At the recent Great West Truck Show, the Truckload Carriers Association (TCA) opened the 2010 Best Fleets to Drive For contest. The annual survey and contest will be administered by CarriersEdge, a provider of online driver improvement programs, with support from media partners Ramp Media Group in the United States, publisher of Over the Road and Pro Trucker magazines, and Over the Road magazine in Canada.
Now through October 31, 2009, company drivers and owner-operators may nominate their trucking companies by e-mailing [email protected] or by filling out an application form on www.bestfleetstodrivefor.com.
Best Fleets to Drive For identifies the North American for-hire trucking companies that provide exceptional workplace environments for their drivers. Nominations can only originate from company drivers or owner-operators for their employing or affiliated carriers that operate 10 trucks or more (whether TCA members or not). Only one driver nomination is needed to nominate a carrier.
After that driver’s employment/affiliation has been verified, telephone interviews will be conducted with the nominee’s management to evaluate the carrier in areas such as benefits, professional development, driver and community support, safety record, and company culture. After the interview, a selection of the nominee’s drivers will be surveyed to corroborate information collected. Top finishers will be identified as Best Fleets to Drive For, and the highest-scoring fleets in each of four categories will be named that category’s overall winner.
One change has been made for 2010. The contest now recognizes operating differences between fleets that use owner-operators versus fleets that employ company drivers. Thus, four overall winners will now be selected, one in each of these categories: Best Fleet for Owner-Operators (with more than 100 drivers and fewer than 100 drivers, respectively), and Best Fleet for Company Drivers (with more than 100 drivers and fewer than 100 drivers, respectively).
