Avoid Working Here - Anonymous employee Fifth Wheel Freight Employee Review

1.0
Aug 5, 2021
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

The only pro I can think of for FWF are some of the co-workers.. There is nothing else I can say positive about my experience working here....

Cons

I worked at FWF for several years, and it was the worst decision I made..... Let's start at the top - the owner likes to come in and yell at not only top level management, but the entire office multiple times per month, if not per week. One tier down you have your VPs and C-suite people - aside from one member of this group, the rest were promoted from within.. Sounds great, right? Wrong. They all fundamentally lack leadership experience as they came directly out of college and worked their way up based on who the owner liked... Now, not a single one will stand their ground against the owner as he will not give a second thought about firing one if they don't agree with everything he says. How does that affect them? Well, other than firing people because the owner thought they looked at him funny one day, they will micromanage every single person in hopes that it will ensure maximum efficiency; like having someone check your numbers 5 times a day and ask you details about everything you do, and if you aren't hitting the exact numbers you may just get fired. That brings me to my next point... You can be fired for any reason... I have seen people get fired on their first day because they weren't paying good enough attention when the owner was talking about his childhood, when they requested a day off for a family event, because we weren't 'hitting our numbers' even though basic finance would tell you we were earning a very large amount of profit even with all the operating expenses, and so many other reasons. This brings me to some details about working there and how it will affect your life… Like having a job where you work 8-9 hours a day? Don’t work here. Based on how the owner feels the company is performing (not how it is actually performing) you may have to come in at 7am, only get a 30 minute lunch, and leave at 7pm. And to answer your question, no, there is no flexibility. Your lunch is 12:00-12:30…. You cannot leave before 12:00 and cannot come back after 12:30, or guess what? You’ll be fired. Lastly, the pay they always claim is so great? I saw it decline by almost $10k/year over my tenure, and the commission percentage declined as well…. They even went as far as to fire half the company when COVID hit in order to, “Prepare for the losses” - fun fact, those losses never came and when people didn’t agree to come back when FWF reached back out to them the owner bad mouthed every single one of them saying they were lazy and just would rather live off the government, when in fact I knew at least half of them already got new positions at other companies and the other half was looking. The marketing department is going to respond to this review and state their same copy and paste response explaining how they provide so much opportunity and are a great company to work for, but don’t be fooled, that is something they have to say because if they don’t they will all be fired. Just avoid this company if you care at all about having a decent job or having a work/life balance in the slightest.

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Fifth Wheel Freight Response
4y
The FWF team is young, ambitious, and goal-oriented. As a result, we have received continuous recognition from national publications due to our relentless drive for success. This standard has empowered our team to develop unparalleled relationships with our clients, carriers, and vendors while allowing FWF to garner notoriety as an industry leader in service and reliability. Our entire staff is held to this same elite standard, which has resulted in recognition on the Inc. 5000, Top Freight Brokerage Firms, and Michigan 50 Companies to Watch. We take pride in providing our team with the opportunity to obtain valuable career skills developed through our training classes, one-on-one meetings, and coaching from our management team. This structure has allowed FWF to promote 100% of its sales management team from within the company and will yield additional opportunities for our team as the company continues to strive for success. FWF’s Core Values of Leadership, Excellence, Unity, and Trust are the standard throughout all business practices. We value providing our team with a work-life balance to enjoy their time through our industry-leading paid time off structure. We value the importance of all team members, which has resulted in our recognition as a Top Workplace by the Detroit Free Press and a Top Company for Women to Work For in Transportation by Women in Trucking. We appreciate your feedback as we are always working towards improvement.

Explore other reviews about Fifth Wheel Freight

5.0
May 22, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

There are too many pros to working at Fifth Wheel that it's hard to choose! The number one pro to working here is the leadership that comes along with it! You have amazing people there to coach you daily from the time you first step in the door! You won't ever feel like you're lost or alone for the duration of your career here. Outside of just work, we do some really fun activities throughout the year! I haven't had a dull day here since I started! They really show how much they appreciate our hard work!

Cons

I honestly can’t find any cons to working here!

1
1.0
May 21, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Decent pay, good coworkers, that’s about it

Cons

Quite literally came into work and feared for my job everyday, if you thrive off fear then by all means work here, but if you’re a sane human I’d steer away. Was here for 5 months and was let go out of the blue, the KPI’s they expect from you on a month to month basis is insane, they expect you to make 120 phone calls a day and then also book thousands of dollars in freight shipments a month, there’s just not enough time in the day. I’m sure someone from fifth wheel will comment on this and say “it’s a cut throat business” but I know plenty of top performing reps that work their tails off everyday and are successful but still fear for their job because they don’t call 120 people a day. You put so much emphasis on culture but when I told people I worked at Fifth Wheel Freight they had genuine concern for me because the reputation this company has for hire to fire. If I could leave 0 stars I would

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Fifth Wheel Freight Response
1mo
Thank you for sharing your feedback. A few points of clarification for anyone reading this review: The KPIs referenced here, including call activity and profit goals, are outlined explicitly in the interview process and reinforced throughout training. On call volume specifically, the hard daily KPI is 80 calls, not 120. And for any rep consistently hitting their profit goals, call counts alone are never the basis for a performance conversation. We also want to be transparent around our communication as it relates to under-performance. Every new rep receives monthly check-ins with their direct manager and Director of Sales Development. Performance standing is communicated clearly and regularly in these meetings. Team members are made aware of performance concerns by management at least several weeks before any employment decision is made, have access to their own performance data and percent-to-goal progress at all times, and are given plans to improve performance before employment decisions are made. A termination should never come as a “surprise.” This increased communication around performance is something FWF has worked on tirelessly over the last several years. Over the last several months, over 90% of our new reps either met or exceeded their call KPIs, which tells us that the expectations are both clear and achievable. We wish you well in your next chapter.
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