You guys have been a great help to me this year as I got my CDL! I need a little more help if you please.

I don't know what to do. I Worked for Maverick, great company and all that. I was only there a little bit and I went to work for Pepsi in my local town that I had applied for first but the cal came 3 months or so late. Issue is I am not driving. The reasons don't matter except they have changed things for the new year (pay, hours, routes).

So here I am needing advise. I have my CDL with tanker, driving record and all that is OK. I have an issue with deciding if being away from the family is worth it. I think it will be if I can get my year or two then go to a dedicated route with a good company at a good pay. I have been excepted to Transport America and I have called Maverick and that looks like I can pick back with them. I have also applied with Rohel. My questions are these.

1) Are there good jobs out there if you have a year or two with a good record?

2) What would be the best company that hires out of South Carolina that has home weekends or 7/3 or 7/4?

3) Does it bother kids to have there dad gone? Will they be screwed up for life?

4) What of these companies has the best insurance in your opinion?

1. Yes, most definitely, especially if your record is squeakly clean as well as your criminal check.

2. Sorry, don't know.

3. Navy dads have done it for years. It's all in the attitude. If your wife/significant other has a fit every time you're gone and is all depressed and weepy, your kids will have a heck of a time. If your wife/significant other is a strong person who can handle it well and keep a happy face and keep their lives stable and busy and happy while you're gone, they'll do fine.

With the advent of the internet and the cell phone, it's even easier - you can talk to them often. You can even talk to them via a laptop with a camera so they can SEE you.

If you can do it, they'll be fine. Many do it and do a great job of it. It's never easy but it can be done, especially if you're only planning to do it for a couple years then get back local again.

4. Sorry, can't help you with that one.

Best of luck to you

hey mindbender, starting out the words 'good company' are kinda tough to find. im in the same position trying to get the magical 2yrs OTR under my belt, then look for something local. Im going(did 9 mos. with PTL) with US Express on the 2nd of Jan. They claim u can run regional and be home every other weekend. Im going 48 states, i'll be out 10 home 2, according to what they say?!?! we will see though! US Express has a terminal in NC close to Winston-Salem and Tunnel Hill GA, close to Chatt TN. Those are reasons i went with them, 3-4 hrs from the house, so it would kinda make sense that freight is around here (SC) so hometime shouldnt be a problem.
sorry to ramble, hope this helps

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if you bought it, a truck brought it PERIOD!

Thanks. I would love to know about the rewards of getting the 2 years OTR. I mean If these jobs are out there why do you have these guys with all theses years under there belt still complaining about all these other companies? Why are they not with one of these great jobs?

It's easier to complain than to do anything about your situation. I have encountered countless drivers that hate their jobs because of the way the company is treating them - yet they do nothing about going out and find a better place to work. I've pretty much lived by the motto of if I don't like it, go find a new place to work. Went through a LOT of companies to get to the place I am at now, but the intense trouble was worth it.
Think about it, every place you go to get hired, you have to go through their orientation. Many of these places are going to basically eat up a week's worth of your time and pay you next to nothing for it. Meanwhile, you still have your monthly bills to pay. After orientation, even if you're an experienced driver, you're still going to have to drive for a week or more before you actually see a paycheck worth anything.

I did that 5 times in 2 and a half years - it was not easy, and I'm not ever going to say it was. I get into the job, think it was a good one, only to find - the same old crap with a different name. Go find another job, repeat of the same. The job I'm at now was a total fluke - I had gone through a temporary driver company working temp jobs until I decided on the NEXT job I was going to take - of which I had narrowed down to 2 offers. The company I'm at now wasn't paying anything. I told them I wasn't staying, the general manager came out - we talked for almost 2 hours. At the end - I was quite happy with the promise of pay in 90 days, AND the beginning pay, which was more than they were offering other drivers coming into the company.

So, I guess it's all how motivated you are to move up and get out of the rat race. I wouldn't even want to go through what I did for the few years before I got to the place I am at now. After I retire from this company and my boys are old and out of the house, I may go over the road again for a year or two just for the "fun of it". Yeah, some will think there's no fun in such a thing, but I always used to love driving on the state highways versus the interstates and looking at all the scenery many places had to offer.

Good luck.
bb

trooper, you worded that perfectly! enough said

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if you bought it, a truck brought it PERIOD!

^ are you only Local now? How did your boys handle you being OTR?

I talked to a lady at a truck stop about Werner. She drives for them and loves it. I asked her about jobs out there after you get your experience. Her reply was "oh yes". Does anyone have any proof of these jobs. Not that they aren't real but I was trying to figure out how good they are and what opportunities there are out there.

For all intents and purposes, you have little OTR experience. Finding one of those "good" jobs will be difficult.

They exist, you just have to keep looking.

It's kind of like tending a garden. Weeds grow, they are green, just like the garden. The only way to keep them out/pulled, is to actually go out and look at them first.

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I'm gonna kill the next SOB who tells me I look stressed out.

--Unknown

Oh I know I don't qualify for any of them at this point. What I am trying to decide is is it worth going on the rd even if I am home on the weekends worth the payoff in a few years. Transport America wants to know if I will be there on the 7th for orientation and I don't know what to do. I would like to know about Averitt because they seem to move you up to better routes as you have seniority. Transport America says they have no dedicated routes ever in my area. I wish there was a good company that had a terminal in my area. I just don't know what to do.