Jack Cooper Transport

Ft. Wayne is a first in first out board. This means that when you pull your first load on your own you can be making great money. The main thing holding you back is your loading time. Don't rush to load fast, it will come with time when you have developed your routine. Until you develop a routine, you will walk around that rig 100 times a load. When you get your routine you will walk around the rig 2 times during loading. I started in Ft Wayne 3 years ago and it took me 5-6 hours to load 6-7 pickups at first. I go in there for a back haul now and can load 6 pickups in 1.5 hours if they are all pulled, without having to rush to do this. Many people are faster than me at loading. Ft Wayne has plenty of long freight, which pays well. $1,000 a week should be your minimum on your own, but it will probably be much more. $2,000 a week is within easy reach once you know what your doing.

 

Thanks for the advice guys. I appreciate all of it. So should I pick the shorter runs so I can get the experience loading and so I'm not staying out on the road the road all the time? Idk how the company would feel ifi picked a 300 mile load and didn't get loaded till noon and didn't deliver till this next day? Any advice for staying in good graces with management? Sorry for the questions. I want to make this my career and don't want to get turned loose for dumb mistakes

 

If you give 100% they won't cut you loose if you are grasping the job. It isn't for everyone and some people pick it up faster than others, some never pick it up. I would pick the longest trips I could in my first 30 days, trying to go to an area with less chance of a back haul, after 30 days they can't fire you for minor damages. They need drivers bad in Ft Wayne and if you take your time and give an honest effort you will be fine. Plan on working 70 hours a week there, as they are covered up. Once you get in a groove after your 30 days, you will learn how you can work mon-fri and be off most every wknd. Most jobs you want to conserve hours, in this job you will want to burn hours because at the end of the week you will be ready for 2 days off and will have made plenty of money.

 

Considering going to Jack Cooper Transportation, Fort Wayne, Indiana, for an interview. With a lot of energy and a need to make some money; what does it take to make 75K and up? How about the hotels, regional work, and home time?

 

$75,000 shoud be easy after you learn what your doing. $2,000 a week is very doable if you run the right trips to get backhauls. Everyone learns at a different pace so it could be 2 weeks or 2 months, but even at my worst in the first few weeks I was making $1200 a week or more. It's all regional since you normally would be out 1-2 nights at a time. They do have shorter trips too. The hotels range from very nice convention center types with indoor pools and nice restaurants, to flee bag's that I don't even consider staying in. The hotel site CLC, has a smart phone app and with that and other drivers help you can almost always stay in a nice hotel. You always want to call ahead and ask about the truck parking until you learn the hotel. There are places that a 82 foot loaded carhauler don't fit and you need to know before you go there. The home time depends on what type of trips you take and where you live. Most of the time I am home one or two nights during the week and every sat and sun. After you get going and get your 30days probation done, you should be able to start on mon and burn your hours every day so that when you load your rig on fri or sat you don't have the hours to run the trip. If you have the hours and the dealer accepts deliveries on sat and sun, they expect you to run weekends. You will soon figure out how not to be away from home on sat and sun, but it could take you a while to get in that groove.

 

Thank you Banker. I live in Columbus, Ohio. With six major interstates, I believe Ohio has the second most interstates in the nation. Other words, a lot of transport is done by way of Ohio interstates. Perhaps those lanes will not only be lucrative but they would enable me to make it home one night through the week and two on weekends. Currently doing flat bed, I still think it difficult to load and secure eight to 12 vehicles on a car hauler in an hour and a half or two hours. Should that be, I could see myself scooting down the road and bringing in the doe. Even now I am good at burning my hours and resetting at home.

Finding the right hotels would simply take some effort towards navigation. A minor matter, I should and could be good there. As with flat bedding, once you get your rhythm down, what used to take two hours can be done in perhaps 60-75 minutes. That being said, I am not afraid of hard work but; just how hard is the work in vehicle transport? What are the trucks governed at? What is the rider policy?

 

It's harder than it looks, but it gets easier every load. With mixed loads, cars and trucks or vans it's more about using your mind and experience to figure the best position for each unit with the least amount of reloads. Similar to flatbeding you are out in the weather until you get it loaded or unloaded. No riders are permitted and the speed is currently 68 but it is going to 65 soon. You are the slowest truck up any hill and the wind will slow you down on flat ground due to the fact that every unit on your rig acts like a parachute slowing you down. It's a great job compared to most trucking jobs since you rarely wait anyplace you load or unload and in the event of any delay you are paid from the first minute to the last. Living in Columbus you should be able to get loads going towards the house fairly easy. The only thing is most of the loads taking you thru the house wouldn't get you a backhaul. That's where the real money is in carhauling, try to run towards parts of the country where you know your going to backhaul. It's $1.21 outbound and $1.02 back hauling and zero empty. Unless I'm looking for an easy trip I run towards the areas with the backhauls. You may as well be loaded as much as possible.

 

Is the Chicago,IL area a good area for JC? Manheim has a place in Matteson,IL which is a few miles away from me you guys do lot of loads coming or going from there?

 

We rarely haul used cars unless it's lease returns from the manufacturer going to Auto Auctions. However 2 railheads are in the Chicagoland area. Elwood and West Chicago, with drivers being based out of West Chicago. They were hiring there sometime ago. I'm not sure if they still are or not. You could call them and ask. If they are not hiring you could hire on in Ft. Wayne In and almost always get a load going thru Chicago and usually backhaul from Chicago towards Ft Wayne. You could later transfer to West Chicago if you wanted to when they add drivers. Before they hire drivers at any terminal they offer all drivers company wide the opportunity to transfer to that terminal first.

 

Banker, what areas of the country have good and back hauls vise verse?