Brand New: California Trucking Student (Many Questions)

Welcome to the forum!

I can give you a million reasons of why to avoid the mega-carriers but at this stage most you won't really understand. Those mega-carriers are in the biz of cheap labor. They only want inexperienced new drivers in which they can pay a trainee's wage for months to move their freight. They do not want experienced drivers! In order to solve that problem they created the "lease" program in which they can pay experienced drivers less than trainee's wages by disguising it behind a new shiny truck!

One of the most important factors in avoiding the mega-carriers has to do with your dispatcher. At these big companies the dispatchers are responsbile for over a hundred drivers. This is not good for your financial success. Find yourself a good, smaller carrier to drive for in which the dispatcher has a handful of drivers that they oversee. It is so crucial to have a good working relationship with them and that is impossible at the mega-corps.

Keep in mind that they good companies are a lot harder to find. One reason is that they don't spend millions of dollars in advertising like the mega-carriers do. This alone should set off alarms in your head! Why does a company have to spend millions of dollars in advertising to get YOU to work for THEM?!? Also the smaller companies have drivers that are happy driving for them so that their turn over rate is a lot lower.

So put forth the extra effort... find yourself a good smaller outfit to drive for and you will be a lot happier and be making a lot more money!

Good luck man...

 

Scott... No on Werner and YES on Schneider as they have a lot of room to grow in many diffrent ways. I have never worked for them but know a drive who was a stock broker and is making pretty good money with his lease program thru them. He runs his truck like a business as it should be.

 

Don't misunderstand me...I think every driver should have at least 2yrs exp. before they are allowed to lease.

 

Hey scott I have my undergrad and im working on my masters. I work for dot out of modesto. They have a western pac literally right next door. Dot will reimburse your schooling and the pay is WELL above industry average. You can pm me and ill send you the asst managers number (dot doesnt have recuriters we hire mostly word of mouth).

 

Welcome to the forum Scotty. I am in a very similar situation. I have been a driver for 7 years and planning on going back to school also for a degree in logistics. I don't see myself driving a truck for rest of my life. I think you're doing a smart thing by starting off as a driver at least for a year or two. It will give you a big advantage for when you go into management or run a warehouse.

 

When you compare management and executive positions in the trucking industry vs. most other industries their earnings are lower to much lower. Now that's not to say you can't make money. Parcel carriers are at the top of food chain and offer a lot internships and other programs to help you move into their companies. LTL carriers are next on the food chain and most offer internships and other programs as well. Next are the Common carriers, they are the lowest on the food chain, but I wouldn't count them out. Some are billion dollar enterprises and some offer internships and other programs as well. Those are the three basic types of carriers out there.

You may want to look at the other side of the coin as well, where you might find more money, benefits, and privileges. Places like ADM, Cargill, Pepco, Coca-Cola, Anheuser-Busch, Miller Brewing, Wal-Mart, Target, Home Depot, Lowes, Union-Pacific, CSX, Proctor & amble, Kraft Foods, and Nestle. These are the movers and the shakers, one e-mail from and one these companies could put ever the largest trucking companies in Chapter 11.

 

Your hard headed & smart. Welcome, You will fit right in. I have a 35 year old Masters Degree around here somewhere. I like computers too, I like trucks better.

 

duckdiver mentioned DOT, which if that's DOT Foods, it's a very good company. Also check with System Transport. Schneider would be good also. Ask Schneider about tanker school.