Ok pay, good benefits, great pto, but terrible loads, unreliable trucks
Pros
They have adequate pay, good benefits and amazing pto (4 weeks per year to start). Some other pros are they have auto chains (with manual chains as a backup), a mechanic on-site, and no driver-facing cameras (they have the outward facing dash cam and one rear facing camera on each door, which I was totally fine with. It's the driver facing camera I don't agree with so I really appreciated their decision in this area). Another pro for me is I was regularly getting about 8-10 hours of overtime per week. So, there are definitely some good things about working for Boise.
Cons
1: The loads: I understand in this industry, there's a lot of varying materials of different shapes, sizes, etc... so it can be a challenge to load the trailers. It's understandable to have some funky loads sometimes. But you shouldn't be dealing with these issues on a regular basis: -Units that aren't flush, but just thrown on there sloppily; stickers left on top the the load or in places you couldn't see from the ground; items on top of the load that needed to be shifted or rearranged so they could be properly strapped (I was regularly climbing on the load to rearrange or move something because it would've been dangerous to ignore or strap it like it was). -Having material scattered throughout the load so the receiver you're delivering to has to move a bunch of stuff to get to theirs. Sometimes this can't be helped due to size and weight of material, but there were many many times that it just wasn't necessary. It's as though some of the loaders use their paperwork to gather all the delivery items and then they ignore the paperwork delivery order and just throw everything on the trailer to get it done, rather than taking the time to try to keep items in a certain order. -Pallets falling apart because they weren't properly and securely wrapped, so they'd end up falling apart while driving down the road, leaving loose boxes and hardware on the trailer. 2: Management: They pretend to care about your input but then ignore or downplay what you have to say. They listened to my concerns and those brought up by other drivers, but they didn't make any improvements or changes. I tried to brainstorm with them how the pallets could better be wrapped - nothing changed. They kept wrapping the same way. For all their preaching about "safety", you would think they'd take these issues seriously, when there's a huge potential for hardware or boxes to fall off the truck into traffic. 3: The trucks: They have all automatic T880's with terrible Paccar motors - constant check engine lights, break downs, wear and tear. I think they are moving in the right direction because their newest truck has a Cummins so hopefully they keep ordering those. When I received the truck I was taking over, it was disgusting - FILTHY from the previous driver. It needed a deep clean which the company should've taken care of - a new driver shouldn't be the one scrubbing and cleaning and fixing things to make it presentable. The windshield was cracked along the entire length and wouldn't have passed inspection. The insurance and registration paperwork was disorganized and missing the registration papers for half the trailers, one of the internal cab lights was dangling from the ceiling, the driver's seat was broken, etc. I spent several hours cleaning it, fixed what I could and to their credit, the Boise mechanic ordered and installed a new seat... But I mean, COME ON PEOPLE. Very unprofessional.