Big company haters

Seen a few posts say Florida can be hard to get hired from.

 

I would aim for the Midwest if it was me.
Vegas and Florida are near dead zones at times for freight.
As far as companies go, all the big ones will have fired some cry babies, so take it with a pinch of salt.
If you want to go flatbed, then Maveric, Melton and the likes, have a pretty good reputation.
Swift, JB, CREngland, and those types of outfit are driver mills, and would be better off going out of business IMHO.
If you want flatbed/specialized, go wonder around in the Flatbed forum for a few days and see what folks have said there.
Best of luck, and thanks for 23yrs of your life.

Martin

 

I wouldn't move to Florida. Texas seems to be a good location for most companies. Prime, Melton, Maverick all seem to be better than some of the other carriers. There will always be people bashing no matter what company you choose to go with.

 

That's for sure, lol.

I'm a student atm, trying to find the best company as well. Melton is a great choice it seems. Prime I've heard some good things about, not much said about maverick (which is good, lol). Crete has been recommended to me. Usx has 48cpm team pay, which has me looking at them heavily. Schneider ranking is recommended a lot. TMC seems pretty good, don't hear anyone bash them.

Those aren't the only good ones, but the ones I can think of and know of atm. In general, avoid swift, cre, knight and werner if possible. Plenty more bad ones, but these ones are notorious.

 

Take it step at a time:

#1 - Choose a state with no personal income tax; there are 9 of them.

#2 - Look at a map of the interstate system; that's where the long haul freight runs. Look at cities & towns close to the interstate .

For example :
Nevada - Reno/Las Vegas.
Tennessee - Nashville/Knoxville/Memphis/Chattanooga.
Texas - Dallas/Ft. Worth/Houston
Alabama - Birmingham
& so on.

Lots of good freight lanes on the East Coast, but the drawback is congestion & winter weather.

#3 - Ignore the complainers; no matter how good a company is, there are whiners working there.

You mentioned Melton Truck Lines & someone bashed you. Melton drivers average $50K per year, drive comfortable equipment with APU's. You can also take the wife along if you wish. BCBS Health Insurance which pays good & Tricare picks up the rest of the bill. What's to bash about that?


Keep researching and asking questions & by the time you're ready to make a move you will have a good plan in place.

 

System Transport pays .50 cpm team pay & hires new CDL grads.

 

Alabama would be a great place as well. Just stick around the interstates instead of the back woods to make it easier for you to pass through home. Don't plan on getting a dedicated being new to the industry, although some might make an exception in your case with the superb service you have provided.

 

Melton is a good place to work but the only down side is they will tarp you to death. You'll literally tarp in your sleep by the time all is said and done. Prime has a very good school, one of the best IMHO. I wouldn't lease. For what you pay into their lease you could pay for your own truck. Don't know how it is these days but the miles on the company side sucked horribly when I was there.