Good company to start with?

Will be finishing allstate career school on the 28th,I am applying to companys now.I haved applied at werner,Kllm,maverick,,watkins sheapard,roehl,ffe,and squire.Any advice on these companys to start with will be helpfull.I will keep this post going throught hiring prossess and orientation with a company i deside to go with.So far Kllm seems the best to me?

 

Welcome to the forum Rockfish! I, too, am researching carriers. My first "line of attack" is www.ai.fmcsa.dot.gov. If the carrier doesn't pass muster there, I just scratch through their name and move on!

 

Rockfish469,

Welcome to the forum and the truck driving industry. Looking at your list, I can only offer advice on two. Maverick last I checked a few months ago is not taking trucking school grads you must have at least six months experience befpre they will take you on. Werner I worked for a long time ago. ( I have not been driving t/t for a little while now and am trying to get back in the field myself) but Werner will "team" train you. Meaning the trainer truck you will be assigned to will never stop. So if you go that route you must lean to trust your trainer very quickly, because while you sleep in the back the truck is still moving down the highway. Their training program is long about six weeks if I remember correctly but you did at one time have the option to take a week off during that time to go home, or if you went the full six weeks straight you got a completion bonus dont remember how much it was.

My best advice to you is to get as many offers as you can lay them out and compare the good and the bad about each one. Make sure also that when you go with a company that you are not going to orientation as part of a lottery. I went to one companies orientation that you were not even guaranteed a job until orientation was over and they called your name out on the last day of class. NEVER TAKE THE VERY FIRST JOB OFFERED TO YOU. My brother in law made that mistake a year a ago and spent a year on the road trying to make the best of it. So really weigh out your options with each company, benefits, pay, hometime, etc, and if since you are right out of school and may need this look very very closely at each companies tuition reimbursement policies if this applies to you. Tuition reimbursement can also land you into a contract to work for that company for a given amount of time.

Hope this helps you out a little. I wish you the best in all your future endeavours. Most importatly BE SAFE out there.

 

thanks for all the info very helpfull,so fsr i have 2 prehires,1 from werner and 1 from roehl.I feel this is going to be a hard process ,have to be sure dont want to make a mistake with my first company.I read so many post on this sight,have to weed through them and find the honest truth and not just bs,so many negative things on all companys.All traing companys cant be that bad.Im starting this new career at 38 with wife and 3 kids at home.I know the traing money isnt great,but like in any feild you have to start at the bottom and work your way up.I first want to become a good and safe driver and everthing else will work itself out.Cant wait to get on the road.

 

Roehl...

http://ai.volpe.dot.gov/SafeStat/CarrierOverview.asp?DOT=74481

Werner...

http://ai.fmcsa.dot.gov/SafeStat/CarrierOverview.asp?DOT=53467

Roehl again...

http://www.etrucker.com/apps/news/article.asp?id=84746

 

Hello:

I am going to start training at C1 in Fort Worth next week and Im trying to find out which company I want to start out with. The government is going to pay for school on a WIA grant and I have a good driving record, etc.

I have a list of the following companies that hire recent CDL grads with a HazMat endorsement:

Werner
Swift
Trans Am
FFE
Roehl
Prime Inc
Carter Express
Conway
Cypress Truck Lines
Deboer Transportation
Decker Transportation
Gainey Transportation
KLLM Transportation
May Trucking
PAM Transportation
US Xpress
Stevens Transportation
USA Truck
Schneider National
Squire/Knight

Im trying to get a feel for which companies are good and which ones I shouldnt apply at. My license will be out of Texas and Id prefer not to have to transfer it. In addition, I plan to be OTR Solo and want an assigned truck and will need the company to pay for transportation to the training center and for a hotel while in orientation if its outside the Dallas area. I have no family so home time isnt an issue but Im a bit picky about the pay. I want to pull 2000-3000 a months after taxes. It's possible if I dont get stuck with a company that gives long layovers or screws with pay etc.....

Feel free to add any good companies that you know of that will take student drivers that I didnt list above.

Thanks for the info
jdm6846

Posts: 1

 

Perhaps start with a company based in Texas.

Closer to home, for Many reasons.

Good Luck, and Be Safe !!!

 

From reading on this forum the only companies I wouldn't touch on your list is Knight/Squire and USA. They seem to have some of the most disgruntled drivers on here. I drove for Schneider in 07 and they were really good to me. Don't know if they are the same now or not. I also drove for FFE recently but wasn't there long enough to give to a good opinion.

 

I just got mine and i ordered it about 3 weeks ago. It was free, I wasn't charged anything.

 

Well I'll put my two cents in KLLM told me if i wanted too stay in trucking i would have too learn how too do "creative line drawing" and I'm going on 3 yrs without doig "creative line drawing" werner I have heard that the dispatchers will alter your log so that if you have been working such as unloading at a Dollar store instead of you being on line 4 like your suppose too be they alter it so that your in the sleeper JB Hunt doesn't care about drivers if you idle your truck too stay warm or cool and it is too much they will fire you but where ever you go just be prepared too run like a team truck your going too do most of the night driving so I guess what I'm rambling about is companies are like cow pastures they all have land mines in them some have more than the others but talk with other drivers on the road the one's that bad mouth a company prob got fired for something they did and the ones that talk good are prob brown noseing the boss good luck too you