Changing companies

My friend, who used to be a Covenant trainer, who is also from another country, used to travel abroad every year from Jan to end of Feb and never lost his position in the company. He told me to get the Family Medical Leave. He would ask for one month first, then, call so and so in the HR department and extend that some more. Sometimes he would stay away for almost 3 months! He said by law, I can get maximum 90 days away without loosing my job. I will check that FMLA.
But a good face to face conversation with my dispatcher will give me a pretty good idea wether or not I will loose this position. I think that I may loose it. In which case I must either stick with this for one more year or find another company for when I come back.
Yes, family comes first and right now my dad is all my family. But since I am the only one providing for my dad and I, I really need to keep the money coming.

 

Solos and teams. For new driver, mandatory teaming for 6 months.

I hear solos complaining a lot about low miles. They either team or leave company.

I'm doing well (miles wise) cause it's Wal-mart dedicated account. They guarantee 2500 miles a week. But I've been making over 3 thousand.

One needs at least one year at Covenant and no accidents, tickets to qualify for this account.

Do a search and read the thread titled "Covenant - from a wife's perspective" It tells a lot about RC's saga running from team to solo in the Georgia Pacific account. RC now is working for Maverick.

Forgot to say, teams get miles depending on how they work together. If you guys can make a good job, and get a good dispatcher, you can run good miles. It all depends man....

 

Going to take my 7 days off at the end of this coming week and will attend to the MATS (Mid American Trucking Show) in Lousville, KY. I'm excited about it. Never been at one. There will be lots (don't know how many) companies recruiting drivers. Will check them out. Made a list of 30 questions for each one. May not even have time to check them all.
Talked to another Covenant driver who is also in the Wal-mart dedicated. He has been in that account for over 3 years. He told me to stick with this dedicated one more year and then will be much easier for me to get a really good company. I am still investigating all my options, kinda planning my trip abroad (so much to do) but I am leaning towards staying one more year with Covenant. I mean, this Wal-mart account doesn't feel like Covenant at all. If only they would give me a bunk heater or something for next winter....

 

Was at the Mid-America Trucking Show two weekends ago. Everything was fantastic, the trucks, the music show, the seminars… but the job fair.
I thought there would be one hundred or so companies and I was very excited and curious about meeting them. But instead, there were maybe 30 companies total. It was disappointing.
There were more companies recruiting owner operators than company drivers. It seems that everybody is waiting to see what will happen after CSA 2010 starts. They are also waiting and hoping freight will improve in the second semester.
I spoke with a few recruiters, Knight Transportation, Celadon, Prime, Dart and Marvin Keller. After giving them my profile, qualifications and what I have right now at Covenant Transport, some told me not to change. They couldn’t offer me anything much better.
Most companies I talked to are starting to use electronic log, have mandatory per diem, don’t offer more than 4 days off, even if I stay 7 or 8 weeks on the road, don’t allow more than 800 Watts power inverter in their trucks, don’t allow more than 25% idle (like Covenant) and don’t have APUs, some trucks are governed at 62 mph, have forced dispatch to NYC and to Canada, use older trucks than the one I have now…

After some talking and thinking, this may not be a good year to try to change companies. There’s a lot going on in this industry right now. What I have at Covenant is not great but not too bad either. If I can hang in here one more year, I may get something much, much better next year.
I’ll have 3 years experience, hopefully with no accidents, no more tickets (I have one in TX 19 months ago in TX but no points in my CDL) and no more chargeable (I have one while backing at customer also 19 months ago)…
So I will have a little more experience. Hopefully Covenant will not install the new QC with electronic log in “my” truck (they have started using those in the new trucks).

I told my dispatcher I was thinking about travelling abroad for 4 or 5 weeks to see my dad and wanted to know what were my chances of getting the Wal-mart dedicated position back on my return cause I don't want anything else at Covenant. He told me I would get it back, no problem....

I don't know... was looking right into his eyes, trying to read his mind. But the man showed no reaction whatsoever, no change on his face.... Not sure I belive him....

So, maybe I travel in Jan, avoid the nasty winter here and see what happens in the meantime...