PGT Trucking

I am going to orientation on Nov. 8th. I will try to provide updates to how things are going for those of you that would like to know. I am currently on home time with Covenant Transport. Tomorrow I will be back on the load board for a load to Chatt and hopefully there by Sat for my flight to Pittsburgh, PA. I am starting out at 25.5% pay. Orientation pay is $10/hour for up to 10 hours a day. Flatbed training pay is $100/day for approximately a week. For the size of this company I haven't heard too much about them good or bad so I will do my best to provide some truthful information about them. If you have any questions just ask.

 

So my DM tries to tell me that I have to wait another week to leave because there are no loads going back to Chatt. So I tell him NO SIR you'll just have to wait 3 weeks until I get back home to get your truck back to Chattanooga. He says no way so I offer to bobtail to Chatt. He says NO WAY that's too far. He then tells me to turn the truck over to my co-driver so I tell him to send me a message on the qualcomm stating that. He says he will when my co-driver gets there. So he calls my co-driver and tells him to not show up to get truck until AFTER 5pm eastern. The thing is the DM gets off at 5pm. So I tell them no one is taking the truck until I get a message stating I AM NOT abandoning the truck and I'm not currently under a load so I can cover my arse. They say they aren't going to send nothing to the truck and they'll call police. I tell them that's good enough the police my co-driver and I will all sign a statement saying that they are telling me to hand over the truck and the truck is in the same condition as I got it. I took pictures of the truck inside and out along with pictures of the message they finally sent me saying that I was not abandoning the truck. I know I probably seemed crazy but I wasn't willing to let them screw up my DAC report. It wasn't good enough for me that my DM just told me over the phone that I wasn't bringing the truck to Chatt and just give it to my co-driver. It just didn't smell right that he or the night dispatch didn't want to acknowledge that I wasn't abandoning the truck.

On another note I had to change my flight which cost me another $110. I am now arriving in Pittsburgh, PA airport on Sunday night at 9:48pm EST.

 

Orientation Day 1:
Today woke up at 5:30am got a shower and got some breakfast. Van showed up around 7am and took us to the yard. Today we did same thing most companies do first day of orientation. We went for a few interviews and went over our applications and got them straight. Surprisingly my recruiter wanted to meet me and make sure everything was in order to get reimbursed for my flight and make sure I got settled in. Filled out some typical paperwork, did a drug test, did a short work assessment, and did a pre-trip and road test. For lunch we had sandwiches catered in from some deli. For dinner was a 12 oz T bone steak paid for by PGT...wow I know. Today I was also told they try to get you home every weekend but only guarantee every other weekend. Will try and update again tomorrow. Any questions just ask.

 

Orientation Day 2:
Got up around same time got breakfast and headed off to the yard. We went over a bunch of company stuff. Ate lunch at china buffet. Went over more company stuff such as satellite etc. We ate dinner at the eatnpark again.

Orientation Day 3:
Today we are going over load placement, securing, and tarping. We will be eating pizza for lunch and no idea for dinner.

The hotel we are staying in is nice except for the smell of must when you first walk in from the people that own it. If anyone has any questions about anything just ask?

 

Day 4:
Today we went out for hands on securement and tarping. We all did pretty good says the instructor. We check out of the motel tomorrow and should be heading out with our trainers for more securement training. I was told 1 week for me when I came on. The trucks engines aren't cut down from what I was told. I think it was said they are at 425hp the speed however is set to 65.

 

I am done with orientation and am out with a trainer now. When he picked me up we had a load of wallboard delivered that in NJ and headed back down to PA to pick up 8 rolls of paper. I was told I would be out around a week. I will update more as I have time.