Start at McElroy on Monday!

Discussion in 'Discuss Your Favorite Trucking Company Here' started by RevKev, Feb 2, 2013.

  1. RevKev

    RevKev Medium Load Member

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    Well, my recruiter did say that while they don't like to quote mile amounts, their first-year drivers generally make between $35k & $45k. That was the lady I spoke with over the phone. Another recruiter came by the driving school where I got my CDL last Thursday. He said it was between $38 $45k. (I may have already mentioned all that). We start at 40cpm after training, so I guess a little math could give you a better idea of mileage.
     
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  3. RevKev

    RevKev Medium Load Member

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    Well, Day 3 of Orientation is done. Wide range of stuff today --- unrolling/unfolding tarps (a few times), strapping, hooking/unhooking to the flatbeds, road test, & shifting instruction. Finished up my General Knowldege Test early (due Fri). Oh, also had my first session in the simulator. That thing is incredible! Weather was sunny & 70, so it was a good day to be outside. Rain all day tomorrow is the forecast, but we're inside for trip planning, log books, etc. Amazingly, I'm the only guy here whose CDL school actually taught trip planning, logs, recap. And only one other guy had coupled to a trailer in school.

    Only downer of the day was that one of the guys failed the road test, so he's through here. Good guy, just couldn't get it done. That was pretty amazing, too, considering this road test was nothing compared to the CDL road test.
     
  4. GA_Rookie

    GA_Rookie Medium Load Member

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    We had a recruiter come to my school, and I have also been in touch with one over the phone. We have been taught the same thing in my CDL class as well. It is nice to hear that we are ahead of the game. It will make orientation/training a lot easier and less stressful, in my opinion.
     
  5. RevKev

    RevKev Medium Load Member

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    so far all I can say is that I'm learning a lot, I'm on a good class of guys (working together to help each other out), & all the staff at McElroy (be they trainers, instructors, drivers, whoever) have been extremely nice & willing to help with whatever anyone needs.

    I wish you all the best in your decision, & I'll keep posting about what's happening here.
     
  6. RevKev

    RevKev Medium Load Member

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    Sitting back at home today, Orientation Week completed, & now officially hired on at McElroy! I'll head back to Cuba, AL, tomorrow morning. Nice to be able to get back home for a couple days though. Already took care of a couple things on the Honey-Do List my bride had for me, so most of today will just be about relaxing & prepping for next week.

    Of the 7 guys that started Orientation last week, 5 of us are hired now, & start Week 1 Training tomorrow. When we get back to the main terminal Sunday at noon, we'll have 5 hours on the skills course, practicing 6 different backing manuevers. Our Week 1 instructor went over each one with us before we left Friday. All we have to do is get a truck & trailer & practice. We use 48' split-axle flatbed trailers, so a bit different from the 48' & 53' vans I backed in school. Also tomorrow there'll be more shift training for each of us, & possibly more CBT (Computer Based Training) if we can work it in.

    This Week will be full of load securement & tarp training, simulator sessions, trip planning, more shift training & simulator sessions, as well as driving with a fully loaded trailer. Up till now, the road test & shift training has been w/an empty flatbed.
     
  7. MJ1657

    MJ1657 Road Train Member

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    Sounds like it all went well.

    Good luck next week and keep sending progress reports.

    Did they just give you one shot at the road test? Had to suck for the guy that failed.
     
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  8. RevKev

    RevKev Medium Load Member

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    Yep, one shot at the road test. Like I said, he was a great guy & all, just couldn't get it done. They weren't really grading on shifting either. Grind some gears? No biggie. They realized that none of us had ever been in a new Prostar, & that all we'd done by Wed of that week was back an old Mack a few times to trailers to hook/unhook. Basically, they just wanted to see if we could drive the truck up thru all the gears, down the road & back, & show some ability to downshift. I can't imagine what the guy did to fail, but it must have been a lot. The trainers aren't trying to trip us up or weed us out. They don't take that attitude. But if they didn't think we could cut it at McElroy, well, they wanted to let us know before we got that employee number so that it wouldn't go on a DAC report that we'd been hired at all.
     
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  9. MJ1657

    MJ1657 Road Train Member

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    Sounds like they were fair about it anyway.
     
  10. Oldhand

    Oldhand Bobtail Member

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    Rev,

    I've been following your progress here and have enjoyed your experience and accounting of your first days with McElroy through your posts.
    Somewhat like your own recent history, I too am working my way through driving school and hope to be done in approx. 8 weeks.
    I believe in doing whatever research is necessary in order to make a good decision about a company to drive for and at this point, I am just about sure that it will be flatbed. So far, I've been mining everything I can find on 3 companies. TMC, Maverick and McElroy. I must say, most everything I've learned (pertaining to driver satisfaction) so far has been generally positive on all three companies. More research will eventually dictate which might be the best of the three for me, based on where I live and where I would like to run.
    I am curious, and my question for you, if you have the time.. is to ask you which companies you were initially considering and what factor(s) brought McElroy to the top of your list?

    Both McElroy and TMC are active in their recruiting here at my school in SW Virginia but as of yet, I've not had the opportunity to sit down with either and get an idea about what a face-to-face could reveal.

    I would certainly appreciate you sharing any of the information or impressions that you gained through your research. I completely understand privacy concerns so an answer here would be fine or a PM, whichever you prefer.

    Thanks in advance,

    S.
     
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  11. RevKev

    RevKev Medium Load Member

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    Hi, Oldhand. Based on what all I've read & researched, the 3 companies you mentioned are all three good ones. It'll all depend really on what you think is the best fit for you.

    I felt from the get-go I really wanted to start out flatbedding. However, I did research some dry van companies as well. The two of those I gave the most attention to were Averitt & H.O. Wolding, with HOW becoming my top choice had I gone dry van. Sure Averitt pays much better cpm starting out, but based on a lot I read, as well as what a friend of mine who's been driving for them for about 5 years, getting good miles concerned me. I realize a lot of factors play into that, but I just kept seeing & hearing the same thing. Even so, my friend is very happy at Averitt, as are a few guys here on the forum. I simply couldn't get comfortable with the idea. Different strokes, I suppose.

    As for HOW, if I was wanting to dry van, I'd be in Amherst, WI right now going through their training. Weeble Kneeble has a great thread on his experiences with HOW. It's titled "H O Wolding is a great company!" Lots of good info there.

    The flatbed companies I did the most research on were McElroy & Maverick. I chose McElroy b/c Maverick's trucks are maroon, & being an Ole Miss grad & fan, I just couldn't bring myself to drive a Miss. State colored truck!!! LOL! Obviously, I'm joking, but it'll be interesting to see who stops reading halfway thru that & starts flaming me over it! ;~) Actually, Maverick's trucks look awesome.

    Seriously though, I really didn't find anything about Maverick I necessarily didn't like. In fact, the only slight complaint (& it's very minor) I had about Maverick, I also had about McElroy --- a lack of professionalism in the recruiter assigned to me. Annoying, but nothing I couldn't overcome, nor something that made me shy away from Mav or send me to McElroy. Like I said, I experienced it with both. However, several folks with both companies have given their recruiting experiences great reviews. Maybe the ones I dealt with were just having bad days...a few of 'em! lol

    It was really a difficult decision between the two, but in the end, McElroy had set me up for orientation & training the Monday after I finished CDL school on Friday. Maverick couldn't tell me how soon or when I'd be scheduled. I didn't necessarily see that as a negative, but I was ready to get somewhere, get the training stage done, & get to work. Also, & I know opinions vary on this, but Maverick has automatic trucks. I became a little concerned about starting my career w/o a manual transmissions. I read debate about this in another thread just yesterday, & folks one both sides of the issue made great points. Again, I just did what I felt was the best fit for me, for now.
     
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