Who's The Worst Of Them ALL to work for?

Hang around here long enough and you'll see that the electrification of the neural circuitry between the synapses and neurons in Shocky's brain sometimes get intertangled with the fiber optic backbone of Al Gore's Interwebz 2.0, leading to a tangential tirade when the fire cloud of electrons spinning around in his head are released through the human interface device.

I highly recommend printing out everything he writes, binding it into a gilded edge theocratic document and distributing it door-to-door in your neighborhood.

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK

"Hi, I'm with the Unified Pentacostal Southern Baptist Church of Aftershock and I'd like to invite you to accept Shocky as your personal savior..."

 

Vague anwers from recruiters seems to be a recurring theme.
Sometime in the early 90s I asked the Gainey recruiter how often I could expect to get home.
Rather than answering my question directly, he began telling me how well maintained their equipment was.
Yes, sir, we never let that tractor run beyond 10,000 miles without a complete service, he tells me with some amount of pride.
And I can be sure to see my home terminal and take some time off while that fine tractor gets serviced.
Hmm, so he was telling me I will get home every 10,000 miles, or there about?
And how pray tell, long would it take, in human time, to accumulate said miles?
Oh, when freight is hot, you can figure around three weeks, he tells me.
And when it's not so hot? I couldn't help but wonder. Four weeks? Six?
Didn't matter, because I didn't plan on ever finding out.

 

OK. So I've read most of the posts in this forum and am now thoroughly concerned. I will be starting truck school on Monday. It is a private, 4 week course that I am paying for up front (no grant/loan). The school provided me with a packet of brochures of some of the companies that recruit from them. I am considering Werner and Crete. Here's the rub: I am a female, widowed, empty-nester pursuing a life-long dream. It's ME time for a change. I am in excellent health, can lift up to 100#s and have a great driving record (for the last 6 years, at least ) I am drug free don't smoke. I have over 95 college credit hours so I'm no moron - lots of common sense (as most mothers tend to be). I have operated heavy equipment and driven large vehicles (though as yet not a big rig). I have absolutely no doubt I can pass all my tests with flying colors (yes, I can back trailers, too). I have a high mechanical aptitude so the maintenance of the truck should not prove to be beyond my understanding. With all this in mind, what company would you suggest. I want OTR with all the miles I can get. I just sold all my worldly possessions and property and want to be a nomad for a while. The school is suggesting that Werner is good for the "ladies". True? Any suggestions?

 

more like around 3 months if he was talking about B service, or every 30k or so ...

I don't see how any company can or would pay for "full" service so often - sounds like recruiter BS.

 

sounds good, but u need some place for a break, being a nomad sounds neat, but real life, calls for some place to relax, I guess a few months on the road will give u some ideas on where to go or beeeeeee for resttttttt , but souind like you will not have any home drama to follow u around, so have funnnnnnnnnn

 

Yes I have a home base. I sold my property but do have a large RV that I'm staying in presently. It suits my style as I do not want to be burdened with a house and all the headaches that go with it for a while. I can even take it with me to where ever I choose to light when I get with a company. Which leads me back to the question......Is Werner "good for the ladies" as my school is touting?

 

Duchess, It always sounds like more fun than it actually is. Just keep in mind that for that first year you are pretty much at the mercy of whoever you decide to work for now and they arent going to pay you all that well. That being said. Werner really isnt all that bad for training, but like all companies if you get a bad trainer its going to suck. I would hold out for a female trainer if I were you. A lot of the male ones have ulterior motives when training females. Werner's system will also allow you to learn without being forced into quasi-illegal runs time wise since they are on electronic logs, just remember to always take 10:15 minute breaks lol. as far as Crete well I dont know em.

 

Thanks Big Blue. I'll keep the female trainer thing in mind. I can usually hold my own with the men but have little patience for jerks. I realize that the first year of trucking I will be in 'training' and not likely to earn much. As long as the training is good and I'm actually learning, I can hang. I've dealt with really rotten jobs before and my tenacity and obstinate nature have served my well in those instances. The ability to 'rise above' the present circumstances is a strong point of mine. I possess a certain "serenity"......but I still have flying monkeys and am not shy of using them.....just ask my sons....LOL

 

I've been driving for 12 yrs. now & every company has it's bad points & good. I personally started with U.S. Xpress...you will definately get experience & the longer you stay out the happier they are. Sounds like you got a good head on your shoulders & have already worked with the working men. Just keep your common sense about you & bare in mind...all recruiters lie. It's been years since I ran for U.S., but I learned alot. Don't really know how they are now. I had a good dispatcher at the time. Just give a company 6 mos. b4 you move on..They expect us to run like a man, no matter where you go. Truckin's just another job with more rules & B.S. than most. Never do anything if it doesn't feel right & talk to the drivers from the old school. You will learn something new everyday. The drivers that have been out here 20+ yrs. won't steer you wrong with advice. There are unwritten rules among us & alot of rookies ain't learned it yet. Good Luck and have a safe ride. Redneckangel Hope to see ya out there

 

i have something to say about bad trucking company's,first of all i only ran the road for 4years,then i got prengnate with my first baby,i ran the road till i went into early labor at 6months,after that i had to find a local job so i could i could be a mom and a truck driver,so i went into driving dump trucks,dump trailers,end dump's,flat bed's,for consruction company's,i was in the union for 6years making $31.00 an hour,then my daughter's father decided to tell a nj judge that i hang frozen chicken's in my tree to lure bears closer to my house,ok,i leave for work at 4am,it's really dark in pa at 4am,i really don't want to bump into a bear and think it was the dog,but jersey granted custody with no investigation,it took me 2 years to even get to court and be heard,i called children services in nj and pa,and said what's going on i still have a new-born baby here with me,(my daughter's brother,who was 5 months old at the time)someone i is calling me an unfit mother,nj said we don't know who you are you don't have a case with us,pa looked at the house and said what the hell is going on?,i was told 75x's that i was gonna go to court,then it would cancel late in the day,well after 2 years of this the construction company got fed up and fired me so there went that union job right out the window,finally went to trial,wound up being 14 days,8 hours a day and nj said were sorry your daughter should have never been taken out of her home in pa,the cops weren't even at my house when they took her,it was her father who had supervised visits,his father and mother,the grandparents,lol.!for 2 years i couldn't find work just cause the economy went out the window,finally found a job with kephart trucking,non union garbage hauling company,they pushed me hard to run an illegal,i did only because i have 2 kids and and a house that's about to go into forclosure,kephart has in there company manual that if you lie there's 4 steps that you go thru b-4 you get fired,well one of there terminals had voted yes for the union and alot of the drivers were scared and being told that the union was going to rob them of all there money,i would get all fired up and say who is telling you guys all this,so i called the the local and asked what was going on,to get the truth,we had company 2-ways,mysteriously i had only one driver in my 2-way who would call me up and bash the union everyday for hours,finally this driver say's(yelling) one day that i need to sign a paper against the union to keep them out and that i'm divorced because i don't pay attention,this crap went on with him for hours,finally i told him to shut his f..ing mouth don't talk to me any more ,he didn't need to personally insult me and if he payed the f attention i was never married not that it was any of his business,i was there to do a job and that i would never sign anything against the union because if you think i'm going to crawl thru garbage for $8 dollars an hour for the rest of my life than he has issues,i don't mind that tarp and all but mcdonalds pays more,come on ,im a good driver and i'm saposed to be happy with this?i was hoping that the union was gonna change the pay scale,but i didn't get that far,cause 2 days after that arguement i got called into the office and got fired for log falsifcation,what happened 2 there 4 step program?now when i try to get a new job kephart put it on my record that i falsified logs and no-one wants to hire me,in a matter of three weeks they ruined 14years of me building my reputation and i should have know better and not let them push me,and not listen to the dispatcher saying we hired you because we know your a runner,and the lazy drivers only do two loads,lazy drivers run out of hours,we need drivers that can do 3 loads!i wanted to save my house being that it would be kinda hard to go rent some place with 2 kids,4 dogs,60 chickens and 5 goats,3 that are pregnate,i know that i'm complaining a bit much,sorry for that,but it just goes to show if you let dispatch who most of the time doesn't give a rats butt about you or pushing you,it's your cdl,your lively hood,that's gonna go out the window,not always fair,just the way it is