Roadmaster - OKC

Hey all!

Started school last week. First week they call 'hell week' because they throw all the CDL test information at you in 4 days (10 hr days) and then you gotta go take your test. Only got to go outside once to watch a pretrip. The rest of the time was watching videos and taking tests and doing computer training.

Extremely nice bunch of people at Roadmaster .. I guess they should be with as much money as they make. I got my $500 for being in the military but will have to finance the rest.

I have been driving a school bus this last year. It's only 4.5 hours a day plus whatever field trips and such that you pick up. Add that to my wife's pay and my AF retirement check and we are making ends meet.

Because I already had the school bus ticket, I only needed the combination vehicles test. I went ahead and took the doubles/triples, tanker and hazmat tests anyway just to have more letters on my license. I passed them all and will fork over the money for the hazmat background check sometime later.

Anyway ... I think I am coming into this with eyes open. I know home time will be few and far between for the first bit but I have spent several overseas deployments where I am away from the family months at a time so that is doable. I don't expect to be making any more during training than I have been driving a school bus and I know we can get by on that so I am not worried. I also realize that a starting driver can't reasonably expect to get the 'good' jobs for a year or two but I can stick it out so ... we'll see!

I see a lot of griping and complaining about this trucking company or that trucking company or just the industry as a whole. Having 43 years of experience on this planet tells me that people like to complain and blame others for their own shortcomings or their being out of touch with reality. Trucking is a business. I am guessing they have to cut pennies every chance they get and looking out for their employees is sometimes not part of the business model but I refuse to believe that a successful company can get by by dumping on everyone that works for them. I guess I will find out

I have been looking hardest at Werner but I have applications in to them, Swift, TMC and Stevens. I expect to get pre-hires from most or all of them and will be meeting with their recruiters in a couple weeks. I know recruiters stretch the truth (sometimes to the point of destruction) so I will not put a whole lot of stock in what they say. Gonna go around to some truck stops around here to see if I can talk to some of the truckers. Anyone gonna be stopping by the OKC area anytime soon?

 

Just finished my third week with Roadmasters. It's going pretty well. I have four pre-hire letters. I have already heard from the Stevens recruiter. The others will be visiting the school next week. I am kinda leaning away from Werner and towards TMC. I like their 46/52 weekends home thing (its in writing) and the percentage pay seems like it could be considerably more than the cents/mile. Not too thrilled about tarping but, hey, can't have everything. Their trucks look pretty bad-### as well so there's that.

I think I am doing pretty good at driving and 90-backs. We have been driving older Freightliners mostly with one newer one (an old Werner truck). Next week we will be driving the Volvo's that we will take out CDL checkrides in. They seem to be a bit nicer than the Freightliners.

Anyway ... that's it for now.

 

Got a couple new bits of info today. After waffling back and forth between TMC and Werner for a while, I decided to go with Werner. When I called him back this afternoon to arrange my orientation, I was offered a Dollar General route, another regional route and a daily home-every-night route from OKC to Missouri and back. I chose that last one! Not as much money in it but it seems to me to be an easier place to start out. Easier on me and the family. Anyway ... orientation is scheduled to start July 2nd and then with my trainer.

The second bit is that I will be taking my CDL test tomorrow. My class is scheduled to do it on Monday but the examiners asked that we schedule some earlier since our class is so big. So, its off to bed early tomorrow and lets hope it goes well!

 

Scored a 93 on my CDL test. I missed a gear twice and changed lanes too soon after a car passed me. The examiner also told me I once went about 30 seconds without checking my mirrors. Other than that, my drive went wonderfully! I have a bright -n- shiny Class A CDL in my wallet now and I bumped my orientation up to Monday the 28th.

After 3 days of orientation in Dallas, I am out with a trainer for 6-8 weeks (300 hours I think it was behind-the-wheel). Then, I start my daily route OKC to Mt Vernon, MO 5 days a week, home every weekend. Like I mentioned above, not the best money to start but I can always move up to OTR or regional.

Anyone considering making a move to trucking, I wholeheartedly recommend Roadmaster Drivers School. An awesome school with a stellar reputation and lifetime employment assistance. Can't beat that!

 

An update that is probably not necessary but I am here so .. Did that drive for Werner for a while .. job was back and forth 5 days/week between OKC and Amarillo. Made $500/wk most weeks but if there was a weather issue or a holiday or if the truck broke down, I made less so that wasn't working. After a year of that, I went to work for Acme .. a hotshot company mostly driving a pickup with a 40-foot trailer hauling tools out to the oil and gas field. Money was better until I got into a real flatbed truck. I was making around $1000/wk with the Peterbilt/Flatbed trailer until I lost track of my ### end on a country road intersection. I cut it too close to the inside corner which gave way and the trailer rolled .. dumping the pipe on the ground and totalling out the trailer. I was about 200 yards from my destination! Acme decided not to keep me around after that so .. I am no longer driving a truck. Thanks for the input from y'all. BTW .. the Roadmasters in OKC is no longer there .. it closed shortly after I finished.