Starting company for a rookie

Many companies reimburse tuition. I don't have a list of them, but do know one has on the website they reimburse up to $12,000.00 and Schneider reimburses up to $7000.00 and a couple dozen others reimburse tuition.
I told one driver on here about McLane and how he could possibly make $70K there, so he inquired and said that is correct. He was hired but didn't stay long because of so much manual labor involved.

 

This is true. WM is starting the new guys out @.38/CPM, hence the term .38specials. but with accessory pay and such they should still make around 75k

 

With 20 yrs. experience I took a job that paid .36 cpm and at the end of the year, every year, make $65K. We had about 3 or 4 drivers there finishing the year with $72K. The accessorial pays are more important than the cpm.

 

They're ok for flatbed, but I don't think they run west coast. Maybe I'm wrong. Some of us like those long coast to coast runs.
Jones Bros. Trucking is flatbed & runs lots of west coast. Their cdl school is in Missoula,Montana.

 

Where do you get the idea to recommend Stevens as a starter ? Talk about steering newbies wrong.... Unless you actually drove for Stevens, than you are manipulating drivers to start out at the bottom of the barrel. Not trying to stir up a hornets nest here but very poor advice. Of course miles need to be there what ever the cpm is.

 

1st I never drove for them, but where would you suggest a rookie with no experience start? Back when I started I tried to apply with UPS, Various Nascar race teams, and all the other cream of the crop jobs. They declined and laughed in my face. Unfortunately I was forced to work a shatty otr job for a year, keep a good clean driving record and then upgrade with my success and experience.
Has all this changed now? Was I the only one in this industry to do this? Nah, probably not. Gotta love the entitlement mentality nowadays

 

IIf you're a registered student at the college, you may be able to get grants and loans from FAFSA. Subsidized student loans typically offer better interest rates and you may qualify for pell grants depending on your income. FAFSA also doesn't care about your credit rating if that's an issue.

 

You don't really need the school's job placement assistance. Some of the better jobs they've never heard of and usually push a few mega carriers accounts that sound good, but really are so bad they can't keep drivers there.
There are some larger companies that are good though such as J&R Schugel, but they're picky about which school you attend.
Here's a few that hire new cdl grads and have good reputations:
Calex Logistics - runs lots of California & headquartered in Eastern,PA.
Magnum Ltd.
Freymiller - new grads get further training thru their "Restore Program" described on website.
J&R Schugel
Contract Freighters (www.cfidrive.com) - coast to coast dry van.
Tyson Foods
Jim Palmer Trucking - must attend their own cdl school in Missoula,Montana or have 18 mos. experience.

 

That's what I went through also. My first job was with the worst company around, Midwestern Distribution. Plenty of experienced drivers would have snide remarks and when I would say, "OK, will your company hire me?" They would say, "Hell no, you have to have experience to work here!" They had lots of useless advice.
I started mailing those postcard applications out of magazines at truck stops and before long got a call from Pro-Craft to haul new boats out of their factory to dealerships all over the nation and accepted the job.