Any Info on Venture Express of La Vergne, TN

Worked for them 1 year and that was long enough. Their safety rating is so bad because the dispatchers and safety are NEVER gonna be on the same page. They are being switched over to elogs because they got fined pretty bad in December 2010 by DOT. Trucks are SUPPOSED to be governed to 64 or 65 but some will run 68 or more. Pay is terrible and nearly all of their business is automotive so it fluctuates up and down all year. My advice, try someone else. that company is a joke and, if they don't improve that safety rating, DOT will be getting them soon

 

I worked for Creative Logistics for about two years. It is mostly owned by Venture Express. I never had a problem getting hours (I was local starting out at 13.5 and ending at 14.5). I was averaging around 62 hours a week, and would sometimes do shuttle runs on sat or sun for 12 hours that I didn't have to log. Things were good. I got sick in March of this year and laid out for 10 weeks, when I got back to work, I noticed that my hours were only at like 45 - 50 a week. I switched to nights, and gained about an additional 10 hours a week. We had a senior driver retire and I took over his route. Things were great back to my 62 hours a week, and starting to make money again. Then a driver from Venture accused me of talking on my cell phone while driving, and that was that. No I didn't pass go, no I didn't collect 200 dollars, directly to unemployment. Did I have my phone in my hand... irrelevant as to acquire proof the other driver would have had to take a picture or a video meaning that they were breaking the rules too. No proof, just he said she said bull scatology. Based on the accusation that I was talking on my phone I was fired. Venture is run by Jimmy Allen, who has his hands in many different things, one of which is the company that handles the benefits for the drivers. Individual plan is around 48 bucks for a single, 58-68 bucks for married and 169 bucks for a family. BTW the people in the office have a totally different set of prices for insurance. The maintenance for the equipment was so bad that we started to contract out a company instead of using Venture Express's shop. Freight is really bad. They allowed us to haul for Nissan only, but they have their hands in International Paper and a few others. If you don't mind being nit picked on, micro managed, and bullied, then this is the company for you. If you are smart, go somewhere else. (BTW you can go to a temp company i.e. Best Drivers in Lebanon... get paid almost a dollar less an hour and make more money because they pay OT. You can also use me as a referrer (Eric Jones). I will say that the specific owner of Creative, Ryan Church, is a stand up guy. He has a vision for his company and I pray that one day they can get out from under Venture Express. Watch out for Ryan Christman the Operations Officer, he is a liar and a coward with no morals, integrity, or respect.

 

Venture is very shady. I came off the road to work for them and it was a mistake. I have no tickets, no HOS violations, no accidents, and no customer complaints in 20 years. I'm considered a model employee. I am not a disgruntled former employee.

My experience with VE as a shuttle driver is this. A typical day involves showing up an hour early and standing in line at one of two dispatch windows. Eventually, you'll get a load assignment and a key (shuttle positions are slip seat). Find your truck, log in to QC, do a pre-trip and trip sheet, find your trailer and hook up. Deliver load and get return assignment. Lather, rinse, repeat.

Management is non-existent. I honestly don't know who my terminal manager is and I've been with the company for 18 months. Drivers are pretty much ignored by dispatch and any other office personnel. Dispatchers manage nothing. They just assign loads and then think they're managers. They won't answer their company cell phones on off hours. You'll most likely start on a night shift and weekend shift so hope you can sleep during the day. You will work 12 to 14 hours a day for roughly 32 cents per mile and turn about 500 miles per day, and working one of your off days is mandatory. If you manage this for 12 or 18 months, you may get on day shift depending on turn over. Everything this company does is based on seniority, not qualifications or performance. Seniority is everything. The dispatchers are ineffective because they were placed there simply because of their seniority, not their performance and certainly not their qualifications.

Drivers are expected to work every possible hour but office staff is not. If you run an overnight Saturday to Sunday morning, you'll be running with NO driver support. Fuel card turned off by mistake? No one answers the phone to help (this has happened to me). Breakdown? No one answers the phone. Saturday night to Sunday morning, you're on your own. I complained about this and was pretty much laughed at. This was after sitting at a Love's for 5 hours, calling every number in the VE book, including cell phones, until a phone was answered, got my fuel card turned back on (no fault of mine) and then I had to run illegal to get back home and go back and edit my e-log hours to look legit.

This company sounds good for an OTR driver that wants to get off the road but once you calculate your time, you're making about $12/hr and that's if you didn't figure OT as time and a half. If you figure hours over 40 at time and a half, you're making about $8.75 per hour. Also, if you're already in a job where you're home each weekend, don't come to this company because you'll see your family even less. They'll put your days off during the week and work you all weekend plus one of your days off.

My personal tidbit of advice: be leery of any company whose CEO insists on being addressed as "Mr." on all company literature and when someone addresses him. The only reason I still work at this company is because I don't have time to look for another job. It eats up that much of your time. It's like being in a trap.

 

Good info, I saw a job ad for them out of their Jackson, TN terminal. I had considered applying there, but I think I'll steer clear for now.

 

I too was thinking of applying in jackson, Looks like I might as well go back over the road.
thanks for the reviews

 

Venture is the Tennessee version of CR England.

Try A&R Transport or South East Carriers. You will make about $70K with A&R Transport. South East is good because no Northeast and trucks have Tripac APU's.

 

Any updates on this company?