Maximum Texas is fresh out of School his CDL...but where will he go??

Little over a week has passed since our CDL-A class of 8 students has graduated here in Houston at the local college. The DPS road testing with Officer Darth Vader is complete, CDL in hand, now it's time to find a trucking job...and "put the hammer down" as they said back in the '70's

It's an exciting time, but scary as well.

Texas is supposedly the best state to get a truck driving job in, I believe that and we've had plenty of recruiters that came to our school to attest to that. But the real question is;

Now that I have the CDL-A, where do you start??

Who do you go with? Who will hire you?

I go on the boards here and my head spins. "DONT' GO THERE as this company is bad OR that company is bad, but not as bad as this company who was more bad three years ago but not as bad as the first company because their president was at the other company that was the worst of them all because their company was taken over by another bad company prior to the stock offering that made the second company badder than the first but less bad than the third."

Bottom line is this, bad company or not.......with no experience, I have to start someplace.

A little bit on me. I am a 3rd generation CDL holder and potential flatbedder. Both my dad and granddad we're flatbedders and both held CDL's (back then it was called a chauffers license), granddad was a successful owner op that saved every penny he made and dad shuttled park service equipment for the National Park Service as well as fire equipment in the northwest to area wild fires.

I plan on going flatbed as I'm familiar with this type of work (I have worked with my granddad in the past on load securement). I'm in good physical condition, I run and workout and I want to keep in shape. Flatbedding will allow me to do that more than the others. Growing up in the northwest, I have worked in extreme low temperature ranges in the winter as well as high desert temps in the southwest. I also like flatbeds, I really like flatbeds, it's my preferred type of trucking. I wouldn't rule box or reefer out, but I grew up around flatbeds, truck driving is in our family bloodlines so if I can drive and make money to get the bills paid and put a couple kids through school, then I will be happy.

So as I begin the process, I will keep you informed of what is happening and who I will ultimately go with and how I arrived at my decision. I don't know if it will be Swift, Werner, TMC, Maverick, USXpress, Covenant or ?????

I dont' expect to get rich in my first year, my goal is experience.

I want to get my mountain pass experience and my extreme weather experience for my first year on my resume, after that 12 months is up, I can negotiate a better job someplace else as an experienced driver........that's the basic plan.

Regardless of where I go in the first 12 months, I will work hard, stay fit and stay safe. I will also keep you informed. Trucking will be a positive change for me, but as for this "Trucker Shortage" they shoved down our throats in school, I have a tough time believing it. I'm hearing of people inside and outside my class that had apps rejected for minor things, although I'm sure some of that was related to insurability. As one other posted put it, I will believe there there is a shortage when wages go up. I'm not worried, I'll negotiate a better gig after my first year anyway, maybe CSA2010 will help out as well.

Now it's back to my research, but I'll keep you posted....

 

That's why they are close to the top of the list, because of that terminal on Mesa Rd, I was told that if I need to get routed back home to Houston, they could do it. I just have to look at the other ones anyway out of due dilligence.

 

Swift is it! Wish me luck!

 

Tried but Maverick doesn't hire out of Houston, north Texas only.

Crete denied me because they "claim' that my CDL school at the local community college was an "unapproved school"

I also tried PGT, I really liked them, but the unapproved school excuse came up.

TMC wanted me, but I like my Swift decision because in the highly unlikely event that flatbed freaks me out, I can switch to box if needed and not be stuck with a flatbed only company. I would of went with one of the other two flatbed only companies because, based on my research, there was less baggage with them and they both have very good reputations with drivers on the forums.

Reading many, many pages about TMC, I got the impression that the upper management has Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, between the truck washes to driving on the grass to just getting around to letting drivers use inverters, toll reimbursement, safety ratings, etc. I felt that just starting out, TMC has too much baggage for me to handle and is a company that I can't afford at this time.

One person commented that it was like the TV show "Survivor: TMC Orientation Episode" - "Where the weak TMC flatbedders get sent home and the remaining few fight for the priviledge of driving the pretty black truck".........well, I wanted none of that. I'm just a simple man with a good work ethic and zero politics. I just want to make flatbedding my business, go to work, do my job well, secure my loads, be safe and be on time.

In retrospect, I am happy so far with my decision to go with Swift Flatbed as a rookie, is Swift perfect? Nobody is perfect, but the Swift Flatbed Division takes their jobs and load securement very seriously. Likes the fact that they have some autonomy over Swift corporate and does get some respect from other truckers I spoke to in person. There will be opportunities for growth and expansion of that division as well, I wouldn't be surprised if they experience over 10-20% growth in the next 2 years as the economy improves.

I won't do the "Day in the life of a Swift Flatbedder" post. That was more technical and informative. I do want to report where I am and send cool pictures of my truck from different points around the country, scenic pics with mountains, sunsets, etc. I will also post pics of my loads. I may even name the post "The Skateboard Adventures of Maximum Texas" or something like that.....let's see how training with my cellmate goes....