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JB Hunt has come a long way from being the nursery of kindergarden wanna-be truckers who for one reason or another should not be out on the road. They once was producing 50,000 new drivers out of training a year and the industry is several million drivers with about 4 people to every one of those drivers in a administrative, billing, maintaince or other support. JB was one of the few to take quick advantage of the rail. I think to be able to stack 400 boxes (Trailers) on a train at the east coast , ship it all west in one lift within 10 days unload the train and deliver the loads without the danger, waste out of route miles and expense of keeping 400 OTR drivers running. When trains started carrying Boxes we all were kind of upset because it could cost us our livelhood, which was to deliver cargo in North America 24/7 in any weather day or night. Fortunately there is a great deal of freight to be hauled, they just cannot get it all on trains. I drove for outfits that had the fastest trucks, best equippted (Airconditioning, Air ride and other features such as No Lumping or paid lumpers) and in generally did my best to keep up with the dispatcher. To see a JB Hunt truck ahead was to automatically shift to the hammer lane in the left because that truck is stuck at 55 mph (Now about 67 I think) and traffic was seriously disrupted. Seeing newly trained drivers getting into accidents that most people would easily avoid such as bridge lifting and corner breaking did not help JB one bit. His Tire bill amounted to millions and millions of dollars a year simply because they would crunch the trailer against the corner and slam it around with no regard to damage on the right side. No wonder alot of stuff went rail. With all things considered, I joined JB Hunt just after 9-11 to get away from increasing low pay, long hours and other problems created by lack of information flow between shippers and recievers etc etc etc.. I did well with them. But.. long ago I too joined the others in ridiculing JB because quite simply there were too many new drivers making rookie mistakes that sometimes cost property and or injuries. That attitude changed when you consider the control, care and quality they try to give to me as I worked to deliver that load. Ordinary problems which otherwise would have taken me hours (If not days) to solve were hammered out almost on the spot by the dispatcher. For example, I was given a load of beer from St Louis going to Iowa to deliver on Sunday. Problem: they are closed on sunday. I was given pay to rest a day and was allowed to deliver monday morning with no problem. In some of the older companies I would have been yelled at or blamed for the schedule error which belongs to the shipper. That was 4 years ago. I left the trucking to pursue schooling in computers. Occasionally JB's people will call me and ask if I needed work. I told them once I got out of school I would be happy to work in thier IT department..one of the most leading technolgy ever seen in a major Corperation. Now. JB Hunt has a massive presence on the rail. They have about 16 yards (with 8 more I think) that do NOTHING other than put boxes on and off trains. I feel that with 14,600 trucks loaded and rolling as well as other assets in place they are well positioned to deliver by rail or by road any cargo to anywhere in the USA in a timely manner. Now JB Hunt has created a company that has changed the Trucking industry with big pay, well maintained trucks and dispatchers who understand "our language" and does not engage in blame game or other foolishness. While other drivers waited up to days at a time for loads, JB Hunt drivers were home regular and putting children thru college on pay that is close to twice the industry average. The expectations and training also was beefed up big time to weed out the poor drivers and keep the cream of the crop. They did good with that objective. I am sorry for a long post. It was difficult to stay out of the fray. Trucking and Rail as well as Shipping out of our ports on the west and east coasts literally keeps the blood flowing in the USA.
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