Best questions to ask company recruiters?...

first thing is dont get you're hopes up sometimes companies make decisions that you wont understand. second on any given day trucking can suck but is always the best job in the world. dont listen to everyone else sometimes you just have to find out stuff for yourself. if you're going to take advise dont take it from someone who is ######## and complaining aim for the old guy by himself but dont be a nuisance.
you wont get 3500 miles a week every week. thats an average sometimes more sometimes less. it is what you make of it. now the questions.... ask about average miles per week, hometime if impotant to you and pay. what kind of equipment and what ur allowed to put in it. remember ur living in it. also how long will u be with a trainer and will it be held against u if u want a different one. some are only out for themselves.

 

Ask the Crete recruiter why their trucks are so slow and dirty. I can pass a Crete truck coming off an exit ramp uphill fully loaded.

 

you wont know till you are out there what questions you should have asked. The questions vary by the indivicual. For me I am back at this job 30 years after starting my kids are grown I am on my own so a little less money and a nicer truck are important to me. Some companies have no idle policy but dont have apu's so you are cold or hot all the time. Some dont allow inverters so you have no 110 power for your computer microwave tv etc.
today for me camping means a hotel without room service. So I am glad to drive an automatic with an apu a stock frig and a 2500 watt inverter. A mifi for internet connection and next week a v-cube so i can watch it all on tv.
Other people will be happy to drive a older truck for more cpm but just get in get your feet wet and by this time next year you will know where you want to end up

 

ask them to have 3 - 4 different drivers to call you and tell them to have a nice day.

 

Ask them how many of their drivers run 350 days out of the year and get 3500 miles a week every week .

 

They are recruiters. What they tell you and what actually happens are two different things.

 

The first question I would ask them is does your company lie to the driver? If they say no hang up because they are lying to you !!!

If they tell you that you can do 3500 miles a week for 350 days they are lying to you !!!

You will never average 3500 miles a week every week with anyone unless you drop and hook and run the southern route . Even then I don't believe it can be done EVERY week .

 

Do internet research on how much advertisement they've put out on driver recruitment. The number of drivers they hire reflects driver turnover, or the number of driver who had quit for not getting enough miles. Driver retention is why carriers have a revolving door of drivers quitting (not enough miles) and incoming new drivers (like you). Most experienced drivers eventually settle down to a local hourly-paying job, where you make $$$ when you exceed 8 hours and go into overtime pay. In contrast, you make the same $ as an OTR driver, regardless whether you work 50 or 80 hours. This is why they pay you by the mile; you can only make more $$ by falsifying your logbook.
Bring a micro digital recorder on the day of orientation, then ask "Is it OK if I record everything you say?" If they say "NO, that's not allowed by law…" or something to that effect, it means they're going to tell you lies, and they don't want it recorded and later used as court evidence. After they tell you "NO," turn the recorder on and record what is said, but keep the recorder hidden. Sit on the very front, as close to the orientation speaker as you can. With this audio record, you have the option of suing the trucking company for "breach of oral contract;" any promises they make in orientation is a legally binding oral contract. If you later file a lawsuit, don't disclose you have an audio record with you. Wait until they deny your allegations in court or in a deposition hearing. After it is clearly recorded on legal court records that they essentially called you liar by denying your allegations, is when you divulge you have an audio record of the orientation AND the audio record is NOT THE EVIDENCE, but only to recollect your memory of the event. DO NOT submit the audio record (made without their consent) as primary evidence, it is merely a record to refresh your memory. DO NOT play the audio tape to them unless it's in front of a court judge OR a legal deposition proceeding. One advantage to digital audio record (as opposed to analog old-school tape rocordings) is the ease in making copies. You can make digital copies of an audio record to a flash drive, your computer's hard drive, or burn a copy on audio CD.

Some states (like CA) and city ordinance criminalize idling your diesel engine in excess of 10 minutes (city buses are exempt). You wake up to find a $200 ticket on your window. On orientation, ask if the company will refund the cost of paying tickets for idling your engine. Will they refund parking fees from truck stops that charge for parking over 3 hours?
Auxiliary power units (generators) allow you to run a heater or air conditioner without violating the state or city ordinance against truck idling.

Carriers will electronically turn down the maximum speed to save on annual diesel cost. If you had a fleet of trucks that average 7_mpg each truck; at 100k_miles annually @ $4 per gallon, that's $57,143 a year for one truck alone‼ With a fleet of ten OTR trucks, that's $571,430 a year on fuel cost only ‼ Factor truck parts and the payroll cost to have a staff of truck mechanics, and you can see the logic of turning the trucks down to miminize your fuel costs.

Then why are they hiring so many newbie drivers? Why can't they retain the experienced drivers? Why are so many experience drivers leaving OTR for an hourly-paying local job that pays overtime after 8 hours of work?
Statistically, most truck accidents involve newbies with less than one year driving experience. Is it worth the higher insurance rates versus paying more $$ for experienced drivers? Or is it cheaper to pay the higher insurance premium for newbie drivers?

He means you're at the mercy of consumer spending. When the economy is up, consumers spend $$, and the warehouses need to replenish their stock and call you to haul their freight. "What you make of it" means you can make more $$ if you falsify logbooks, take caffeine stimulants like "5-hour Energy," undergo periods of sleep deprivation, and give up your personal life to be married to your job is when OTR trucking becomes a lucrative-paying career. Sooo many drivers quitting, and newbies like you to replace them. Why do these experienced drivers develop attitude problems and quit their jobs??

Chinese proverb: "no such thing as bad students; only bad teachers." The number of truck accidents (involving newbies with less than 1-year experience) and stories of verbally abusive trainers is a reflection of the quality of driver trainers. You don't hear plane crashes by newbie pilots because the FAA regulates the quality standards of pilot trainers. There are no quality control laws to mandate how trainers should train newbies. The only stipulation is they live up to the trucking company's policies, which is to graduate the newbie ASAP so he can train another newbie to replenish their driver turnover rate.

Don't hold your breath. Until the economy improves and consumer spending picks up, get use to the idea of eating out of cans and trying to survive on a strict ≤ $5 per day meal budget. Ask how much is layover pay when they can't find freight in your area. How many days will they have you sit idle, before dead heading you to another region with better freight prospects?