Thinking about becoming a driver (Canada)

I'm pretty impressed by your self-starter quality and your level of observation. I'll private message you about Manitoulin when I get home.
The great things you've got access to now (the letter if intent to hire, comprehensive basic training, a job shadow trip, learning on a standard transmission), will put you in an excellent position to start your career.
Are you looking at city pick up and delivery or highway travel?
We all start out from the same place and then, through our work experience, become really great at different types of driving than each other. If you have a direction in mind, move toward it with every job you take.

 

I'm going to assume you're in Ontario for this response because of some of the things you've mentioned so far in this thread.
Out there, you're closer to the Gore Bay epicenter of the Manitoulin Universe. The agents they use are different than the one I have here in Alberta, albeit their mandates are the same: to follow the guidelines Manitoulin sets.
The giants in LTL seem to have discovered the best way to move LTL over the longer distances you are looking for is with team drivers and whenever possibly applicable, LCV configurations. You'll have to wait two years to qualify for the Extended Length after school (or collect 150,000kms before 2 years), so I think if you are looking for long trips east-west in the beginning, that it might not be possible with many LTL carriers (and not Manitoulin for certain).
Most of the company, single driver trips are done in daycabs with the roundtrip estimated to be a 14 hr/HOS workday. There are plenty of relay points, like you've heard, to get drivers cycling back to their home terminals and be available to repeat the drive the next day. There are a few points out of my terminal that will have a company solo driver in a sleeper unit. Usually, this is regional work, sometimes inter provincial, that can't be relayed or done in 14hrs. In your area, if you choose a job with Manitoulin, there will be those longer, solo overnight trips that depart from your terminal.
I've never looked for extremely long hauls where we'd be away as a couple for more than 2 days at a time, so I can't offer you any names. I've seen ads around advertising triangles for teams to dip into the states, come back to another point in Canada, then return home. These seem to be about the longest scheduled runs around. Have you given thought to team work? It's not for everyone, but the distances are typically the longest.

 

TTC is a Joke -- Good place to go to waste your money and learn nothing about trucking.

 

Manitoulin Island, yes... but it needs to be said with reverence!

I mentioned earlier about picking jobs that will eventually lead you to the one you want. I'm still working on that myself! I think that seems to be the biggest challenge for everybody, on-going in their career. I'm at a place I worked myself into, through a series of choices (good and bad) based on what was available at the time and how to have a steady living, coupled with preferences for a daily reality.
Sometimes when you get a great place to work that makes you happy, it gets sold, goes bankrupt, gets new management, etc. and turns sour.
If you have a set of preferences (which is hard at first, you haven't figured out what you like or dislike through driving/dealing with companies) and you talk to other people for their insights, they will focus on the things that really bothered them as the reasons they don't like that company and suggest you stay away. If the things they tell you are things you know you couldn't live/work with, it's helpful. Most people aren't going to advertise how great their current work is thinking of job seekers as competition.
I will say this about team driving, Tai: With a partner, in the beginning, you can learn a large amount in a short time (if they know their stuff), and changing partners changes the work atmosphere and the information they can give you. There are many reasons to avoid it (potential abuse, sleep quality, trust issues) and it all depends on how you are able to handle yourself in an intense interpersonal work situation - one unlike any other I can think of.
You've got different choices than me in a different driving culture than to which I'm familiar (AB vs. ON, west vs. east). I am completely jaded about large conglomerate LTL companies, yet, for now I'm with one. You're approaching things in a thoughtful way and are getting your feel from your inquiries. I'm going to say that you'll have to trust yourself and look for the positives/negatives as they arise, watch for opportunities giving you more of your work preferences than others, read everything you're shown, triple check your pay statements and know which administrator/operational person oversees the areas that affect you directly, should you need to question/get information on something you've had happen.
For myself, I prefer smaller, family owned companies that do a mixture of trailer types and commodities that work a niche lane to the North/North-West of Canada, if I can find one.

 

tai I have come across this post almost 1 year after the fact. I am very currious as to which training school you selected. I am in a very similar position that you were, being from Northern Ontario, Canada. From what I read, I am picking from the same schools that you were. Any information and or advice that you could share would be of utmost value. Also very curious as to where you are now ,who your working for and how you like your new career? thank you, Bartley

 

I am a wannabe and am seeking info on the trainning schools in this area. orcen could you please elaborate as I am about to comitt a good chunk of change at one of these schools? Any info will be greatly apprecated. thankyou.