Howell's Motor Freight, Roanoke Virginia

Yes, they treat you like family, but friendliness doesn't make their equipment any better.

The pro's
1) Friendly people
2) Dispatch is eh... ok. I would rate them a 6 of ten. I know dispatching is very difficult. Most of the issues I've run into with dispatch can be placed in the "That's just Trucking" category. But check driver hours before sending someone on a 9 hour trip with less than an hour left before needing a break. Other than that I can't complain about the loads. Even though I couldn't pull them for being in the shop twice a week....

The cons
1) Ancient equipment. I truly believe they stopped putting money back into the business years ago.
2) Complacency in the shop. Even the head mechanics overlook major issues when checking out trucks before they roll, things like bunk heaters not working, oil level in the APU, permits, Safety triangles.
3) Rebuilt equipment to the point of exhaustion. I've been with Howell's for less than two months. I've had to move into three different trucks. I've had heat in my cab for maybe 3 nights since I've been there. Bunk heaters are not replaced, they are in shop rebuilt and tossed back in. They don't work long. I still don't have heat in my truck but I've given up trying to get it fixed. I need to make money, and stay out of the shop. The majority of their trucks are old, tired and poorly rebuilt.
4) The trailers at Howell's are so old and fickle, I've had two reefers fail on me inside of two weeks. Almost losing loads each time if it weren't for quick thinking and constant communication. I've witnessed trailers with wheels falling off them, two or three lugnuts left on the wheel, and those remaining only finger tight.
5) Placing the blame for bad equipment on the drivers. Even though I made quick decisions and saved countless dollars of freight, I got myself thoroughly chewed out for not finding broken equipment on my pre-trip... Even though the landing gear WAS broken, and had been broken for God knows how long (broken cross-members with lots of rust in the breaks) it was the middle of the night, snowing, raining, cold when I picked up the trailer, so sorry I didn't crawl on the ground and catch that. Yes, a pretrip was done, lights, tires, fifth wheel hookup, but no I didn't do a full annual inspection on it before I rolled. I did however do a better inspection in the daylight, and caught many issues, one of which was the temperature sensor on the reefer was jumping all over the place and the reefer was jumping from cool to high cool to defrost. Even though the temperature of the freight was good at the time, I turned in the faulty equipment thinking the cargo was in danger. I never got thanks for saving all that freight, no not one word.

It's no wonder Howell's equipment is in such sad shape. If a driver turns in bad equipment, they are run through the grill for doing so. It's not worth my time and if it will roll, from now on, it won't get mentioned. I can be just as quiet as the rest of their drivers. I have to make a paycheck.

6) Howell's places absolutely no importance to reefer signal lights, most of them are burnt out. How are you supposed to roll for 11 hours and keep a check on the reefer condition if the light in your rear view mirror doesn't light up? I don't stop when I drive, the door stays closed. It's not productive, nor is it my job to stop and check the temperature once an hour or more when I could get reefer status by looking in the rear view mirror. I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that one lost load would easily pay the price to replace each and every status light on their trailers.
7) Stone tablets. Yes, Howell's actually still uses physical paper for tracking shipments and for pay purposes. No Transflo for them, they cite having a customer or two that demand the "original". Ok Howell's; treat the exception with physical paper, not the rule for all. Most of us have scanners in our trucks, and even laptops. I shouldn't have to be keeping up with a bundle of paper every week. I still remember the gasp from the girl at Howell's, when she asked me what we did with the original paperwork after turning it in electronically (while working for a previous employer). "we throw it away of course" Her reaction was priceless.
8) No Prepass.

I've worked for 4 different companies during my driving career, which started in 1993, and of all the places and companies I have worked with or heard about, Howell's equipment is in the worst shape of any I've seen. If you make the move and work for them, make sure you avoid all the trailers with red landing gear, especially those with the crank handle on the wrong side. That signifies the gear is worn out completely and you will be cranking your guts out trying to retract them. My shoulder hurts so bad from wrestling that landing gear, my right hand is numb for a day or three after picking one up. I would dare say that most of their trailers should be placed out of service if for nothing else than plain old rust. I've seen landing gear with metal so rusted, it's flaking off in thick swelled layers, with maybe 10% of the metal left intact. I quit whacking them with a hammer on pre-trip, they just make too much mess in the customer parking lots.

I guess what got me the most is a conversation I just had with a Smithfield employee in Grayson Kentucky on Feb 20, 2013, while I was picking up a load. The gentleman checking me out asked me when Howell's was going to get new equipment, since all of it really looks like #####, and also stated that he had seen two of our trailers break down in parking lot just last week. He made his point by looking at the array of trailers on the yard, and both of us easily picking out a Howell's trailer. It looked sad amongst all the other shiny reefers on the lot. Point well taken.

Last but certainly not least. I've never been overweight on so many loads EVER in the past. Because Howell's employs trailers that might have once hauled dinosaur meat, they are HEAVY. At least 2,000 lbs heavier than the most common of trailers run by other companies. I spend SO MUCH TIME taking care of overweight loads that I could just SCREAM. The shippers also complain about us too.

Sorry Howell's, I gotta go somewhere I can make a paycheck and stay warm at night. You guys can sit around and listen to your equipment to rust.

Thanks for reading,

Ed Wright