welcome to the trucking industry. WS has a better retention rate than most carriers, but in general all trucking companies have a revolving door. it's a tough job.

nope, plain old ten speeds.

in general, no, flats have 10 speeds like the van trucks. a flatbed truck is just a normal company truck with a headache rack bolted on.

WS does run some heavy haul van units out of the missoula office, and used to run heavy haul flatbeds out of missoula as well. heavy haul tractors do have 13 speeds and 500 HP engines where the normal truck has 450 HP. the old heavy haul flatbed tractors are now used for normal flatbed operations, but you pretty much have to run out of the missoula terminal in order to get one assigned to you.

[quote]most company trucks are dual bunk condos. WS will require that you spend your first 90? 120? days solo before they will allow you to take a rider along.

yep, most likely.

only one way to find out

Oh man, that part was a joke: see my avatar.

__________________
"We sleep safe in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would do us harm."
~George Orwell

LOL, I thought I read one of your posts about your being a health nut and body builder - how's that going to affect you being in a truck?

Glad you asked. I've formulated a rudimentary plan for that.
First rule: plenty of protein. So what if you fart a lot. Open the window and save the muscle.
Second rule: Use every opportunity to be diligent; laziness kills. So I'll be looking for anytime I'm able to train, but not so extremely tired I can't. One old trick I used was to exersize when I was sleepy. It's not the coffee that wakes you up so much as the walk into the truckumup. So I carried a pad for pushups and situps back then. Even learned harmonica: oxygen refreshment.

Methods: I'll be carrying a spin-on dumbell or two with about 100lbs of plates to do arms, I have two playground loops with chains I'll put some hooks on: these will possibly hook the top of the trailer for pullups, chinups, flyes and a host of bodyweight exersizes. I'll buy a PowerPushup II - they come in various strengths and weigh about 2 ounces: (it's the old springy-thingy massively improved). Motel chairs can be curled. Beds can be pressed. A doorknob or table edge (if it's a strong table) will do fantastic tricep presses. Lumping loads quickly with a sprint at the end will be my cardio and that's all of that! (I HATE cardio) I'll come up with others as I go. Find a school and jog up and down the bleachers. Sissy Squats for legs, calf raises on the edge of a brick step, and I dunno what for deadlifts yet. Two stools make a dip stand. Dumbell behind the knee makes a weight-assisted dip. (assuming the stools can hold my 210 and 100lbs of dumbell).
Never got to drive legal before, so I don't know how much recovery I'll have and training time.
System: Muscles recover in 36 hours, but your CNS (Central Nervous System) takes 72, so you need to rest a muscle 72hrs. In a 32 hr. reset, I'll probably do a fullbody workout. But OTR, a rotation system will suffice. If I have an empty trailer, the hoops and chains go to work. Bad weather and out come the dumbells. Arms one day, legs another, back whenever...if I can only hit a muscle once in a week, BLAST that sucker HARD.
I can do arms or legs inside of 15-20 minutes. Compound exersizes take just a bit more if I add them in.
All this is my answer to the guy who said "Aw, you're gonna LOSE all that when you go on the road!"
...he don't know me very well, do he?

__________________
"We sleep safe in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would do us harm."
~George Orwell

Oooopth. I had an ebay link in there. I guess I should actually read the forum rules; they're kinda strict here, but anyone interested can google the powerpushup II and find them: about $25 bucks. No more links for me!

__________________
"We sleep safe in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would do us harm."
~George Orwell

I guess I overlooked this question...sorry.

The truth is, many of the "turnover" drivers fit into 2 or 3 catagories.
They either have a couple of accidents, and get let go. I know 3 of those, all with less than 6 months experience.

Or they come into this job thinking they would bring home mega-bucks, and be home every weekend.

What would you do, if you had $2300 a month in payments/bills ? And only made $2400 a month gross, for the past 2 months.

Or they hired in with one designation (Regional/Local), and got moved to another (OTR).

__________________
Insuring polititions fear that
which goes bump in the night.
Seek out their personal homes
and family members. -- SU 83
__________________

As long as I get to see my wife fairly often (2-3 weeks for a couple days?) I'll do whatever they need. Roxy called: I'm in! Luckyluckylucky!
Now to run down and get a permit.

__________________
"We sleep safe in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would do us harm."
~George Orwell

i just spoke with w&s rep, and if all goes well and i get into there 4 week entry level school and pass i will get the only jobs they have avail., which are OTR jobs, is .28 mile normal starting, and when are the raises?? (with some bonuses, dont know what for really)

Congratulations to you both!

just spoke with sandy today, nice lady too. what do they ask you as far as the interview goes? i am looking to get in on the march 30 class, everything else will check out fine for me