D.M. Bowman reviews

If you love driving sleepy or getting stuck out come here. You must start "nights" so they say but if your legal beware. You get unexpectedly dispatched a #### #### hours so like I had a short night I was off for 16 hours then was finally informed that 7 hours later 23 hours after going off duty I was to come in yeah I had 7 hours notice had be awake for 6 maybe more but you must assume drivers are awake and moving 10 hour later but anyway it was impossible for me to go back to sleep tried wasn't working but the point is they call you a general frieght "night driver" but that inclines you have a normal set hours you should sleep they like to give you the your legal to drive response.. go anywhere else or be otr cause home daily with this company isn't any better than otr

I will say that I have talked to a lot of their drivers over the last few days, and they for the most part get you home every weekend if you run long-haul, and obviously everyday, if you run short-haul (daycab). There may be a rare situation when you are not home exactly at the beginning of the weekend, but they get you asap, as most of their operations are shut down on the weekends.

They don't technically have any assigned equipment. If your long-haul, you will probably always have the same truck, but if they need it they will use it. Short-haul, you will probably have a different truck everyday, but they did say they are working on programs for assigned trucks for both divisions.

You cannot take the truck home, and as far as I was told, they make no exceptions. All trucks must be parked at a local terminal or drop yard, when you go home.

Hazmat isn't required to hire on, but you do have to apply for it within 30 days, and obtain it within 120 days, or they dock you .2cpm. They do reimburse for the fingerprints though. Twic isn't required, but if you want to get it, they will reimburse, same for Passport.

I enjoyed orientation. They rent you a car to come to orientation if you don't live real close, and they let you keep it all week, and drive home at the end of the week, and let you fill up at the terminal for free, so I thought that was awfully nice.

It isn't real long and dragged out either like a few I have been to. They give you a break every hour, buy your lunches, etc.

I will let you know how things go, once I have a little more to know about the actual job.

Hope this helps, so far Bowman seems like a really good company. I have heard some bad things about them in the past, but I think they really revamped. They also just increased the pay big time. I had applied about 8 months ago, and the pay they offered me then compared to now was a real big difference.

Life at Dm bowman in short haul. Get ready. To fudge your log. Book everyday to get home only to have to be back in in 9 hours or less then when u get back in you have to wait for a truck. When they find one for u. It hasn't. Been post triped or fueled has not oil in it and well is just a pos. With over 500,000 miles on it

Then trying to get the shop to check your trailer. After 16 hours on the road that takes a a1/2 hour then do paper work

Take it for what it worth

If your on long haul--your truck will remain parked at the terminal. In my experience--no one uses your truck on long haul--local they could. DM Bowman is a great company to drive for if you are long haul. I worked there around a year and I did both--long haul and local. You do get home every friday in most situations and usually leave on sunday or monday depending on the load you are under. Frank was my dispatcher at the end before i went local and he is great--if u pick up / deliver on time he gets you miles if he can. He will also help you in anyway he can. I loved my job at dm bowman until i did local--i hated local and attempted to go back to long haul and they gave me crap about it. All in all--if i could go back to long haul for dm bowman--i would in a minute. Its a great company and they will help you if they can. If you have issues with your truck--talk to people in williamsport--they wont let you drive an unsafe truck--mechanics there are totally awesome. This is a great company but in my opinion the local is garbage here--long haul is awesome and the dispatchers in williamsport are top notch--they will help you any way they can.

Bowman is a bad company to work for! I was there 3 years. Started out short haul but then got tired of staying in hotels since they couldn't get me home. Then got a sleeper and yes they do slip seat. Trucks are not clean either. pay is not good. The insurance is expensive but good. They have gotten rid of all bonuses. The pay is not promising. Started there making .38cpm moved up to .42cpm and left there at .36cpm. I finally got away now i am with grayson mitchell and loving it.

I started at DM Bowman in September for a local flatbed job that pays $72 per load (2 loads per day) with a guarantee of $125 if you didn't work that day or only did one load (Mon-Fri). We usually work 4 days and got $125 guarantee, so it wasn't too bad but we worked around 12-13hrs per day so not the greatest pay to begin with. Well this past week my Driver manager just told us that she is taking away are guarantee. Two days this week I only got one load and one day I was off. So this means instead of $125 for 3 days=$375 I got $72, $72, and $0 for a difference of $231. So they just lowered my check by $231 this week. No advance warning or anything. I'm sure some DM Bowman manager got a christmas bonus for this change in policy. Another issue I have with them is there Health insurance- $108 per week, then another $15 for dental, $5 for vision and more if you want disability. Is this average now for Trucking Company's. I should have known they were a bad company when they want to charge me for my Employee Handbook and various other materials they hand out during orientation if I quit within 180 days. Lowest paying and worst company I have ever driven for in 13 years of driving. I made more in the early 90's.

I worked for them in 2006 and of course other then my dispatcher being a real old you know what I had a little bit better experience with them then you albeit not by much. My checks were usually between 480 - 590 after taxes and thats with no advances or anything coming out. The pay was not the greatest but I just needed a close to home company to get some more experience with so I accomplished my goal with them. I will tell you though even when the economy improves they are not a company you will make alot with so when things improve you may want to consider a company change.