3 Million Miles
Bill Compton, who started driving for Contract Freighters Inc. in 1980, is only the third driver in the company’s 53-year history to reach the 3 million-mile milestone.
Drivers who have reached 3 million miles with CFI are honored at the monthly safety meetings and will receive a jacket, a specially designed plaque and a $1,000 savings bond.
CFI has had 576 drivers reach the 1 million-mile mark and 38 drivers reach the 2 million-mile mark.
Pay Raises
Schneider National announced what it called the largest pay increase in its 70-year history. The per-mile base rate for owner-operators jumps from 86 cents to 90 cents, which means an extra $4,000 for someone running 100,000 miles a year. Company drivers, too, will receive an annual pay increase of $4,000 a year, the company said. The raises take effect Feb. 6.
Coastal Transport
Coastal Transport Inc. increased driver pay for all experience levels by an average of 7 percent. The increase, which took effect Jan. 2, applies to both the company’s regional and short haul pay scales. This is the second pay increase in the past eight months. Coastal also increased its safety bonus amount. The enhanced bonus results in an additional $800 annual average for safe drivers.
Jim Palmer Trucking
All Jim Palmer Trucking company drivers, who were employed as of Jan. 1, receive a 1-cent-per-mile raise, regardless of their hire date.
Starting pay for all new drivers hired after Jan. 1, will be ranked according to the driver’s experience. Those with less than two years experience will get 30 cents per mile, those with three years will receive 31 cents per mile, those with three to four years experience will get 32 cents per mile, and drivers with four to seven years of experience will get 33 cents per mile. Drivers with more than seven years experience will be paid 34 cents per mile. All current senior Jim Palmer drivers with more than 10 years of experience will automatically be increased to 40 cents per mile with the maximum cap for all drivers increasing to 42 cents per mile.
All company drivers will also receive a $1,500 longevity bonus on the anniversary of their hire date. Upon the successful completion of an annual review, drivers’ cents per mile pay will increase by one on each anniversary hire date.
Dart Transit
Dart Transit Company is increasing its contractor pay rates by $2,400 to $4,200 a year in 2005. The increases will become effective in the first quarter of 2005 for most of Dart’s operating options and will be made up of higher mileage rates and a fully paid base-plate package.
Trucker Buddy of the Month
MultiMedia named Randy Kelley the December 2004 MultiMedia Trucker Buddy of the Month. A student from a fourth grade class in Milwaukee nominated him.
Kelley has been mailing cards to the class’s teacher for six years. The Torrington, Wyo., resident is a company driver for Central Refrigerated Services in Salt Lake City. He is one of the more than 3,500 professional drivers who write to elementary classrooms.
MultiMedia awarded Kelley a personalized jacket, a $300 check to spend on the class and $200 in Trucker Buddy merchandise. He also received an IdleAire adaptor and a Koolatron cooler.
A Trucker Buddy can be any driver willing to send a weekly postcard to a class in grades two through eight. Learn more about the program by visiting www.truckerbuddy.org, or calling (800) 692-8339.
New Barr-Nunn 401k Package
Barr-Nunn will offer a new 401k compensation program for all of company drivers beginning in 2005. The new program utilizes Barr-Nunn’s mileage tracking system to identify the total number of dispatched miles of each driver. The total vesting period is five years for current drivers.
Driver Honorees
Danny Herman announced drivers of the month for July, August, September and October.
Gary and Randall Yeary were presented the company drivers of the month award for July 2004. Gustavo Machuca and Raul Flores were named company drivers of the month for August 2004. Merlin and Jeanne Gosch were selected as company drivers of the month for September 2004. David and Alice Breeding were tapped as the company drivers of the month for October 2004.
Raymondo Castillo and Henry Hernandez were named owner-operators of the month for July 2004. Pat and Kathleen Ballew were named the owner-operators of the month for August 2004. Ben and Jane Newcom were named owner-operators of the month for September 2004. Austin Everett and Julie Murray were named the October 2004 owner-operators of the month.
October Honors
The Smithway Motor Xpress October 2004 Driver of the Month was Todd Ouverson. A van driver from Des Moines, Iowa, Ouverson has been with SMX since July 1997.
Sign-on Bonus
P.A.M. Transport Inc. is offering a $1,000 sign-on bonus to students who complete the company-sponsored CDL training program through Driver Solutions, Inc. The bonus plan follows on the heels of the company’s recently announced driver pay increase.
The Driver Solution program takes about three weeks to complete and the employer covers up-front tuition costs. Upon completing the training program, students hired by P.A.M. Transport will receive their $1,000 new-hire bonus and start working for the company at an entry-level salary.
PTL Drivers
Juan Castro Jr., was Paschall Truck Lines August 2004 Company Driver of the Month. Tadeusz Rymsza was PTL’s August 2004 Owner-Operator of the Month. Castro has been a professional driver for six years and has been with PTL for the past three and a half.
He was also a 2003 Driver of the Month and has received the 400,000-mile Safe Driving Award.
Rymsza has been a professional driver for nearly 30 years and has spent the past four with PTL.
Referral Winners
Maverick Transportation drivers, Jason Rhodes and Sally Cunningham, show off their new 2004 Polaris Sportsman 400 four-wheelers that they won as part of the company’s special recruiting incentive. From October to December, every Maverick employee who referred a new driver, as well as every driver hired, was eligible for the drawing.
