Re: Bad Truck Companies -- posted here

This is a great place to let the trucker world know in advance about 'bad truck companies'. However, I notice many of these reports are about 'student driver companies', ie; Swift, Trans Am, etc. Companies that can hire drivers with less than two years experience. I found out the hard way just like many drivers are reporting here that the 'student driver companies' are pretty much *all* 'bad'. In as much as they *all* take advantage of the fact that drivers with less than two years can't work any where else. They *all* paint the pie in the sky during orientation, 'king of the road', 'lots of miles/money' and most drivers evidently don't experience anything even close to the truck driving 'good times' recruiters and orientation personnel rant about.

There are some really *bad* companies out there and again, from my experience *all* the student driver companies are 'bad'. And if you are at one then you know why.

But I post this here to encourage drivers that are in trucker hell with less than two years experience that if you really love driving trucks for a living then don't let the 'student driver' company experience get you down.

Stay with the same company as long as you can tolerate it. Short work history will hurt you as well as being terminated.

While you are working, talk to other truckers and talk to more than one or two from any company you are thinking about going to. Get all the knowledge you can about any company you are considering and the best info comes straight from their drivers.

Submit your application and get it processed, verified, etc *before* you quit your current job. Recruiters will say anything to get you into orientation. Watch out for head hunters that just run your MVR and then schedule you for orientation. It is normal for a small company to do this and not even have any orientation at all, but if a person representing a large truck co does this beware. Some recruiters only get paid by the 'head count' that show up for orientation and they don't care if you get hired or not.

CFI was famous for this. Their recruiters would send 100 drivers to orientation each week and CFI would send two thirds or more of them home before the end of the third day of a five day orientation. My orientation class there was about 50 drivers and only less than ten of us got hired. Most were sent home the second or third day.

Again, likely best way to choose a truck co is to talk to as many of their drivers as you can before you decide. There are always some happy ones at *every* truck co since they have to take care of enough of them to keep their freight moving. Common sense is still common sense!

If you hire on to a company like Swift with over 20,000 trucks you will be driver number 20,001 with 20,000 drivers 'senior' to you the day you start there. So if you are looking for any good 'career' trucking, might wanna go with a much smaller company.

Any who... hope this helps. I am still truckin' since 2003 and makin' good $$$. --- Hint, dry van is the lowest payin freight. Go reefer, flatbed, stepdeck for the good $$$ and do your homework, and pay attention in the truck stops. Drivers making great pay with great equipment fuel there too