Truck-driving bear? Taking Steps - Truckers' Trucking Forum | Message Board

Bearlike · **^ Top** #1 11.13.2007

Hello everyone, my name is Bearlike and I am going to become a truck driver. There are a lot of reasons why, but the main ones are:

1. To gain financial security and plan for the future.
2. To follow in my father's footsteps. He drove for a few years about 15 yrs ago and he's told me his happiest times were as a driver
3. To be a part of the most important class of working men in America.

I'm new to the industry and green behind the ears, but I'm not dumb and I've been keeping my ears open and listening to what experienced drivers have to say. My father drove flatbed, and that's what I'd like to get into as well but as a 21-yr old, inexperienced, and not wealthy-enough-at-this-time-to-pay-for-getting-a-cdl-independent-of-a-company, kind of guy-- I understand my options are rather limited.

I've done a lot of research and the companies that I've applied to are as follows:

Schneider
Roehl
Prime
CRST Expedited Van
& Swift

I know that a lot of people have a lot of different opinions on these companies, and right now I'm having trouble deciding who sign with. As of right now, Roehl has informed me they don't hire anyone with any license suspensions within the last 3 yrs.
(My license was suspended temporarily due to a failure to appear to court violation. I was told an incorrect court date and my license was suspended as a result. My license was only suspended for a matter of 2-3 weeks, and it now current and valid. The court date I missed wasn't even due to a moving violation. I'm going to call the recruiter back and plead my case, I've heard a lot of good things about those guys in WI.)

o CRST sounded pretty great except for the idea of operating exclusively as teams.

o SWIFT didn't seem half bad save for a low starting rate of $0.26/mile, but after a relatively short amount of time on the road, many pay raises are given.

o PRIME was interesting in that the starting pay after training was $0.34/mile, but their insurance costs were ungodly high compared to the industry standard of around $14.00/week for health/vision/dental/life. Primes benefits are around $50.00/week for those! That's $200.00/month compared to $75ish for other companies. So it looks like the high mileage rate is a trade off for high cost of insurance. Plus during the first four weeks of training, I'm given pay ADVANCES of 240/week that I have to pay back at $25/paycheck. That's a lot of extra money that I could be putting into savings or paying off debt...

o SCHNEIDER offers thourough training with an average starting rate. One downside for me is that they don't have a flatbed division. My father complains that having to unload freight is terrible, so I've got that to keep in mind too.

Obviously, I need a company that offers training at a low up-front cost. These companies have that. At the same time, they also lock you into a time-based contract of service. So if I'm going to choose a company I need to make a good choice. I've heard a lot of bad things about ALL these companies, but a lot of great things too.

Are there any other companies I should consider that hire 21-yr old/inexperienced drivers and provide them with training for their CDL? What else should I consider when choosing a company? I have no ties to family and I'm single, so I'm looking to hit the road as hard as possible...

Keep me informed everyone, I need all the information I can get.

fastSVT · **^ Top** #2 11.13.2007

All I can say is from that list, I'd stay as far away from Swift as possible. I'm leaning toward Schneider myself.

soon2betrucking · **^ Top** #3 11.13.2007

I agree you fast, it sounds like you have a good plan, i myself am only 21, still in school, and i have read just about everything there is to read on this site, its an amazing tool, keep reading... you should look into schnider, they seem to be one of the better places to go, that was my first pick, actualy its who i new i wanted to work for years back, however i have made the choice of heading to a flatbed company,
best of luck to you and to all

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