Any info on Marvin Keller Trucking - Sullivan, IL

Just wanted to see if anyone here had any experiances with Marvin Keller Trucking DOT# 215522.

I'm considering signing up with them as my first carrier. They came to our school and seemed straight forward and genuine, no hype, no sence of "used car salesman" presentation, like a few of the other recruiters that came through. Something different then the others, was the company CEO came along and greeted our class, and gave us some background of there company. I thought he was there to train his recruiter or something, but our instructor said he normaly does attend there presentation.

One of there stronger points that attracted me is they are a smaller outfit, aprox 100 trucks. I'm hoping this may lead to better treatment as a (human) driver, compaired to what i've read about the "supper fleets" that train recent (tools) grads.

Training pay is $600/wk, defenetly better then the $350 alot of the others pay. Truck shuts down for 10 hr restart, no team driving during training. Start at .31 after training with hazmat, reviews at 6 & 12 months with oppertunity of .01 to .02 cent raises on performance, then annualy, topping out at .44.
Local drop lot to park on hometime, where they service the vehicles while your off. No touch freight, 50% drop and hook, pre-pass/e-pass, e-logs, all trucks have the "night" system for off-duty hrs. Pre-planed routes avg 2.2k to 2.8k/wk, bringing you home on 3 out of 4 w-end's for restart. They do start you out with 1.5k to 1.8k for the first couple of weeks solo to ease you into the grind.

Most of this sounds pretty good to me, comparatively, to other companys that train recent grads, which is why I would like some feedback, comfirmation, or reviews.

Being a noob, any sugguestions you would recomend I inquire about, before signing on. I've learned alot from this forum, but know I don't really know anything yet, and I want to make a good choice, and not job hop, because i went in blindly.

Thanks!

 

Thanks SHC, I have my drive test tomorrow with them. If all goes well, I may be packing my bags soon and moving into my new high rise condo. Hope my trainer is as helpful as most of you guys/gals on here.

 

Update...
I took my road test and answered some questions they use as part of the assesment of my pre-hire.
Everything went smooth. There company had a real casual, comfortable atmosphere throughout the process, which weighed in a lot, of confirming what I was looking for. I got the questions I had, answered, again with straight answers. No sence of deception. One of which was weighing heavy on me was home time. 3 out of 4 weeks, for a 34 to 40 hour restart, with a possibility of having your schedualed weekend out, home as well, if loads are light. No option of any dedicated, or local routes available down the road. There strictly regional/OTR.

This was the only thing I had a concern with. I know that in the long run, I did not want to be away from my family that much. This confirmed that this would be a tempory job to get my experiance and satisfy the requirements of a local company, I had lined up, require. I was told at the end of the process I should hear back from them within two days with a decission.

I headed home and was talking to my wife, explaining how things went, and that I felt this was going to be decent outfit to get my feet wet, and experiance needed to move on. We were discusing the fact that it was going to be a reality that I would only be home a few days a month, and if it was something we were prepared for.

It was about two hours after leaving there HQ on tue., they called me with an offer. I was schedualed for my phisical and paperwork on the following monday, backing procidures and practice on tue., then on the road with my trainer on wed. Excited I got a job, and the reality I was rarely going to be able to see my family for a while, made for a long course of mixed emoitions for all of us, as everything settled in.

Spent wed. shopping for my list of supplies I would need for the weeks ahead. Started getting my bags packed and preparing for the road. This is when it hit my kids that I was not going to be around much. Made for a rough night....

I woke up thurs. with second thoughts on if I was doing the right thing. I started looking into companys again, in my area, that could possibly offer better home time. All the web sites require "__" months/yrs experiance. Hearing from other posts that there are sometimes exceptions, I made some calls to confirm there requirements. My first local company of choice, I called, I was told yes, they do have a student program, and the slot was available!! He said fill out an online app. and call me in the morning. I filled out the app. and went out to finish shopping for my supplies I would need. I decided to stop by the terminal and introduce myself to the manager and let him know the app. was submitted. He pulled it up, interviewed me on the spot, made requests for my MVR, background checks.... so he could submit everything to corporate for there approval, and said to call him Fri afternoon to follow up. Fri morning I made the call. He said I got the approval from corporate and need you to come in to fill out some more papers. I went in and got my employee packet, schedualed for my phisical and exertment test on mon. and should be able to start training possably by thur.

I called Marvin Keller shortly after, to let them know I was pursuing another offer and explained to them that it was a better fit, with the possiblity of better home time. They were compleatly understanding and appreciated the notification. They wished me the best of luck with my career choice, and assured me there were no hard feelings and if I should change my mind at a later time, to not hesitate to contact them.

All in all, my experiances from Marvin Keller were very respectful and profesional. If they would have had a better fit, for me and my family, I feel confident they would have been a good company to work for. I did not want to use them as a stepping stone and prefer not to change jobs, unless there is an issue of disrespect. I feel I am starting with a company that I can stay with for long time to come, and should have a good balance of family life, at least from a drivers perspective.

 

Training period is really dependent on the students progress. Usually about 6 weeks for a noob, give or take a couple. Experianced drivers would surely be less.

Yes, you would get your w-ends home during training.

Night system is an auxillary heating/cooling unit for the bunk. They have a no-idle policy on there trucks.

Just got hired on with Carry Transit.