After reading all the post on here, there really doesn't seem to be a good company for a newbie to go to work for.

Should a newbie just go to work for one and grit their teeth for 1 year and then try and find a good company?

There is a lot of good and bad on here. You have to have an open mind and be ready for it. It's been said to that a company is what you make of it, as a newbie, you will get experience and learn as you go. Take the tools offered here and make the most of it! Good Luck with everything you do, and I hope you get the right tools to make the best of the trucking industry - it is a tough road - but you'll make it!

First off, GOOD is a relative term, LOL!
I don't think anybody has every been promised that there is a perfect company out there with no complaints against it, why should a newbie expect otherwise?
That IS the good news, you can sort out all the opinions and find out who has the LEAST amount of complaints against it to help in making a decision. For better or worse, some complaints are petty, some are very narrow, some are personal, and to gauge the company itself, you need to seek out those that are of a systemic nature. Do a LOT of complaints focus on pay issues? home time? poor equipment? dishonesty by management?
I can say despite my gripes, I would STILL argue that Crete/Shaffer is among the cream of the crop BUT there may be other posters who routinely complain of home time issues with Crete and if THAT is the deciding factor for a newbie, then there's his answer - look elsewhere.
No matter where he goes, of course he will have to bite the bullet. And if he moves on, he will find, I'm sure, he is gritting his teeth over something at his "perfect" company as well. Ya just gotta balance your priorities and learn what is worth tolerating, and what is worth fighting.
Hell, if more than 2 truckers EVER agreed about 1 company being perfect, 95% of the rest of us would be working there next week!

__________________
"I have promises to keep and miles to go before I sleep, miles to go before I sleep" Robt. Frost

work for any of them you want, just don't get terminated or get in a
incident and or accident even if your record is clear and your a
safe driver ( your career will be over with out a hearing or a court date )

THEY WILL DAC YOU IN THE A%&

It is a tough road alright, wait tell you have a incident or a
accident or for Gods sake you don't get terminated then you
will see just how hard it is, your career will be over without
a hearing or court date, thay will DAC YOU IN THE A%#.

it's not to late, save your self now, your still young.

Check it out, there are only a few companies out there that will hire you. You are new take the ones that will hire you. Sit down look them over and try to not read the b******t that is here. These are only comments from people who have had a bad experience with the company. Unless you can find positive feed back then go with that, but that is going to be hard. Try to make up your own opinion from here. What was said if two truckers agree on one company, Will all be there tomorrow. Remember it is trucking nothing is going to be perfect. Murphy's law will be riding with you and waiting for the right moment. So take what is written down here with a grain of salt and roll the dice. Worst case you have to do a year and go somewhere else. Then again they might not be that bad. Never know until you try! Good luck and be safe at all cost nothing is worth your life or someone else's........

I wouldn't take anything posted here with a grain of salt. No damn way. Treat it as gospel.

Sure, a lot of the posts here are negative, but it's good you're reading them. You'll know up front what to expect, and you may be able to deal with it far better than someone like I myself dealt with the shock when I got in.

I started with Swift, sure. But I also started with some faulty assumptions. I thought I, as a driver, would be paid for 100 percent of the miles I drove. Boy did I get a 2 x 4 up 'side the head not even a week after I started. I bet on some of my first runs I got paid only 2 out of 3 miles while at Swift. I was ultra-pissed, and I even looked at their stiffing me as theft. This started a downward spiral for me at Swift, even though later runs were "better". I soon was out the door there.

Thanks to what you have read here, you will see the 2 x 4 coming, and you'll be able to (hopefully) duck it. When your company screws you, you'll be able to handle it better, as you'll already know what to expect. You won't have the same naive mindset I had. I went to truck training school believing a driving job was an honest job for a hard-working guy like myself. To me, trucking companies were all equal, and everyone was honest. What a fool I was. But you won't be that naive person. You'll be going to your first company loaded for bear, from a mindset standpoint.

I wish to hell I would have had this website to guide me back in 95 when I started it all.

__________________
--Paved Dudley--

Yeah I drive a Swift truck
And that means one thing
It means she's slow
It's a typical company truck
It's just all show and no go

I'm gettin' passed by Yella
And even Overnite
I'm gettin' passed by ever' body in sight
46 days on the road
And I'm not gettin' home tonight

No, my hometown's nowhere in sight
And if you think I'm pissed off
You're right
46 days on the road
And I'm not gettin' home tonight


Love pissing off those trucking company insiders.

This is why I love this site. Going through school now. But this is the first of the "real" school.

DON'T TREAT IT AS GOSPEL! Take about 95% as entertainment and about 5% as fact or reality. Most of the writing here is by people who just want to dump but they fail to tell us what their part of the situation was to cause the problem. The human mentality is to blame everyone else for the problem and take no ownership for anything bad that happens in life.

So read it, but weigh it against talking to several drivers for the company(s) you are interested in at truck stops or on the CB. If the live drivers are confirming what is said here, then buy the negativity. If not, ALWAYS take the live drivers comments over the stories here.

By the way, I have read people getting accused of being recruiters disguised as drivers on this site. If that is the case, we are then admitting that people lie here. So doesn't it go both ways?

Well first off my suggestion would be to try and find a company in your own area. What I'm mean by that is don't go halfway across country to drive for a carrier because chances are they don't have a terminal in your area. Second descide on what you want to get out of it. If you want a high pay check each week then you probably won't see home very much. When I was otr I was out for 3 months at a time. I hope this helpes with your descision.