Cheeseman Transport reviews

Hi I am a former Driver for Cheeseman LLC out of Fort Recovery, OH.... I just want to start off saying that I am not going to sit here and bash this company im here to give my perspective of my experience...Cheeseman LLC is a great company ran by a straight forward and honest man by the name of Ed Zumstein.... Mr. Zumstein is a very down to earth man, Ya know how at these big companys you always here about the big company owner who still drives on occation or sits down in the break room with the drivers or employees??? Yea that story is only true there at Cheeseman.... The owner is an actual driver, he drove before he owned the company.... He is a great person!! But on to my experience, Cheeseman is a great company to work for IF you live in Fort Recovery, or East Windsor, CT..... But if u live in SC you will run out of the NEW GSP, Terminal its in Greer, SC.... Now it use to be a decent terminal when Anthony was still terminal manager you had respect with him at least... He was approachable with any problem ya had... This guy Eric V is a total D!(k...... Every time I have ever been aound him since he started he talks about either getting drivers a bus ticket home, and or he is just talking about firing drivers period... Make no mistake HE HATES TRUCK DRVERS!!! Now Duncan was always ran differently but it has now became rediculas... There was a guy I went to orientation with his name is Preston he was hired on as a student driver well a year and a half later a older driver that had been driving for cheeseman for over 10 years Mike left the company, ya see all mike did was Florida well guess who gets Florida all the time yes you guessed it the rookie Preston..... there are the Langford brothers who came back to cheeseman after 4 years of being gone well that's all they do too. there are others but you get the idea they play games and favorites in Duncan.... Earlier this year I had been running the NORTH EAST for about 15 16 weeks straight that's ok because I asked for it, but I also OPTED out for NYC well, one day I was given a load by dispatch that delivered in Queens, NY.... I only found out that it was in Queens bc there was a different town name I was given it was a part of queens but didn't say Queens so anyways I looked it up and I called dispatch back and told them well they seemed angy and flustrated like its my falt.... So I took the load anyways how bout that... And from then on I would do NYC because It really is good money and from what I heard they need drivers to go in there so I thought I would help.... but when I would ask for anything else I would get lied to and told that there wasn't any florida or anything else and I know this because I talk to other drivers and in the offices ya have your box where your trip papers are put and you can plainly see whos going where and how many loads they have.... They flat out lie sometimes........ So I asked to be reigional, ok fine I still went out of my reigion once and a while im ok with that ya know..... I tried my best to pull my weight I never complained never refused loads.... So this past Wendsday I was coming back from Ga and I called dispatch to see what they was gonna put me on for Thursday.... So I was told by Matt just to keep heading towards the terminal and the would either shoot me a message or he would call well 1830 rolls around so I call back they have gone for the day.... So I get back go home buy all this stuff getting ready for the Super Bowl and also some personal things I had planned with my girlfriend, so I call in the next morning and im told to come on in so I do, when I get there Matt, Wes, and YES even super douch Eric are in such a pleasant mood, they were being so friendly which is not very often with them as they are usually so busy, and certainly not for Eric bc he isn't like that AT ALL unless you work in the office.... So I was told I had one stop in Columbus, Ga and also one stop in Cairo, Ga no problem huh.... well they told me they had to put extra freight on the trailer it would be 20 mins, so I went and got some breakfast and came back.. upon coming back I notice Eric said something about me and getting some gumbo which when he says it sounds like gumball since he has some different accent kinda funny.... so I was given my trip sheet and I left out to my truck..... upon getting in to my truck I looked at my sheet and realized that my last stop is outside NEW ORLEANS so I call dispatch and they said to call Don up at the Fort and he said it will be at least Sunday or Monday before he could get me out of there... So I call Matt Z in my dispatch and he says well you aren't guaranteed hometime everyweek FUNNY BECAUSE THAT IS WHAT I WAS TOLD!!!! A YEAR AND A HALF AGO WHEN I STARTED AND I HAVE ONLY EVER BEEN OUT BY MY OWN CHOICE EXEPT FOR ONE TIME AND I WAS OK WITH THAT...... THIS WAS SPRUNG ON ME AND MEANT FOR ME TO GET DOWN TO GA AND THE REALIZE THIS THIS WAS A SNEAKY THING AT LEAST THATS THE WAY I FEEL..... THAT IS THE DIRECTION THIS TERMINAL IS GOING LIES......... So if you are thinking about working for cheeseman just make sure u will not be out of the Duncan terminal or you will be treated like this, a SECOND CLASS EMPLOYEE..... arrogance is taking over a once great company his name is ******!!!!

Its no only that, cheeseman does pay well and you can push it as hard as you want don't get me wrong. But for instance Lets say you leave out on a sunday and you go to the North East ok...... Well your gonna have up to anywhere from 4 to 10 stops either in new jersey or NYC or Penn or where ever that's great I love those I don't mind the NE.... HOWEVER your gonna run either back over to ohio or wherever usually Ohio I was out of SC so sometimes I went back to sc but not often anyway that's fine and dandy too... but on fri if you get a load coming back to SC and a lot of times you will you better run your hours out or when you get back you will be working hard for peanuts at $10 a stop and no miles for hours doing what the local drivers should be doing NOT THE OTR DRIVERS WE WORK HARD ALL WEEK AWAY FROM HOME we don't wanna fool with that crap no one does all cheeseman drivers complain about this bc its ####ed up........

They are not a bad company I highly recommend them.... They are good folks

Leaving Cheeseman. But WOW, what a good company. YOu can do far worse than Cheeseman, but I doubt you can do much better.

Well I decided to start a new thread concerning my new job with Cheeseman trucking out of Fort Recovery, Ohio. After being with Keen Transport for the better part of three years I decided a change was in order. Keen was a great company, I made good money and enjoyed the work, but I started to get burned out from staying out four to five weeks at a time. So after much soul searching I started investigating companies that could get me home every week and still make decent money.

After spending a couple months doing my due diligence and talking to at least 15 drivers that drove for Cheeseman, I put in an application with them and waited to hear something back from the powers that be. About a month ago I was offered a job with them, so I gave Keen my two week notice and hoped that I was making the right decision. The fear of the unknown is always something that eats at me...was I making a good decision? 

Two and a half weeks ago the terminal manager from the Duncan SC terminal called me and asked when I could come in for the physical, drug screen and road test. I set all this up for a Tuesday and did the physical and drug screen that day and when my results came back I went in there and did the road test that same Thursday. I was scheduled to take a load and one of there trucks from the SC terminal up to the the main terminal in Ohio that Sunday for Orientation the following week, but after I finished my road test Thursday the local dispatcher said " I can put you to work today doing some local stuff if your interested?" I'm game ( I started to feel like a bum sitting around the house for four days waiting to get back to work) so he put me in a truck and gave me a crash course on there macros for there in cab system and away I went. I'm not one to shy away from work or on making a good first impression.

I did local work for them Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. On Sunday I hooked on to a load off of the SC yard and headed to the Fort Recovery terminal for orientation. I arrived at the "fort" Sunday night, got a good nights sleep and first thing Monday morning went in to the office and introduced myself. I knew orientation wasn't scheduled to start until Tuesday morning, so I was hoping I could do some local work up there on Monday and make some money instead of sitting around the hotel all day. Sure enough they gave me a two stop load to run over to Indy. and then drop and hook at another customer coming back to the yard. So instead of sitting around the hotel all day Monday being bored I made some extra money and showed the powers that be that im willing to work. In my book that's killing two birds with one stone.

Orientation was a 2 and a half days of the regular BS.. paperwork, videos and the same mundane crap that comes with any orientation. The accommodations were nice, 1 person to a room, right on the lake in Celina Ohio. Your paid $150 for the 2.5 day orientation and given a $35 dollar food voucher. They supply you with a company car for transportation to and from the hotel, plus its nice to have wheels to go out to dinner or run to wal/mart at night if need be. Cheeseman has about 275 power units, and has the small to mid-size company feel that I like. There biggest customer is Crown fork lifts and they have had a relationship with them since there inception in in the 1940's. Cheeseman and Zumstein merged a few years ago and Ed Zumstein now runs Cheesman Trucking. Cheeseman was always a mainly LTL carrier and Zumstein was a truck load company now that they have merged you will do a little of both. With Ltl you make $10 a stop unless on the East Coast (D.C. to Mass. or the Chicago area pays you $25 a stop) you also get paid for popping the wooded blocks used to secure the fork lifts to the trailer floor. An average load of popping blocks will pay you $25 additional dollars.

They pay a base pay of .35 cpm, but in the two weeks I have been running the system I have averaged .46cpm with the stop pay and unblocking pay. The 1st week I ran 3200 miles and got home long enough to get a 34 hr restart and this week I ran 3135 miles and could have been home for three days because the load I picked up yesterday out of Ohio doesn't deliver in Ga. until Wed. a.m., but I called and asked if I could drop it at the yard in SC and after getting my 34 at home grab something else and keep rolling. They said "no problem" and have me on a load with two stops near Dallas and finishing up in Waco TX. 

Now I realize im still in the "honey moon" faze with this company, but so far so good. They seem to have plenty of freight to keep me rolling and still get me home every weekend. The only draw back I have seen thus far is that in October they are going to "e" logs. I swore I would never drive for a company that ran "e" logs, but in my opinion it will be industry wide in two to three years, so if you plan on staying in this industry you will either have to adapt to it, or find a new career.

I have completed my first 90 days at Chesseman and here is a quick braekdown.

Gross pay $ 14,903.77

Miles 36,915

Stop pay $ 1,195.00

Handling pay $ 1083.40

Overall grade thus far B+