need advice what company would be best

First of all 4to18, welcome to the forums! As far as which company, unfortunately no one can really make that choice for you. Keeping in mind that with either one, you're going to come out of their training with a commitment, you want the one that's going to meet the most of your needs. Also, after a year or so (longest commitment I ever saw for a company was 2 years) you will have a lot more options, though you don't want to job-hop too much!

You seem to have posted more Pro points about Swift than Stevens, so I don't know if you're already leaning in that direction (because of your friend maybe?), and I've heard both bad and good about them. (Ironically, I don't really know much about Stevens).

Having more terminals can definitely be an advantage, whether it means they have one near where you live (for hometime) or having someplace to stop at OTR if you need maintenance, where you're more likely to see a friendly face, get a free shower or whatever.

Usually in situations like this, I will actually write out on paper all the Pro and Con points for each choice and winner takes all! (Most Pro, fewest Con--you still have to decide which points are important to you)

 

Where do you call home? A carrier with a service terminal near[est] your home is always a good thing. How important is family and home-time to you? Do you have a certain region you want to mainly operate in?

 

Have you looked into Con Way? That may be an option. They train and guarantee you a job....as long as you do well during training.

 

I live in Delaware, chose Stevens and am currently out with a trai.er. I am so far satisfied with the.company, they do have some.strange procedures, but then all companies do. My trainer is a class A #######, but it's only 5 weeks so I am trying to keep my mouth shut during this phase. The instructors at the school.were.all pretty decent.

Good lu k with your choice

 

plz I need advice too, just got my CDL. I was thinking about Prime, but then I spoke with a JB Hunt driver and he told me they push lease on their drivers.
I need company that don't do that, with terminal around Philadelphia.

 

how much experience do you have ? there are pros and cons about JB and prime. JB is probably the stricter of the two and require in most cases 2 years OTR to start, some accounts differ but not by alot. Prime is pretty much a leasing company, I have been working with JB for 11 years and the complaints I hear are from drivers who worked there for 3 months or less or never have.

 

just graduated Smith & Solomon school, 0 experience. I want to go OTR. Applied for ABF trucking but they want experience, 2 years.

 

Caution, Stevens pushes their leasing program too, that's why they have so many new trucks, the employees/contractors pay for them. Don't know anything bad about Stevens, be avoid leasing until you and your partner are sure you want to be married to the business, the company, and that truck.

Talk to Con-Way. They have been good to me. They are affiliated with Crowder College in Missouri for getting your CDL, and some other school in the Detroit area. Being affiliated with colleges, get's some financial aid opportunities that you may not get at a CDL mill. They won't commit to hiring until you are done with school, but, they will reserve you a seat in the classes if you meet all the criteria, which is as close as you can get to a commitment. If they reserve you a seat, then you only pay about $1600 out of pocket. That covers room and board and some tuition. That figure is a couple years old and from Crowder in Missouri. Don't know what the deal is in Michigan. Talk to a recruiter.

Your tuition get's covered as soon as you drop your first load after training is over. Pretty good rookie pay scale, miles have been fine. I hired on as a student, thinking I would get my first year of experience and then go anywhere. I chose to stay on, became a trainer (making more than I could as a team and only driving solo hours), am still there after 2 years.

Watch out for companies that put you as a team with your trainer. That means the trainer sleeps while you learn...not much learning going on and not much safety either in my opinion.

Con-way does require Canada (passport or pass card required) and Haz-mat. I have only been there 4 or 5 ties in a couple of years so its not that bad. They will pay for the background checks. If you can't get either of those, I don't believe they will reserve a seat for you in their schools.

One other piece of advice. Running as a team and limiting your area are pretty much opposing wishes. If you go as a team, look for 48 states. Run as hard as you can for as long as you can. When you get your finances squared away, then go to regional.

Good luck.