DoubleYellow's Covenant Thrival Guide

Thanks g64. Officially Covenant does not allow drivers living west of the Mississippi river to run solo, but exceptions can be made for those that do stay out 2+ months at a time. The issue is that it is difficult for Covenant to get freight that moves east to west on a solo driver's timeline (making people upset when they miss hometime deadlines).

Quick update: I've been moving very well, but feeling under the weather so I'm not enjoying it. It was bad enough I actually had to shutdown for two days about a week ago. Now I'm feeling about 80% & really looking forward to my week off to fully recouperate (that is, whenever I can get back to California). Its funny, normally it seems I hope for 650 mile days & get 500's, but lately I've been hoping for 500's and getting 650s...

 

I'm not that familiar with cpap machines, but if it draws less than 100w you could use a $25 cigarette lighter inverter at pretty much any truckstop. If it draws more power than that, your truck will need a legit inverter (price varies with wattage requirements). Once youre out of training and assigned a truck, you'll have to pay like $75 for the covenant shop to do the wiring (they will not let you install it yourself). You could get lucky and be assigned a truck someone else previously had wired, but don't count on it. Either way, I recommend getting a full inverter anyway just so you can use a microwave (you'll often be stuck places with no facilities & being able to make oatmeal/soap etc really comes in handy)

The only question I'd have is about training -- you'll be in a trainer's truck 35+ days so you'll want a trainer with an inverter (my trainer did not have one -- he got tired of paying for wiring everytime he got a new truck in 18months)


Edit: on second thought it may be a "reasonable accomodation" covered by the ADA... dunno

 

And another chapter ends... After a year otr, I've left Covenant in hopes of making my riches in the oil fields of North Dakota. All in all my experience was positive -- I came to Covenant filled with internet horror stories thinking to myself "just stick it out 3-6 months so you can transfer someplace better."

But I soon discovered Covenant wasn't the evil coorporation portrayed in ripoffreport rants, so I wound up sticking around. Despite running as a lower pay-rate solo driver for my most senior 4 months, I still wound up grossing $44,784 for my first 12 months as a commercial driver (figure includes bonuses, tuition reinbursement, etc). Being unattached, I was able to completely free myself from debt, allowing myself the resources to dabble in the stock market for the first time. My best stock pick so far? Covenant transport (1500 shares of CVTI purchased at an average of $3.11 & sold less than 6 months later for $4.67 -- a gain of $2,319 w/ transaction fees).

Along the way I worked with some great people -- ones who truly do "commit to care." I know I'm forgetting many, but off the top of my head they include:

Abel Gomez (trainer)
Rodney Farley (Pomona safety)
Ryan Friedrich (fleet manager)
Deb (driver)
Andy Vanzant (big wig)
Joey Hogan (bigger wig)
Levi (Long Beach/Pomona dispatch)

I also have to give an "extra mile" nomination for Marie at Pomona (security). Always a joy to work & chat with -- she loves working for Covenant so much that when Covenant changed to a single nation-wide security service -- she got hired on with the new contractor just to stick around. When last we spoke her son was just finishing training and waiting for upgrade testing -- best of luck to them both...

So with that, I'll leave you with this pic of my current R&R locale just 50min from Pomona: