From what I am hearing now you can tell that Star was bought out by Covenant. Changes are starting to show. Miles are cut and a lot of waiting. Hometime is slowly slipping away. I had a driver tell me he is running about 1500-1800 miles a week now. Last time I talked to him they had about 60 drivers sitting waiting for a run. He is looking to go elsewhere.

I used to drive for Star. I have sent a few drivers that way, but when they were bought out I figured it would only be a matter of time before the true Covenant showed through. It took longer than I thought for the change to show. The odd part is the last driver I sent there turned down Covenant. He did not want to work for them. He went with Star. After he upgraded to solo he called me and told me Covenant bought them out. This was before the word was out. I could not believe it. Told him to try to stick it out as long as he could to build up some miles before he bailed. Poor fella.

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My childhood dream of becoming a truck driver turned into a nightmare!

just got back from STAR orientation , yeah the covenant is showing, I am from philly and they dont have a trainer from this area, so I guess I will have to sit and wait for 1, yeah right!!!!

One good thing about philly is Star has a lot of freight in that area. Most of their drivers get home on the weekends. You are in a good area to see home with them. Now the bad part. Covenant will probably have your hometime load routed through Dallas.

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My childhood dream of becoming a truck driver turned into a nightmare!

So I guess they expect us to just sit and wait for a trainer to call no matter how long that takes? What a crock this is. I have a mortgage to pay, Credit cards, truck payment, and other obligations. I think it is just about time to look elsewhere for something. But I hate to start a new job somewhere and then leave when I get a call from Star. I would really want to drive local but most of the companys I have seen want at least a 1 year OTR experiance. So, I have some thinking to do. Do I sit and wait for Star or do I go out and look for another job elsewhere?

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Joel McDonald
Palm Bay FL

yeah the bills keep on coming!!! well there's a lot of companys out there, good luck joel. let me know what happens.

I have been with Star for almost 6 months now with training. Good company, BUT the miles are getting lower. They don't pay actual miles. I ran over 700 miles one day but got paid for 600 or something. it may not seem like a lot but do the math. $30 a day $150 a week. in a year it's 7500 you are losing.

Go with a company that pay actual or practical miles. And how many miles per week.

im leaving once i get 6 months of solo driving to be an O/O. Then go to another company with a year experience and stay there. I don't want to say which company just look around. I want to get paid the most with my experience.

thanks, that sounds like a plan! good luck

Just got back from 8 days on the road for training with STAR and I have to say that this trucking thing is more than I expected. 8 days and 3 showers. Trying to sleep in the truck while the truck is moving is almost impossible. And yes the miles are paid via the Movers Guide as paid miles. So if you screw up the directions and go more miles to get somewhere, then you do not get paid for those extra miles. I am starting to think that I am not cut out to be a truck driver although I have a lot of respect for the truckers out there. This living and eating in a truck all week is not for me and I will be looking elsewhere for local work.

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Joel McDonald
Palm Bay FL

Turnover is going thru the roof at Star.

When I came to star, my orientation was 4 people: 2 experienced drivers, and 2 new drivers, including myself.

These days, I see much larger groups coming in for orientation. 10-15 new drivers is not unusual at all. Star didn't use to pay for driving school, now I heard Star will pay for school.

We have lost freight because of Covenant. No more beer runs or porno mags because Covenant has high *moral* standards. Also, Saturn (the automaker) has shut down a number of runs. We don't do Frito-Lay anymore (I don't think) nor do we do a lot of Pepsi. Why? I'm not sure.

Also, there's a general slowdown in all freight, and on top of this, I've heard that Covenant is trying to raise the fleet size from around 600+ to 1000. This may just be a rumor, but it sure appears true.

So, currently we have less frieght, seems like Star is hiring more drivers, and I know for sure that turnover is higher now than before the Covenant buyout. The bottom line for drivers is less miles.

Maybe it will change. Serious Covenant changes are coming in September, I heard. I'm hanging around at least until then just out of morbid curiousity.

Hey MXH, have you heard of a driver that goes by MoeZak?

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My childhood dream of becoming a truck driver turned into a nightmare!