Starting out for rookies

Mr. Road Warrior
My girlfriend and I took a leap of faith, cashed in some 401K and stocks, and we both started trucking school 2 weeks ago and are loving it...! She was OTR for 2 years as a passenger only with her ex-hubby, and I drove dump trucks for 4 years off and on for a total of maybe 2 years, and we found your posts to be very trucker-friendly. So, we wanted to ask you a few questions.


We want to go OTR as a team and stay out for at least 3-4 weeks at a time minimum, and already know that starting off as rookies will have to start at the bottom of the totem pole. With that being said, we have researched over 50-60 companies, and still are not sure who to believe, and who not to? We are not experts in any way, but it looks like most companies willing to hire newbies are limited, at best. We also see alot of negative posts on almost any company's name we type into our browser, but it seems the bottom line is that most of these drivers posting negative things are guilty of something that got them in trouble in the first place.


This is what we really want minimum (if possible);
NO forced NY City, Mexico or Canada
NO slip seating
YES 1500 watt inverter (either pre-installed, or allowed if we purchase) so we can prepare our own food
MAYBE a pet policy (but not a must-have)


WHO DO YOU RECOMMEND? (respond by private message if you so desire)


Sincerely,
Team4Life

PS; How do we change "Bobtail Member" under our screen name?

 

The bobtail member will change the more posts you do...

 

that is central refrigrated? we have talked about going with 2 diff trainers, but do they have femaile trainers that do not smoke? we would like to go to train together, but she will go individually if ther is a femaile or respectfull male trainer. we thank u for the advice. we want to learn as much as we can

 

We ask our first question to Road Warrior, but we will gladly accept any advice pertaining to good/bad companies for us to start off with. Two of our other biggest concerns are the amount of time it takes getting our first truck, and getting enough miles on a regular basis. Any advice is greatly appreciated.

 

Personally I think all starter companies are just that - starter companies... it will depend on what you want/need and which company has the most of those things.

We started out (and are still with for just over a year) with Central Refrigerated... are they the best? For us they were - for others they're not. We trained in separate trucks at different times - I had things to straighten out at home before hitting the road. His trainer sucked - thankfully he had driven (was an O/O before) so that was OK... my trainer was better, but there were still things we both had to learn once we got out here.

We are so far doing OK - but the challenges of LIFE and having a lease have been bumping heads...

So I wish you luck where ever you decide to do...

 

We've looked into Central Refridgerated, but they seem to want you to lease or buy a truck within your first year. For us, the economy is still too turbulent to commit to such a huge purchase at the present time, and especially with the uncertainty of the future of oil prices.

 

It's scary...one country refusing to sell oil to another...and ALL oil is jacked up in price. I pray that everything holds so we can all be gainfully employed years to come

 

Sure they 'want' you too... But you don't HAVE to...

 

I want to thank everyone for the great info. I am in my second week at school and doing good. I turned in a bunch of applications today got a prehire from Roehl within an hour . I will decide on a company as soon as I see how many prehires I get .

 

In my past, I was a Class A cdl driver, but I retired early ( 1999 ) and now have a chance to go back to driving for a local company ( Raising grand kids )...... I live in TX .........
TWO questions.
My son that is a cdl driver told me he took the pre-trip on a P.C. at the dmv office..
Can a cdl driver have a gps ( garmin ) in hes truck..
Thank you