Whether you’re new to the trucking industry or you have a lot of miles under your belt, there’s one thing you should never dismiss when looking for new job opportunities—working for a smaller, local trucking company can have lots of benefits.
Competitive Compensation Packages
In general, local companies have more competitive compensation packages compared to the larger national trucking companies. This is mostly because national companies rely on company drivers instead of splitting loads between company drivers and owner-operators. Doing this allows for less overhead, which leads to fewer equipment expenses and fewer benefits expenses. All of this adds up to the smaller companies being able to pay both their company drivers and the owner-operators more money.
Local companies also employ fewer people in a pool of fewer positions, which reduces overhead expenses even further and puts more money in the pockets of their drivers.
You Know Exactly Who You’re Working For
Sometimes it can feel like big corporate trucking companies are just nameless, faceless operations. That can be really unmotivating, especially when employees get frustrated or unhappy with their job circumstances. Even if you know the company owner, you can easily feel far removed from the company’s values or long-term goals. With a local company, you feel like you’re directly impacting and benefitting from those goals.
Contributing to Your Local Economy
Even with local truck companies who ship nationally, you know that every mile and every hour you’re putting in is directly stimulating the economy in your community. In a time of intense globalization and outsourcing, this is especially important, as well as a huge benefit for a lot of drivers.
More Flexibility
Whenever extenuating circumstances arise, where you work will directly impact how well you’re able to handle them. A large trucking company might not give you the same leeway that a local company would be willing to. Even after years of service, you may still feel like just a name or a number to your superiors. Working with a smaller company encourages humanization—people tend to be more understanding. Your employers see you face-to-face and see every day how much work you’re putting in. Being able to work closely with a smaller group of employees makes it much easier to get shifts or jobs covered when you need it, too.
Large trucking companies have strict protocols and restrictions about requesting off—with so many employees, they have to employ strict rules to prevent requests from getting out of hand. A smaller company will have more flexibility to step back and look at the situation carefully before acting or giving you an automatic “no.”
Do Your Research
If you like where you live, and plan on making a long-term career in your area, consider working for a smaller, local trucking company! Keep your options open—look at other job opportunities and compare the benefits so you can choose whatever situation is best for you.
For more information and business advice for all things in the trucking industry, contact Corporate Billing today!