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Rate and review Saia Motor Freight Line
Share the salary you were paid at Saia Motor Freight Line
$Former Employee - Jan 20, 2025
Pros
none
Cons
horrible customer service and misleading quotes with hidden fees
Current Employee - Jul 10, 2022
Pros
Pay consist of cpm, drop and hook, breakdown / delay pay.
Cons
Some managers are out of touch with reality.
Current Employee - Apr 13, 2022
Pros
Insurance is good
Cons
Sale your soul and sanity
Former Employee - Dec 30, 2021
Pros
Benefits and pay are very good. About the only good things to say about this place. As a linehaul driver you typically get home every day after you get a bid. Weekends off.
Cons
Driver facing camera’s, micromanaging company policies, rude and disrespectful dispatchers, junk equipment, trucks are filthy, covid protocols are not followed, trucks are 8-10 qts low on oil, no coolant, no washer fluid. Drivers take no pride in their trucks. They have crappy tires put on in a mountain region, force you to run single screws to Grand Junction and Wamsutter through the mountains. This is a DANGEROUS COMPANY with DANGEROUS EQUIPMENT.
Current Employee - Oct 4, 2021
Pros
Money!! Work 5 days home every day home every weekend get paid holidays off. Medical benefits are good quality at a reasonable cost. Trucks are decent they buy freightliners Volvo's and international. They buy hundreds of new trucks every year.
Cons
They buy automatics. The cameras can make life stressful when caught up in traffic. They cut the balls out the trucks for fuel efficiency. For the most part dispatchers are stupid, but when you are on a bid run it doesn't affect you AS much. Still these dummies can have you sitting at a terminal for an hour or two waiting to finish up a load because they gave your load to someone else
Company Driver - 5+ Years CDL Experience
Surveyed in Texas on Jul 10, 2022
Current Employee
Yes
Company Driver - 3 Years CDL Experience
Surveyed in Houston, TX on Apr 15, 2022
Current Employee
No
Company Driver - 1 Year CDL Experience
Surveyed in Houston, TX on Apr 13, 2022
Current Employee
Yes
Company Driver - 5+ Years CDL Experience
Surveyed in Colorado on Dec 30, 2021
Current Employee
No
Company Driver - 5+ Years CDL Experience
Surveyed in on Oct 4, 2021
Current Employee
Yes
Giuseppe Ventolucci
Aug 27, 2016
Starting pay for linehaul system drivers is 54 and goes up to 62 cpm after 18 months.
Starting pay for hourly is 21.85 and you max at 25.12 at 18 months.
Their benefits are really good. Their health insurance is a 80/20 plan and for a family is only about 40/week.
You have major holidays off and paid
You also gain personal/sick days (maxes out at 3 a year)
You gain vacation in order to schedule after January 1 following your hire date in which you can borrow against, but you have to pay it back in your final check if you do not stay your entire first year.
I just got hired on as a local city driver out of Lexington, KY and am training in Cincinnati for the week.
Also the line haul is based on a bid/seniority system. When you first start you are what is called a "System Line haul Driver" basically means your an at call/fill in driver. They have work for you, but its not the same thing and you could cover for other drivers taking vacation or calling out until you gain enough seniority to bid on a route that is consistent.
The bad thing about the line haul system drivers is that lets say you start off at night on monday night youll run your ten's until Saturday and youll end up on day. So a lot of people complain because they can't get a constant sleep cycle.
The good thing is that you can earn a good 65k your first year as a line haul driver with them! I seen their pay stubs because I told them they were BS'n me!
cherishangel
May 1, 2015
I work for saia in the chicago region. I can tell you with certainty that you will not work 80 hour weeks here. We use "vnomics" electronic logs and it WILL NOT let you work more than 70 hours in a workweek. We are a 5 day operation in the city and a 5 to 6 day operation on linehaul. You may have to work a 6 day workweek if you're on linehaul during a busy stretch and you're low on the totem pole. Also, a lot of linehaul hustlers will take up the weekend work by working until saturday, or starting their workweek on a sunday, so you might be working mon-fri most of the time.
Alrsr28
May 1, 2014
Paid every week. You will be on the extra board, do not expect to be home every night, more than likely every 5-7 days. Pay is great so are benefits
Mack185
May 7, 2013
Saia was good when I worked there but that was before the recession. I worked line haul and a lot of the local guys wished they were line haul. They paid good but be careful you don't mess up, they will fire you in a heartbeat! A guy dropped a trailer because the kingpin didn't lock and they fired him on the spot. Stupid mistake but they don't like it. Another one was if the bar on the front of the trailer unlocked and slid down while you were driving, another automatic fire. Accidents too if they were bad enough. They paid for sitting, breakdowns and mileage. At Reddaway I don't get paid when I sit unless a guy is late on a meet turn. My yard isn't union though.