DOT Foods, are they a good starter company?

I hear that they're good to work for but particular who they take. I tried out of CDL school and they never called back even though my driving record was spotless and my skills were good. I think you also need to live a certain number of miles from their terminal. Don't remember how many though.

 

When I checked with them about 8 years ago the lady told me their hiring process was 4-6 weeks. And their pay structure was convoluted. But, like I said that was 8 years ago .

 

They advertise:

55k first year drivers
80k a year after that

Prefer you live within 100 miles of a terminal.

 

There are roughly two kinds of runs, OTR (which they call no-touch) and delivery, which is dock-to-dock only, could be dropping off a few boxes or a whole truck, could be picking up a load to go back to the DC after you empty out. Some customers unload themselves, most you unload. If they unload you get paid piece rate anyway just like you did it.

It is forced dispatch, they can send you OTR if they need to, or send you into a nearby city to hit docks even if you signed up for OTR. In the interview they will try to get you to take what they need at that time regardless of what you applied for.

From the drivers I spoke with the money is there, roughly 80k/yr. Trucks are all Wolwo autos and there are speed rules that affect your safety bonus.

The interview process is several hours and consists of different managers asking questions that start with "tell me about a time when..." all of which are on the same sheets, they just tag-team you and pick random questions from the pile.

Driving test is with an experienced driver to see what they'd start with if they hired you. Mine was a little upset at how easily I backed into a tricky dock in one back and with one GOAL since I was just out of school. It was a nearby big box store I had not been to,. thus the GOAL. He kept coming up with new things that I needed to do. "um, well, let's go over there and then do this".

I was not trying to get his goat, it was my first company driving test and I was trying to keep relaxed and do whatever was asked as best I could (and expected to fail), but he apparently had even worse expectations and I was disappointing him.

Mentioning that because they were hiring people just out of school and likely have a training regimen in place for recent grads.

Did all that and passed, but didn't like the way they make all references answer a multi-page questionnaire online with a third-party outfit, including essay questions. I wasn't going to subject colleagues to that. If you apply and they set up an account with that outfit you can log in and see a sample, it's ridiculous how much work they expect the references to do.

And I didn't like the answers that the outsourced company's tech people gave me when I asked about data security. HR would not do it any other way, like just calling people, so I declined to go forward, but then sent me emails asking me to apply again.

So they are a generally good company with their family-owned quirks that you can either take or leave. One younger manager was a little pushy in the interview, I put that down to age and let it go. In general good people if you roll their way.

 

I had a terrible time with their company D.O.T. physical. They won't accept any other physical, even if it was performed by a MD. I'm a vet, and yes I've had/been treated for anxiety. Message me if you want to know more. I have a two-year D.O.T. card, but Dot's NP wouldn't issue me one. I gave up two other paid training offers for Dot, and now I have nothing.

 

So, I started working with a Dot Trans Director to iron-out some differences. Yes, I had some tremors that were of an unknown cause. Being a vet, a doc I saw for 5 minutes said they were stress related, since I was treated for anxiety. No big deal, it was over a year ago, not epileptic and I never lost consciousness. Dot's contract NP said it was a mandatory two year wait. A Dot Director said it was a 5 year wait, then said it was 2, then said 5, then back to 2. Actually, it is 6 months under FMCSA guidelines. Holy moly! I did the research for them. Now I've been punished for speaking up for myself. As a vet, with anxiety, treated, I have to have a "Letter of Mental Stability" written if I want to reapply. This is in Mt. Sterling, IL.

 

From what I’ve read about them yes they are pretty good after a year you could be making 80k a year Driver’s average 60k first year

 

Ive Been with Dot for 5 yrs and if i was to start over i'd went to Wal-Mart like I was gonna do. Reason #1 Management at Dot don't wanna hear problems. #2 its growing beyond its capability. #3 The Money is ok but they control how much you make. At the end of the year you will made just as much as someone who didnt put in the same amount of time as you. #4 its becoming a starter company the turn over rate is crazy.