 5 weeks out since we have Saturday night and Sunday at home.

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Guilty-Tale-6123@reddit

My Schneider dedicated account was about six months after doing OTR. I knew I was gonna live out of the truck while I was getting my CDL, so I hardly ever took home time. I would spend 6+ months out at a time.

I was single and had no life, which is essentially what made me get my CDL lol. I understand that not everyone can do that, but I was making just shirt of $1200 a week on that account. When I had to actually work, they were about 8 hours days, but there were times where I put in 0 hours a week and still made that same amount.

I guess I got lucky, but that was my experience

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GT3Racer@reddit

I'm with Pilot now after being with a smaller company for about a year. The only dislikes I really have is the safety shit on the truck being sensitive, cameras, and being governed a little slower. They have consistent work year round and that's all I really care about at the end of the day

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snownight77@reddit

You haul fuel for them? Was thinking of switching over to them or loves in the future.

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No_Ocelot4019@reddit

You should look at buccees rules lol but they have a waiting list to start there too I dont remember all the rules as I wasn't the one looking into it a buddy of mine was but we were on the phone with each other and he started listing them the two that stuck out was no drinks allowed inside the truck PERIOD and if your caught on your phone while you're working so even if your just sitting in your truck not moving youre gone from my understanding its also been almost a year since he looked at them as an option so I could be slightly off on those but as far as surprises go for a mega company and if someone on here that works for them cam confirm this thank you so much I heard Schneider doesnt even allow you to have a headset your phone is to be in the berth and off anytime youre not in SB or off duty

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Exciting-Car-3516@reddit

Damn at first I read “enjoying driving for maga”

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username_fantasies@reddit

I am a new driver. Started with Swift then switched to Werner. I think Werner is a little better.

Werner's system for loads, communication, navigation, etc. is better. Trailers seem to be newer and in much better shape than over at Swift.

However, not looking to stay with Werner. Like all mega carriers out there, they don't care about you and will exploit the heck out of you.

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Sufficient_Tooth_949@reddit

I heard Baylor is a nice upgrade they kind of do their own thing in that department, pay more, less rules, I think their trucks hit low 70s mph

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TimeZoneBandit@reddit

Does Hogan count as a mega? If so: I like it here because the pay is good, and they seem to take pretty good care of drivers. I'm on their carmax dedicated account, which is Regional Hourly, and set for about 100k this year. 34s at hotels, Homer's are on time, and the hourly pay makes being a 1st year car hauler bearable.

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Beneficialsensai@reddit

Any mega if your a hauler,take the good witjlh the bad.Accept the challenges.Dont be toxic.