Listen to this articleIt just dawned on me to do a review on the company I work for.
I am a driver currently employed by SRT (Southern Refrigerated Transport) on the Tyson Dedicated Division. I have over 3 years experience with SRT from experience with a trainer, team, solo otr, and dedicated.
Starting off, my former trainer when I started with SRT, Richard Williams, was very helpful refreshing me on everything from driver vehicle inspections, digital logs, and everything in between. He is definitely an asset to SRT.
My first dispatcher with SRT while team driving and solo otr, LouAnne, was the best! She cares for drivers’ wellfare and gets to know you on pretty much a personal level. If there was ever a problem, question, or concern she was never more than a Qualcomm message or phone call away.
My second dispatcher, after deciding to come off of otr and run dedicated, Cindy, is pretty much like LouAnne. She is very personable. I don’t know whither it’s Caller ID or she knows my voice when I call but she knows me by name and not an employee id or truck number.
Night dispatch on the dedicated/regional side is okay at best. They are usually ran ragged because there are only one person there at all times taking care of trucks that usually takes several dispatchers during the day to manage. So if you decide to go dedicated, have a little patience.
The guys in breakdown is nice when I call. I am usually to the point when I have an issue so that the issue is resolved quicky and conveniently. Major repairs, PMs, etc, they want you to be routed to Texarkana to have done. I avoid the terminal like a plague. I’ve not personally experienced any of the horror stories that have been told about the shop from other drivers, I don’t give opportunity for them to possibly happen. Most of the extensive repairs needed and repair times, imo, are lack of driver attentiveness and communication with breakdown when there is a problem or try to cover up “minor repairs” which can later turn into major repairs.
The cpm for the Tyson Division bites.Dedicated/Regional earns 40cpm. There have been no pay raises for us drivers on Tyson dedicated as of this review and none in the 2 years I’ve been in this division. However, some of us does qualify for a Safety and Fuel Bonus. One’s paid every month and the other is paid every quarter.
Miles are average. I can’t complain because I can get up to between 2200 – 2500 in a normal week if loads are moving from the plants in my area. That’s a load a day, preloaded (normally), with a couple hours wait time on unloading at it’s destination, then driving back to start again the next day.
Hometime does vary each week sometimes because of lack of freight from the plants in my area so I might have to stay overnight somewhere I don’t normally deliver to but I am home most nights and normally have a two day weekend.
Pros:
- Average Pay 35,000 – 40,000 per year in my current 3 years of employment with SRT.
- Great Hometime
- Great Dispatchers
Cons:
- Repair turnover at the shop.
I do recommend Southern Refrigerated Transport and a few drivers has come to work here and is still with the company.