Originally Posted by NWMAXI

find a company that has what you are looking for remember you will be a number at the mega carriers it is just how it goes... get your year or so and move on to a small company or local

or apply to the small companies in your area and be a name not a number from the beginning. pay your dues with that small company and you can just stay there with them.

Central would be a pretty good company to start out with and if you are still dead set on being an O/O they have a lease option. I highly recommend though you give it a good year before signing on that dotted line....

You do not want to rush into truck ownership. I drove for a an O/O years ago. Just what I learned from him has made me very leary of owning a truck. There are a ton of things that you'd never think about as far as costs go.

As for companies, your list looks about the same as mine. SNI, USX, Central, etc. All will have good and bad, just like any job with a big company. As for the poster that wanted to know about Werner and Swift, Werner recruiters use a phrase that bothers me. They like to say "if you do what we expect of you" a LOT. That phrase bothers me for some reason. That should be a given with any job, so why do you keep saying it? They also require 275 hours driving with a trainer, which they don't want you to go home for. (they say it's about 7 weeks) That seems a long time to not be making mileage pay to me. ($400 week w/trainer, if I recall) As for Swift, I've never heard anything good about them. I know most companies you'll hear mostly bad and a little bit of good, but I don't see that with them. This has just been my experience, though.

I also don't disagree with the small local companies comments. That doesn't work to well for me because most of them don't run teams, but for you solo guys, there's some great local companies out there.

Good luck guys/gals!

I started out with an auto parts store. They only paid 45 cents a mile. I only got three runs a week between KC and Houston as a team. Weekends I had to spend with the family as well as two nights. No "trainer" but the guy teamed with me did show me the ropes. It really angered me that I missed all the hassle that the big companies give newbies. Of course that Mitt Romey guy owned the company and now I feel like I have to vote for him.

what does watkins shepard pay?