You and I have both seen it out on the road, whether it's on the back of a trailer, in a trucking magazine, or at a truck show. What I am talking about of course, are the pieces of the trucking “pie” that many trucking outfits offer in an effort to get drivers to choose their carrier. Whether you are an owner-operator looking for a carrier to lease onto, or even a company driver looking for a new company to call home, making sure you are getting your fair share of the pie is very important.
What I have comprised here are some of the most common “pie pieces” that I encountered while carousing several truck job web sites. Being that this is only a small portion of the things offered, how can you be sure you are picking the right job? Of course, this question will be answered differently based on people’s individual needs, likes and dislikes. What works for me though, is to make sure I am getting the most pieces of the entire pie from the carrier I choose to lease onto as I possibly can. On the other hand, do not forget that there is a give and take to each of these pie pieces! One carrier offering better home time may be lacking in your dispatched miles you get you home that often. Another example would be a carrier that offers you an outstanding rate per mile but doesn’t have the miles to sustain a dependable income. Here is a small list of the possible downfalls for my example pie categories:
Whether you are reviewing the carrier you are currently with, or in the market for a new one, let this be a sort of “guide” to help you swim safely through the sea of taglines out there. It is sometimes hard to decide on such an important decision and often made harder by being told everything you want to hear when you call to ask questions about your potential new carrier. Or you can even have the opposite happen, which should eliminate them from the beginning, where they don’t want to let you know anything upfront about their operation! Whichever the case you encounter, be sure you get the biggest piece of that pie you possibly can and pick the pieces that matter most to you in moving your trucking career forward!