Is first job with Canada Cartage a good choice?

Yes, It's a local job, 6-6 Ontario Lowblaws only, I have to drive to Cambridge everyday, but from where I live, it's not a big deal tho. They paid by mileage plus drops and weight? I did my road test in Mississauga on a International truck, I'm not sure what trucks im going to drive for the job, but its a day cap for sure.

 

There's a long wait to get in and out of that place which isn't unusual for a large DC.
When you get to the stores there are more lineups to get a door and if you see a Hostess or a Dimpflmeire van in the door go and ask the guy to move his truck.
Those guys are paid by the hour and love to hang out and chat with the store employees.

Some of the store employees hate receiving stuff. They would rather (slowly) stock shelves and can be crabby. It's best just to let them be and say nothing.

There's a Transport company called Messenger out of Cambridge they do local Loblaws and Loblaws stores in Quebec. The local guys were paid by the hour when I worked for them. I did Ontario to Quebec. The equipment was decent.

A while back I did some work for a temp agency called On Your Team. They paid weekly and by the hour. They have long-term and short-term assignments and in the places I worked the equipment was good.
To answer your question I would say no to Canada Cartage.

 

Thanks a lot for the useful inputs. I'll contact Challenger and Kriska on Monday, to see if there are any updates or not. I've been calling almost all the companies that hiring new drivers, but no luck at all. I dont know if it's just the bad time of the year or there are just not enough places to fill new drivers.
I also read lots of bad reviews on indeed about Canada Cartage, also heard lots of bad things about Bison. They offered me to start early next month, only good thing about it, is I dont have to sigh any contract with them, which I can leave anytime I want. I might have to go with them before I fond something else, sigh....
Thanks again for all the info and suggestion..

 

A lot of bigger Courier companies including UPS, FedEx etc. all use Canada Cartage as 3rd party carriers especially through the Winter Months in 2020 because of the influx of work due to the Pandemic. Back in '97 after 2 years of experience (back then ort was a minimum of 2 years experience oppose to now a days most carriers are in need or drivers so its 6 mths or right out of trucking school). I worked for Canada Cartage doing liquor loads from LCBO to Whitby, ON. But it was 5% driving 95% handbombing cases down rollers. No training really. A lot of drivers are in our yard barely able to back up. Any large Carrier like Challenger or Kriska has better training programs because its OTR plus the money is better once you're able to establish yourself.

 

Bison is career suicide, do a search on my name, and read my posts on Bison, that should help you decide.

If you are in Ontario, I would definitely do Challenger over all others, @Canadianhauler21 might have some input on that. TransX, ERB, Kirska are all solid options also. I know a few guys did Highlight, but I don't think it ended up going to well....If you want to do this long term, don't put yourself through one of the meat grinders like Canada Cartage, Highlight, Bison, SGT2000, Day and Ross, etc etc etc to start off with; you will be totally burned out and hate it in 1-2 years or less. (Sometimes as little as 3-6 months).

 

2-3 weeks ..

 

There is also KDAC. They are I guess ERB's secondary company and more willing to take on new drivers then ERB is from my understanding.

 

Honestly if I could start my career over again I would start with ERB instead of challenger. Challenger did have good training but once that was done they threw me to the sharks. I was definitely not prepared.

Like @BigHossCummins said, Kriska isn't a bad option either. DO NOT go to bison, you will not want to be trucking after working there, if you even make it out the other side.

At the end do what you feel more comfortable with. The Canada cartage training is not enough. You don't want to be out there tearing things apart.

Highlight is hit or miss. If you go on payroll it's not that bad to start. If you go in incorporated they will destroy you. I will look around for you and see what I can find.

 

Thanks for the advice, I've tried all the companies you mentioned above and calling them every week to get updates, but no luck, Bison offered two year contract and 13 weeks training which pays flat wage of $875 per week, after 13 weeks is 0.40 in Canada and 0.55 US, also a 600 mile radius for the first year. I dont think I'll even think about this offer.

 

I'll contact them tomorrow, thanks.