truck driver

van driver

diesel technician

fleet manager

shop assistant

Fraley & Schilling, Inc.

Indeed is very censored so I can't give details. Overall the money wasn't there but the stress, work, politics, and being away from family was.

Typical Day at Work
The work is demanding, and there are significant issues with routing and navigation—often the addresses in the system don’t match the actual destinations, causing delays and confusion. Loads consist of strapping, chaining, and securing various types of freight, such as wood, coils, ingots, sheet metal, and transmissions. Some customers are difficult to work with example its okay to be in a hot conestoga with 100+ degree weather, but not okay to have the conestoga open for a cool breeze thats a real rule fall hazard vs heat stroke which is more dangerous heatstroke is, making loading and unloading challenging. In addition, maintenance issues with the truck were a frequent frustration, often requiring extra effort to get the vehicle serviced. A better system for load assignments (a load board) and more efficient maintenance practices simply outsourcing all maintenance to truck stops or roadside would have improved the experience significantly.

What I Learned
I learned that working for a camera-driver facing company isn’t ideal. In hindsight, a career with more predictable hours and pay would have been a better option. Relaxing the clean desk thinking mentality of forced opinion quizzes required with 100% compliance its a little much especially when some questions comically contradict. The difference between revenue pay and line-haul pay was eye-opening, with many loads paying far less than expected, often 15-75% under the market average as little as $120/day then being told I can't decline a low paying load very suspicious. The knowledge gained was valuable, but the overall experience didn’t feel rewarding.

Management
Management had a clear discrepancy in expectations. They worked 8-hour shifts and had 14+ hours off, yet would complain about me taking 11 hours off after working 10-14 hours a day. This made the work environment feel frustrating, as they didn’t understand the demands of the job or how to support drivers effectively. In reality I didn't really need management I needed a load board that would've immediately solved all my problems if I could just pick my own loads I'd have made more money instead of not only one but two random people that have no incentive to pick me something good.

Workplace Culture
The workplace culture often felt like blame was placed solely on the driver, with minimal support from other departments. For example, maintenance issues were elevated unnecessarily, and drivers were expected to do everything while other teams failed to do their part. It was a very top-down culture, where drivers were expected to be perfect, but there was little accountability for others. Example maintenance complained about a driver yet ignored 20 or 30 trucks that been broken down for so long the batteries were dead zero accountability.

The Hardest Part of the Job
It was difficult to see new drivers come in, knowing they wouldn’t last long due to the stress and workload. I tried to help new drivers when possible, but it was clear the environment wasn’t supportive of long-term success. Pay for some loads was far below market rates as low as $120 dollars per day paid to me is as equally frustrating as it is suspicious, and the truck maintenance was inconsistent, making it hard to get quality rest. It was common to have my truck turn on remotely after 6-9 hours of sleep, disrupting my rest. Weekly pay rarely exceeded $1,200, despite working long hours, and I was only able to get a full 34-hour reset at home once or twice a month with the weekly rest time being 34 hours every week except maybe 4-6 times every 6 months did I get over 34 hours off that's definitely not healthy or sustainable.

The Most Enjoyable Part of the Job
The most enjoyable part of the job was knowing that I would eventually leave. I set clear boundaries for home time, truck maintenance, no complaints, and minimum pay, but those simple goals were ignored, leading to frustrations. Ultimately, leaving was the best decision for me.

Where to start? Where to start?

Let me paint a small picture for you. 
Summer 2020 I was ready to get out of trucking just 2 years into the field. Low pay. No quality of life balance, I felt no respect from the people I worked with at the time and one day I saw an F&S truck and thought I’d give flatbed a chance and it was truly the best decision I’ve made. 


A company built on family values in an age where everyone says “here you’re a name not a number” they truly mean it. I joked often about feeling like my last name was schilling. Very transparent management team. No one is off limits and they are always there for your concerns. 

Even if you’re new to flatbedding the training you receive is great and they have a much different approach for mentorship than other companies. Instead of talking to someone behind a desk about how to secure something. Theirs a network of drivers who are at the same shippers and customers as you who will drop everything and walk you through it. I never felt alone. 

Paid time off if generous and theirs no red tape to jump through if you need an extra day or two at home. 

They have a unique approach to the business that you’ll notice right away which allows them to serve their customer base better by shipping larger loads which in turn means everyone’s favorite thing. 

$Money$

It’s there for the making with the move to percentage pay. You know what the truck makes each dispatch and you can figure what you’ll take away with it as well. 

Equipment is big investment for the company the trucks are well taken care of and serviced regularly as well as the trailers however they expect you to do the same in return and ask that you’re enough of a professional to speak up when something isn’t right. 

Safety is a cornerstone of the company as well. I never felt like I had anyone looking over my shoulder and any conversation I had to have with safety with transparent and fair. They don’t exsist to find reasons to fire you they want you to make it home every week. 


All In all I’ll say this was the best trucking job I’ve had. My departure was 100% personal and I’d recommend them to anyone.


They will work as hard for you. As you work for them. End of story. 

I came to F&S with high hopes, being part of the Conestoga fleet, and looking forward to being part of the F&S “family”.
My 1st year with the company was a constant challenge but the pay made up for many of the struggles. Fast forward a year…. it is even more of a challenge and a struggle and my pay has dropped well  over $600 a week, not a month, a week. I’m still driving an average of over 2800 miles per week. I constantly get 50 cpm loads, I may get to Alcoa or Newburgh once a week. I used to get preplanned loads, now almost never. I have over 25 years of flatbed experience, well over 3 million miles. You would be hard pressed to find someone with more flatbed experience than me at F&S. I’m a professional, I take pride in my job and enjoy being a flatbedder. It is getting tougher every day to stay here. I’m currently parked in Ohio with no load. I called in 3 times today to see about the next load, I am proactive, but it’s obvious I’m not ever on anyone’s radar. I don’t have proof but it’s obvious the new hires get preference on loads, maybe that’s why last year was a much better year for me. I have talked to dispatch and the terminal manager about my concerns, but everything I’ve said seems to have been pointless. I had planned to retire here, drivers like me are hard to find. Safe, reliable, dependable, serious, professional, courteous.

My days are fast to say the least, I am very productive and since my start at Fraley and Schilling the team has removed all barriers that prevent me from doing my job, from day to day task, to taking care of driver needs. I came into this business having been out of it for 11 years not knowing the system or processes here, they put a team together and a training plan to get me where I needed to be in a short time, this allowed me to make better discission and preform at the level I like to be at, this all came from the Management team here. I haven't met a stranger here either, co-workers are great and very helpful, it can get busy from the whirlwind of the day and still if I needed help I have never had someone not stop to help me out. The hardest part is trying to get everything done I want in a day, as I mentioned before some days are busy for me, there are  days I have one or more of our management team stop and ask if they can do anything to help even when they are just as busy, that is just amazing leadership. The best part is looking at what we as a company have accomplished, we are growing and I am proud to be apart of it, knowing I helped do this. No matter how small of a part, it takes all of us to move forward.

It's really hard to explain everything that happened to me here but I'll try to sum it up. I've never quit a job after only 5 weeks and I've been a driver for nearly 10 years now. This company has a very particular plan in place to bring drivers in because they know we will quit within the first 90 days. They have a 100% turnover rate and it's for a reason. It's by design. Ive never experienced anything like it. The first few weeks are ok. They don't teach you enough in orientation to do a proper job if you have never done flatbed before. If your truck or trailer needs worked on its not unusual for them to just put a bandaid on the problem. If you're in the shop (and you will be) you won't get paid breakdown pay. Ive never been compensated any of the breakdown pay they owed me. Equipment is old, broken, barely stocked trailers and you are in charge of making sure to get equipment. But they run low on equipment in the shop. Driver managers are hit and miss. Some are nice and some aren't. Don't expect to make the amount of money they promise. I've never "earned" more than the $1200 that is supposed to be the minimum. I tried switching to dry van to try and make more money by running more miles but that didn't work at all. 

Schedulers do not understand truck drivers clocks/schedules and driving a semi in heavy traffic (ex through heavy traffic in Atlanta or in congested North East).  Horrible management!  as in nonexistant-employees do not understand the pay structure and it is constantly changing. Trucker is only paid when a load delivers, but company wants you to drive empty for 2 days to pick up a load while empty = no pay.  Pretty much just a shady operation as it is being run.   The managers are constantly in meetings and can never answer the phone.  A routine maintenance issue (should be fixed in a few hou) will cost you a week of downtime and create a "Production" issue resulting in disciplinary issues when you have no control of the repair. No communication during the repair, constantly having to check to see if finished.... just generally a very poorly run business that does not support it's har working drivers.

What is the best part of working at the company?
AWSOME work environment and people to work with. Disbatch is A #1 and the garage/mechanics personnel are top rated while great team service oriented. 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
I have not experienced stress working with Fraley & Shilling except every once in a while you will wait in a long line at the scale. 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Family friendly and welcoming. They always ask for feedback. They want to know if their workers are happy. 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
I haul out of Kaiser Newburgh IN. So my day starts there when I arrive at about 7 am. I get on the scale to get an empty weight, then proceed to the back building for loading. Once loaded, I finish strapping and then head to the scale for my final outbound weight. Then on my way to my destination in St Louis or Missouri.

Not a bad company to work for. I would love it if they paid you for the hours and sometimes days that you wait to get a load. I've had 3 fleet managers in 3 months.  Money would be great if they ran you properly.  I'm kinda confused on why they are hiring people but struggling to keep us running right now.  I know its that slow time of the year and the election and all so I'm definitely trying to be understanding.  But don't believe the 1800-2000 dollars pay they advertise. Realistically it's 1100 to 1500 a week. Everyone is pretty nice when you call so that's a pluss. You have to figure alot out on your own tho, I don't mind that. Not too much micro managing they usually leave you alone. I'd love working here if I could keep me at a consistent 1700 dollars a week being that I usually stay out a month at a time.  Praying things get better after the New year because it's not a bad company but money is why we work. 

Its a decent place to work at times,they keep ya rollin,when then find loads,sometimes they leave ya hangin on to long,I was once held for 24 hours before they found a no load & deadheaded me home when I was only 4 hours from home in the 1st place,,,they dont like to reimburse when you have to use your own money for tolls or hotels,Ive been waiting for over a year for 2 nites in a hotel from a breakdown,Ive turned bill in 4 times & still no reimbursement,,,breakdown pay stinks also,actually any breakdown pay sticks with this company,,,ALL the terminals never have enough equipment on hand to satisfy the truck but if you dont get it,its your fault,,,I would’nt wish this place on anyone unless you just wanna drive & not get paid for it,,,just too much too list...

As sometimes happens, this company went from being the best job I ever had to the worst over an eight year period. Went from being a name to becoming a number. Poor work culture due to unsustainable focus on quantity over quality. Went from being a driver focused company to a profit driven company. Expanded rapidly over recent years without the necessary infrastructure and personnel to do so seamlessly. The values and ethics of this family owned company are, I believe, still intact, but too little oversight and accountability within management allowed a toxic atmosphere to develop that strayed far from those values and ethics. If your motivation is simply to run as much as you can and make as much money as you can, this is the company for you. If, however, you want a work-life balance, respect in the workplace and an expectation that promises will be kept, you may want to look elsewhere.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Truck driver 714 salaries reported	$1,701 per week
Van driver 48 salaries reported	$1,463 per week
Diesel technician 1 salary reported	$20.00 per hour
Fleet manager 1 salary reported	$47,500 per year
Shop assistant 25 salaries reported	$15.72 per hour

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