Ok. I've been lurking on here for several weeks now doing research and such, but this is my first post on this particular forum, so here goes.

I've been off the road for just over a year now. Prior to that, I drove for PAM for a year, so I'm not a complete newbie. Like I said, I've been doing a lot of research into several companies in preparation for my return to the big road. One thing that really struck me as I read about various companies is that while there are many good things to say about many companies, there are even more bad things to say about the same companies. I made my descision to go with deBoer based on the fact there seems to be very few nasty-grams relating to them on here in comparison to other companies. In fact, there seems to be very little information at all. However, I don't necessarily consider that a bad thing, as it seems people are more likely to complain and point out a company's faults rather than relate the good things they may have experienced.

So, having blathered on about all that, I'll get to the actual subject of my post. I plan on relating my experience with this company while, hopefully, remaining as objective as possible. I first contacted a recuiter with the company about two weeks ago, and found her very easy to deal with. She had no problem with spending as much time on the phone with me as was necessary to anwer any questions I could think of. It took a total of about 5 business days for me to be officially approved, and she gave me the information on the travel arrangements, which turned out to be exactly what was promised. The ticket was waiting at the Greyhound terminal, and the hotel reservation (Econo-Lodge - quite nice actually) was made in my name, so there have been no hitches or screw-ups thus far. Orientation is supposed to start tomorrow, so further updates will be forthcoming, depending on availability of internet access in the days to come.

__________________
Today is the first day of the rest of your life. Of course, so was yesterday, and look how you screwed that up.

Haven't been able to post an update in quite awhile due to problems I've been having with my laptop. The fact that it's taken this long for me to get around to fixing it is a testament to how busy they've kept me.

Orientation was pretty much what I expected. Two days of the usual tirades about what will get ya fired, speeches about company policy, badly filmed safety videos, and stacks of paperwork that need endless copies of my signature.

Truck assignments are mostly luck of the draw. They have mostly Volvos and Freightliners, with a few Kenworths thrown in for flavor. They have both straight 10 and auto-shift transmissions. I ended up with a Freight-shaker Columbia with a bit over 300,000 on the odometer. I made sure to spend a good hour looking over the truck with a fine-tooth comb when I first got it assigned, and found a few minor things. Clearence lights didn't light up, fuel filter, and the steering wheel didn't lock in position properly. They took it straight back into the shop and had it fixed in about an hour.

Got a load heading for San Antonio straight out the gate, with a concession from 'em to stop by the house and pick up the rest of my stuff, and have been running hard since. Only had a few problems. My engine brake didn't work at all when I headed out from the yard. Ran for about a week and a half without until they routed me back to the shop. They found out the head gasket was blown, so the truck went to the dealer for a warrenty repair. No sweat though. I would rather get all the problems fixed sooner rather than later, and I have no idea how the previous driver treated the truck, so I'll take the downtime as it makes it more likely that I'll have fewer problems down the road. They put me in a temporary truck for a few days while mine is in the shop, so I'm not losing as many miles as I thought I would.

Overall, my first impression of the company isn't too bad. Dispatch has the usual problems with communication, but that seems to be a standard for almost every company in the country. I'll have more down the road.

__________________
Today is the first day of the rest of your life. Of course, so was yesterday, and look how you screwed that up.

Keep us posted,, good luck and be safe..

__________________
long winded people bore me.

Yes, I am interested in the company myself. Hope things go well. Update when you can.

Been awhile since my last update. To be honest I haven't thought about it in awhile, but I suddenly have too much damn free time.

My relatively good first impression of the company is wearing off fast. I don't have any complaints as far as getting loads and miles. With the notable exception of being stuck in New York State for 4 1/2 days waiting for a load, they've kept me moving without too much downtime. And New York State can be explained away by the current condition of the economy and the fact that the north-east isn't deBoer's normal operating area.

My main complaint is the equipment. They don't seem to be too interested in comprehensive maintanence. It seems that for every two weeks I manage to stay on the road, the truck has to be in the shop for at least four or five days to repair. Maybe my expectations are too high, but I think a blown head gasket, major transmission problems, and now a blown turbo within two months is a bit excessive. As I write this, I'm sitting in a hotel room in Knoxville waiting for the truck to get into the local dealer's shop to have the turbo replaced. And that doesn't include a myriad of other smaller issues that have taken a day or two here and there to fix. From what I hear from other drivers in the company, it's pretty much the same story for most of the other trucks in the fleet. I'm sure it's not all of them, but it's enough that I see a definite pattern.

Once again, maybe my expectations are too high, but my last company managed to maintain their trucks to a piont that I was never left stranded. I had two different trucks over the course of 13 months, and the switch only happened because they decided they wanted me to be a trainer and I had to swap my mid-roof for a condo.

At this point, I think it's time for me to pay attention to the writing on the wall, so to speak, and start looking for a company that actually has some decent equipment and doesn't mind spending the necessary amount of money in maintainence to make sure they stay on the road.

__________________
Today is the first day of the rest of your life. Of course, so was yesterday, and look how you screwed that up.

I'm starting orientation monday with deboer any bits of advice I can use???

I had been tracking your posts. You started out with a favorable impression of Deboer but then that changed when the truck you were driving started to develop problems. I'm curious now, what eventually happened? Did you move on to some other company or have you settled in with Deboer after all?

A quick check of the previous posts showed the original poster hasn't been on the Forum in over 5 months.

My bf has been with them since November and aside from hating the automatic trucks they have and some minor repairs he is fine with them.

__________________

So, your bf likes Deboer alright? Sounds good. Frankly I always enjoyed driving an automatic. So, how often does he make it home and what are some typical destinations? Does he drive to the west coast from time to time?