Interesting statements by recruiter

I would stay away! If they have such a low turnover rate why are the spending millions of dollars in advertising to get YOU to work for THEM!? Also why are the holding seminars at trucking schools if their turnover rate is low? Companies that have low turnover rates don't do this. The best driving jobs are kept secret because nobody wants you to know about them. Drivers don't leave companies that are worth driving for! The harder it is to find a company and get employed the more worth they are to work for. I would highly advise you stay away from the top 5 mega-carriers. Your school recruiters are going to push them down your throat because they are getting paid to do so.

The absolute best benefit for working for a smaller company is your dispatcher. Your dispatcher is the sole key to you making money. At these mega-carriers they are responsible for hundreds of drivers. At smaller companies they may have a handful to 20 or so drivers. Its very important to build a good relationship with your DM if you want to make money. Also helps big time if you ever have a problem (and you will have lots of them, especially starting out). If you want to test this theory call the recruiters several times a day and see how easy it is to get a hold of them and how they handle solving your problems.

A good rule of thumb when speaking to recruiters is "believe none of what you hear and half of what you see"! Don't ever think they are going to fulfill the slightest promise and no they will not put it in writing.

HOMETIME - Hometime is fairly standard across the board. If you want to make money you need to put in time. 6-8 weeks is a good minimum and usually what most companies will run you. They may TELL you differently but once you are out there this is what the truth will be. That my friend is why most newbies quit early. They give them the option to run 6-8 weeks or go home. So what choice do you have? Expect to live in a truck! No more home life! If this is ok with you then proceed. If not, don't fool yourself into thinking differently.

Another major plus of driving for a smaller company is that they are much more lenient with what you can do with your truck. Especially when it comes to idling.

Keep in mind that if you want a good driving job it is not going to be easy. If it is easy you are at the wrong company. Prehires are a good indication of an "easy" company. They are basically having you put your name on a piece of paper and hiring you sight unseen! Do your homework and start ASAP! You want to be able to go straight to your job a day or two after graduating school. You want to be fresh for your road test on day one of orientation! Also any longer than a few weeks or so and most companies will want you to take a refresher course.

Good luck...

 

As far as turnover, these companies could go a long way toward solving it if they didn't hire anyone with a fairly strong pulse. They hire just anyone, treat them like crap, watch them leave, and yell "NEXT". If they would hire the best guys they can, and within reason, treat them good so they would stay, they'd save a lot of trouble for themselves. They install the "revolving door" at their company and then wonder why it gets used. And some places the revolving door spins so fast it could be used as a fan to cool the corporate offices.

 

I lived this,and Ive got pics to show for it,names ,dates.
I would also submit to a polygraph .
Could a Schneider recruiter offer the same?
This was my old user name before board changed last time.
Hope it helps

http://www.thetruckersreport.com/tr...hneider.html?highlight=my+time+with+schneider

 

Crabbyollady if you don't mind being gone from home then you surely aren't going to have a problem driving over the road. You will make really good money if you can do at least 6-8 week stints. Even better if you stay out longer. The longer you stay out the better you will average. Plus your dispatcher will love you for it. The drivers that stay out and put there time in are definitely favored. Don't get too extreme with it though. You don't want to get burned out either. Make sure you take a day or two for yourself to reset your personal clock. You don't necessarily have to go home, but just get out of the truck maybe wherever you are at the time and get a little hotel room or something. It really does a lot to refresh you from time to time.

Like I said, take the time and do your homework and find yourself a good gig from the get-go! They are out there, you just have to take the time to find them.


Good luck....

 

That could be true starting out, but I would not agree with it in general. If the loads are planned properly, and the customer base is good, then it is not unrealistic to actually make as much or more money running throughout the week and being home on the weekend. I have done that since '99 and have done far better overall than I ever did running all over the place and staying out for weeks on end. And, no, I am not, nor have I been on a dedicated run in all that time. Organization is the key. Having loads planned well, and in advance, keeps a driver moving steadily. Seems most of the big carriers, most of the time, give load planning a thought only after the driver has delivered the load he already has. Then that driver has to sit around for hours waiting for someone in an office to get their act together. Whereas, a well organized operation would have already let the driver know what is going on before the load they have is off the truck. Then a driver can plan routes and times to make it all happen. The key is teamwork. And most of the big operations don't want to hand the ball off to the driver and make them an active part of load planning. Oh well.

 

Ya Cowpie that's great, but you have 30 years experience and she has none! Not to mention good paying jobs like that are rare.

When I post these statements its for the general population. Not every truckers unique situation! This is generally the norm across the board. Can other crap happen? Sure, but I don't have all day to write a book about everyone's unique job position!

So generally in trucking you are going to stay out and drive 6-8 weeks. Other gigs will come along in the future but this is how it will be starting out.

 

What's a glider?

 

Basically a brand new truck with an older, re-manufactured power/drive train.

A 2013 truck with an engine and transmission from 2001. Glider kits are used to bypass the EPA emissions standards for the new engines (def/dpf)

Ethan