Questions from a Central Florida newbie! Oh boy!

My questions thus far:

1. In Central Florida, what companies would you recommend to work for? So far, Con-way and Roadway seem decent, but I've never worked for them before. Have you?

Conway and Roadway are both LTL companies and I'd imagine would be hard to get into with no experience. That type of job would be good for home time however if you can get one to hire you.

2. It sounds like becoming a union member is the way to go. What's your opinion of this? Will being a union member increase or decrease one's chance of getting a job because of discrimination towards union members among trucking companies? Which unions really "walk the walk"?

I'm not a union member and you'll find there are not really too many companies that are still union anymore. From what I understand, you start at the docs, work you way up to yard jockey and then maybe to driver with most unions. Again from what I understand, while union jobs pay more and have good benefits, you also pay out a lot of union dues... The unions are not for everyone and my trainer was x-union. Its not what we were looking for in trucking.

3. Getting a CDL license is important of course, but learning how to be a good trucker is equally important to getting the license. It sounds like the best places to start are the community colleges. What do you think?

I think everyone here agrees that the CC programs are the best ones. In Central FL Mid Florida Tech is the best and only CC program I know of in the Orlando area. The cost is right and that school is accepted by all companies that hire recent grads.

4. I want to drive locally so I can still be a strong part of that aforementioned lovely lady I'm married to, and come home as many nights as I'm able. Is driving locally the best way to achieve this?

I used to be the Parts Manager for a local Land Clearing company in Central FL. The only problem with local driving in CFL is the pay. Starting driver jobs are around $11.00-$13.00 per hour and they often want experience. My wife and I went team OTR to actually make some money. Many OTR drivers get tired of the road and come back to those jobs. While it is a good place to get some experience, many of the OTR companies will not accept local driving as experience although that is just plain stupid IMO. There are lots of local jobs... have you considered trying for a City or County driving job... All the benefits of the unions and you go home each night. The key to the good jobs is to get documentable experience however you can get it.

I've taken a bit over an hour to read through recently-made posts and I've yet to come up with answers. I'm sure to find my own, but it'll definitely be made easier with your shared experience.

Keep reading and researching companies that sound good to you. There are a lot of good threads in here. Us, Daytona45 and others have kept running dialogs of our experiences from the start of school to present. Check them out and many of the others.

While all of this is my opinion, I hope it helps a bit.

 

Hi Cub
I'am Going To School In St Pete. Fl. At Ptec 2 More Weeks Of A 10 Week Program Our Instructors Have Giving Us Names Of Co. That Will Hire Us For Local Work.we Have Had Recruiters That Came To Our Class, Ask When You Register, Chances Are Trucking Co. Will Come Looking For New Drivers [fresh Meat]

 

I can't remember the name of the school, but I'm pretty sure it's the one on Orange Ave just north of Sand Lake Rd, I heard bad stuff about them a few years ago. So you may wanna steer clear of them.

 

UNIONS....."I'm not a union member and you'll find there are not really too many companies that are still union anymore. From what I understand, you start at the docs, work you way up to yard jockey and then maybe to driver with most unions. Again from what I understand, while union jobs pay more and have good benefits, you also pay out a lot of union dues... The unions are not for everyone and my trainer was x-union. "

I can only speak from the IBEW point of view.....3% of my gross went towards it and $25/mo.....chump change considering I made more than a LOT of non-union guys and 95% of the companies are pretty good. BUT....what sucks is the clique factor...there are some worthless people ( from other people's viewpoint,not mine) that have a job just "because"....they call it "suction"
Right now in Fl. union guys w/o suction are looking elswehere for work short of robbing banks,,,