Bruenger Trucking reviews

I'm sorry if you drive for them and am somehow happy with the lies but I thought I heard em all until I tried to drive for them. 99% of what they say is lies! It's a strike one and ur OUT! Probably has alot to do with roadrunner taking over.

I have been with Bruenger for 15 years. I'm quitting. The new President and Vice President are turning the company into another mega carrier. AVOID BRUENGER.

That Roadrunner bought them out because they couldn't stay afloat by themselves is completely incorrect and you obviously don't know what you're talking about. Bruenger was dong just fine on their own and was a great company before Roadrunner took over. They made money and moved freight when freight was slow for others. Since RR took control things have gone downhill quite a bit. That being said, I'm still doing okay with them and I know others that are, too. You have to work, though. As far as "no home time unless you don't mind not making money", show me a company that pays you for staying home and I'll sign up tomorrow.

My reply is as a company driver, I can't speak to issues the contract drivers have although the few I spoke to when I joined were happy. BUT, there were also several quitting at that same time.

My experience so far is swinging towards being very positive. The start was a little rough only because they put me in a POS KW that had problems with the DEF system. I had three breakdowns in the course of 2 months and all the owner would pay, despite it being HIS call that I don't get put in another truck, was $50 layover pay plus a motel. I lost a total of 12 days work in those two months and gave them an ultimatum to put me in another truck or I would quit. They stretched it out a bit, but the final shop visit in Indy did do the trick and I ran half December and January without any problems.

I am now in a new Volvo automatic and fairly pleased with it. They pretty much run me as hard as I want and as mentioned previously, to make money, don't look for regular home time. They advertise heavily in the south saying they have SE frieght. Well, they do, but when you have to spread it between 50 Georgia drivers, you won't find yourself running thru the house on a weekly basis. This would have been THE job I was looking for just 2 years ago when I was single wanting solo coast to coast work. The miles overall are great - 2700-3400 week. Drawback is getting stuck for the 34 on the road and not at home. They gave a payraise to 42cpm from 39 the week I joined last September with a forced 3cpm per diem, I think. I was still able to claim part of my DOT per deim on my taxes in addition to the 3 untaxed cpm each payday.

They run beef loads out of Kansas to LA and then backhauls are varied, I've run one all the way back to Henderson, NC, a couple to the TX/LA area and a couple back to Kansas. Shortest runs are typically if you go to Dallas, they will bring you back up to OK or KS to get you back on a beef run. But as a company driver, empty, loaded, it makes no difference to me and I know KS means another 1400 mile length of haul to the west coast most of the time. Just hitting 6 months, insurance ok, not great, but that's the new normal to finance Obama care I guess. Got my invite to participate in the 401K but haven't researched it yet. Spouse rider only (child must be 12) and I don't know about pets. Maintenance is ok, but done mostly at the Wichita terminal which is only open M-F so you can screw yourself if, for instance, you are in Dallas Thursday and tell your regional dispatch you need to get back to the yard. If they can't knock you out by end of day Friday, you have a self imposed 2 day layover and like most shops, they find more stuff to do than you bring it in for. I'm thru the yard only every 2 months or so which I think they are trying to improve on for the sake especially of their desire to do monthlies on the trailers.

This is a paper log company. I don't think there has been much influence yet on operations from the Roadrunner partnership. A big company I would expect would want to get everyone on board with electronic logs. I like running paper, but dispatch does not push you if you push back. I have resisted some hot loads and not caught crap for it. Usually they say 'do what you can and we'll call the consignee'. I ##### at them fairly regularly that they take badly scheduled runs straight from a broker no questions asked and I turn down loads because of it. I do more deadhead than I would expect a big company beancounter to allow as well.I'm expecting all this to change but have no idea how soon. They expect the driver to do a lot. Calls to the shipper, the broker, the consignee, reschedule appointments on your own if needed. Use of your personal phone and data plan uncompensated despite needing to send check calls, calling in to dispatch for each load (they run regions which I do not like, next load planner has no clue what your hours are or what you're hoping to do as far as time off, time at home, back to shop for maintenance, etc - you end up repeating yourself to different people throughout the week). Transflow is also now a phone app they prefer - more data from YOUR phone. 

On the plus side, it is not forced dispatch. I call my outbound dispatcher (where I will be empty the next day) and tell them what I would like. I turn down running anything northeast, most northern runs and have only taken a few runs, in good weather, to MN and MI. A lot across the south, CA, KS, TX, LA, GA are the states I run the most.

Home time is killing me as a newlywed with a 3 year old, but my wife understands that for the next year running to pay bills is more important than home time. Now that I'm in a good truck, I have no complaints about income and that, as long as I have the freedom to pick loads, will keep me happy here.

They will keep you moving. The only time I ever sit is when a) I'm getting work done to my truck or b) I am seeking a load to a specific place for a specific time frame. I don't like reefers. Never have, but I do like pulling for them. I like the company (Bruenger) and I hold my nose and drag the reefer around because of that. Came aboard with a paid-for truck and sold it and bought one of their company trucks. Unfortunately, they don't sell the company trucks any longer AFAIK so you'll end up doing a L/P if that's the way you want to go. They're getting ready to order a bunch of new company trucks, but I'm not sure what they're ordering.