H/W Teams~ what do u need?

[Tom Robertson]

Small expedited company seeking help in attracting team drivers. Our primary source of advertising is E/O.
These questions are for teams that drive for owners.
You do not own the truck...
Based on the number of classified postings at E/O, H/W and other experienced teams are extremely numbered. Presently there are 142 ads listed for "team drivers wanted" and only 6 posted for "teams available."
1. What is it that you look for in potential driving arrangements?
2. What are the most important factors in making the decision to
sign on with a company?
3. Knowing that owners really need teams and that recruiters are
paid to sign on teams,how do you verify the prospective claims?
4. What is the main reason for failure when a H/W team fail to
succeed in this industry?
5. What can concerned owners do to help these teams succeed?

Thanks in advance for your input! We will listen closely to your advice, because your success is our success.

 

[X1_SRH]

3. Knowing that owners really need teams and that recruiters are
paid to sign on teams,how do you verify the prospective claims?

Tom,

In defense of other recruiters - Not all recruiters work on commission. At my company we (recruiters) work together to inform potential new drivers (single OR teams) of the opportunities available to them. Nobody is going to do any arm twisting based on a potential bonus to the recruiter.
Thank You - Scott

 

[Tom Robertson]

Scott:
I did not mean to imly that you or any recruiter would "arm twist" and really not certain how you came to that conclusion. I am familiar with your company and respect the way you guys do business. If you read the words closely you will see that I stated "owners really need teams and that recruiters are
paid to sign on teams" implying that not all the information received by potential drivers is accurate; either by over simplification, omissions or flat out deceit. I am an owner, and you a recruiter. I know from my experience that your company portrays potential expectations accurately. I also know what many applicants have told me about former owners and recruiters... about promises made and promises broken. I am simply trying to find out the methods drivers use to verify accurate portrials (from you company as well as mine) and how they learn about the less than honest people in this industry. To assume that all in this industry are as straightforward as your company or mine, is to ignore the facts that drivers are misled, and that my friend is naive.
I have read many of your posting and they are informative and straightforward.
You sir, have my respect.
thanks for your response
Tom Robertson

 

[ONESTACK]

The most someone from both sides can ask for is honesty.I for one will not work for someone that i find out is not honest with me/us.Yes we are a team and also own our on truck at this time. But the most important thing is honesty. Make sure the team get's every penny owed,if they owe you something make sure you get your money. I talked to one owner awhile back and he told me he took 45%of the fuel surcharge,but the team paid all fuel. To me that's when you don't need to be in the owner bracket.
Hope you can find someone/or team that will work with you and you have a great life together as a working group.

 

[mcbride]

Tom-

We are owner operators who started this business as drivers in 1999 and we are a husband and wife team. When we first looked into going into this industry, we were total novices, as neither of us had even rode in a truck let alone thought about driving one. The fact of the matter is, many people that decide to go into expediting fall into this category. However, in spite of our lack of trucking knowledge many of us of out here have had businesses of our own; have held professional positions in other fields; and have retired from teaching, military, civil service and factory positions. Therefore, one major factor to address is that we don’t like to be patronized and should be addressed as intelligent responsible people not as warm bodies and/or numbers. We can, and do, learn rather quickly....lol

When we started, we advertised in the classifieds. We indicated we were interested in driving for someone and we had a small dog that would have to be allowed to travel with us. We stated that we would drive for one year and then make the decision to either quit the industry altogether or have our own truck built. We had just obtained our CDL’s, but had perfect driving records and this seemed to make us “golden”. Just hours after our classified ad was posted, we were literally inundated with calls from people that wanted us to drive for them. We narrowed our selections down to three or four and then made arrangements to meet with each of them and see the equipment they had to offer etc. We drove to Ohio, Michigan and Pennsylvania to personally meet with potential "owners”. Although most of them had similar trucks and 60/40 split arrangements we chose the “owners” that indicated to us that as drivers we would be encouraged, allowed , AND expected to run our own business as well as working in business together. They asked for references and so did we. They gave us names and numbers of people that drove for them. I would encourage all drivers to call other drivers and all owner/operators should talk with other owner/operators about the companies they lease their trucks with. I had to edit and add here...that some company recruiters just don't get it...."word of mouth can, and will, make or break your company!"

We got lucky-to say the least. As far as we are concerned, the “owners” that we ran for were some of the best that we have ever heard about out here. As a matter of fact, had they offered to purchase a truck to our specifications, (like they do for drivers now), we would probably have stayed driving for them long after that first year! They still have a thriving business and to the best of my knowledge have little or no problems getting drivers. What made them good owners in our view?

1. They were completely honest and respectful.
2. They cared what we thought and asked our input.
3. They maintained their truck - From tires, oil changes, and truck washes, right down to light bulbs...
4. They paid us the correct amount owed and always on time.
5. They didn’t badger us at all about our selection of loads.
6. They didn’t continually call us or the company we drove for checking up on us.
7. They paid for tolls and gave us all dead head/detention pay/accessorial pay/fuel surcharges
8. They gave us bonuses if we had exceptionally good months.
9. They went to bat for US when we had a problem with the carrier we were running for.
10. They paid the fuel taxes.
11. They paid all insurance costs and Qualcomm costs

In return we were honest and respectful of them, listened to and heeded their suggestions, maintained their truck like it was our own, and tried to run like hell. We think of them as friends to this day and still use the business fundamentals that they taught us. (keeping track of expenses, milage, dead head....etc)

With regard to team success in this industry, I think the same basic rules apply for everyone whether you are part of a team or not. In this business you have to keep your dead head down, know your companies hot spots/freight lanes, know how much it cost to run your truck, know what your food/necessity expenses are and keep track of ALL miles traveled not just loaded miles. In addition, drivers need to realize that they are not just drivers...they are running a small business....their business. Drivers and owner/operators should base their decisions on what effect it will have on their business first and the company they drive for second. This statement may offend a few companies out there but that is too bad. Do you think for one minute that any carrier is putting the driver’s and/or owner operator’s interest first? Not for a second. They are looking at their bottom lines and as driver’s and owner/operators in order to be successful we have to make the best decisions for our businesses too. We should apply and use the same fundamental rules of business that our respective companies use. Therefore, good “owners”, that have been lucky enough to find good drivers must respect and endorse their driver’s decisions if there are conflicts with the company the truck is leased with.

At the risk of ruffling the right-winged conservative forum members, I also would suggest you address and welcome all potential “teams” or “couples” not just the “husband and wife”. As I see it, the main reasons that husband and wife teams are favored are because they have established long term relationships, they co-habituate, and theoretically the revenue they generate will go into the same pot. These characteristics aren’t just privy to those of us who are husband and wife.

There was a post on this forum a long while ago that I just love to paraphrase....

To all prospective teams:

If you want to see if you can make it in this industry do this:

Take sleeping bags, food/water enough for three days, cell phone, television and microwave... and lock yourselves in your bathroom on a Friday afternoon and don’t under any circumstances leave the bathroom until Monday afternoon. If you can do this successfully....you might be able to stand your significant other in a truck.


-mcbride-
-What goes around, comes around-

 

[RichM]

Great Post,She could not have said it better.

 

[Tom Robertson]

mcbride:
Great post...we appreciate the input. We have no problem retaining drivers our problem is attracting them. We sincerely care about our drivers and their success, because if they are not successful, then we are not successful. Our drivers have the best of equipment and are paid very well. Our problem is finding teams for our expanding business. We are inundated with single drivers wanting to drive for us but are having very little success in finding teams. We do not and will not attempt to match drivers to form a team; the analogy regarding living in a bathroom says it all! You took agreat deal of time with your response and I want to thank you for your efforts, it is obviously an attempt to help out.
It is obvious to me that you guys are a shining example of what this industry needs more of, concerned professionals who take their work and success seriously. It's no wonder that you are successful in the expedited field; I am sure you would succeed in any endeavor.
thanks again for your thoughtful input!
Tom Robertson

 

[raceman]

Gentlemen and that is you Tom not Scott This actually goes back to something I was saying in one of my rambling posts. Sometimes people sign on with a company and then find out they were not given a true story. This could be due to miles, down time or whatever. At that point they need to move on and find one that fits. The reason moving on becomes important is because recruiters or other company people do not tell the real story so they can simply get the truck. This really needs to stop and everyone would be better off. There would less turn over, happier owners and drivers and so on. I can tell you these people tell some big stories to sign on the trucks and when you go confront them they send you down the road if you don't like the answer. I just had a O/O tell me, two days ago, he was leased to a company, and I used to be there as well, where he had been misled. He went in and met with some very upper management/owners and was told if you want to leave go right a head I got people in line to fill your spot. I understand that answer and its true. It is just a shame that very few companies in this industry give a damn about the O/O and or drivers. That is why I went right back to E1. I found out that the way they treat me is worth a whole lot of miles. It is sad but there is very little reason for any company to care about us, the O/O and Drivers. It takes special people to make a special company. Listen to the Trucking BOZO radio show at night and listen to the ads for all trucking companies. Lie like rugs. If companies were all as perfect as those lies everyone would be driving a truck. This did not help one bit did it? uh-huh raceman

 

[Tom Robertson]

Raceman ;

You reply did not help> but not because of what you said... I agree 100% with the statements you make.
We have no problem with driver retention... because we are honest, straightforward, and dedicated to our drivers success. Our problem is attracting team drivers. It seems that your statements about being lied to, dircetly affect experienced teams and their responses to ads looking for teams. My post was placed to find out how we can differentiate our company from those who mislead. You are with E1 and Scott is an honest recruiter. You now have this experience and distrust all others and I don't blame you one bit! My drivers have the same experience with our company and feel the same way!
The question is how do you determine who is lying and who is not if you don't already have the experience? The misleading statements of others hurt the efforts of people like Scott and myself.
If you were in Scott's position or mine, what words would you put in an ad that would cause someone like yourself to respond?

thanks for your reply

Tom Robertson

 

[davekc]

Depending on the owners carrier, the 60/40 version may soon become a thing of the past. Look at the team classified ads. Carriers are going to be forced to pay more, and owners with have to pay more. The teams that are running for an owner under the 60/40 split and getting a small surcharge are going broke or local work becomes more attractive. A turn around will become apparent when you start to see more than a handful of team availabilty ads in the classifieds.
Davekc

 

[raceman]

Well first of all I do not distrust all others and Scott did not recruit me. I like Scott a lot and am sure he could have recruited me but he did not. I am at a point where I think I can smell the not so truthful truth. Sorry I misunderstood your post. It comes down to presenting an even look at the company. When I talk to drivers I want to hire or people on here who talk to me off line, I give them a balanced look. I tell them some positives then I tell them how bad it can be then I go back to the good part. Everyone thanks me for the honesty. When new people hear all the good they know no better and they fall for the standard crap." Actually we do not have enough trucks right now. Our H/W Teams are 10,000 to 15,000 a week everyweek, if it were not for the HOS rules we would keep these guys running 24 hours a day". Think about it. I have 23 years of sitting across the table from some of the greastest people I ever met and I have that same amount of time with some of biggest and best liers I ever met. If folks get the truth with some of the exaggeration it will help. I swear it is honesty. Simply share some downsides. A seasoned husband and Wife will appreciate that. Simply be honest. To sound honest you have to be honest and when you are honest and people hear you say something they know to be true then you got them.
raceman