Best Trucking Company For Veterans

LOL @ veterans who think they're entitled to silver spoon treatment. Hey, I respect your service, but if you somehow think you're going to jump in to trucking with a brand new CDL making a dollar a mile and going home every 5 days, you've spent too much time under that mid-eastern sun...

While overseas service is noble, it has nothing to do with stateside OTR trucking. Companies often push the "veteran" angle simply to gather more recruits. Truthfully, Swift could care less if you served in Iraq...or served burgers at Jack in the Crack, they just need bodies.

And its a myth that military men and women overwhelmingly do better in this industry. Granted, there are plenty of veterans doing OTR work, but there's no statistical data that proves an ex-military member has a greater chance of gaining success than, say, a long term laid-off middle management drone...

Thank you for your service. Now please and take your .26cpm and move out of the hammer...

 

If you are going to be selective in what you quote out of an article, I'm going to call you on it; this is out of the next paragraph of the same article:
The 1.3797 million payroll jobs in for-hire trucking is up by 30,300 jobs, or 2.2%, from June 2012. Trucking employment is up by 145,700 jobs, or 11.8%, from the bottom in March 2010, but it remains 73,700 jobs, or 5.1%, below the peak in January 2007.

In a nutshell, we are still below the peak prior to the recession, but have gained a massive number of jobs back since the crash. I hardly think that justifies any comments that the industry is shrinking.

On your comment about "good private fleet drivers"...if they are good drivers, they will always have a job. When their company puts out bids to eliminate their private fleet, it's senseless to blame the for-hire industry when they show up at the auction. It is usually the mega carriers who win the business, yes; this makes the mega carrier who wins that particular bid a little bigger, and usually a little stronger. That is how business works, and how it has ALWAYS worked, not just in trucking.

I am with a mega carrier, and I will retire from this mega carrier, as we care about our employees. I drove OTR for us for 15 years prior to coming in the office, and next week I am proud to celebrate my 20th year. You can throw around "mega carrier" as a negative comment if you wish, but it does not offend me a bit. There are big and small companies, both good and bad. I work for a terrific big company. I am proud to be here. And I am not trying to insert a sales pitch, as I have not mentioned a name, a color, or a hometown of my company.
Any driver who does his or her research online can find the carriers who have proud employees who get treated with respect. I'm sorry if you don't like the fact that some of these companies are bigger than you wish they were.

 

I know the VA page has a way you can search for a specific company that works with the VA so us Vets can get our GI Bill benefits, but I wish there was a single list that showed all the companies, without having to browze through each state..

 

I have never seen a post written by a vet saying we should get special treatment and I have never seen a post saying we should get a dollar a mile.. Hell, never seen a post written by a vet saying we should get anything more then what the non vet makes..

The va does work with some companies where we will get our GI Bill payments while we drive for the first year or two, but thats the only exception. Oh, and that our GI Bill will pay for the CDL school, if we choose to use it for that purpose. Those benefits were offered to us as one recruiting tool to get us in the military to begin with so we can put up with the crap that is dealt to us while in uniform.. Since they offered it to us, you can believe we will use it..

 

So, there is no statistical data that proves an ex-military member doesn't have a greater chance of gaining success than, say, a long term laid-off middle management drone... :smt066

 

Just a quick tip you might want to consider; I hire vets who have used the GI bill for CDL school, yet my company reimburses new drivers for their schooling. If the govt pays for the school, then we don't reimburse. Problem is, whatever you use for school diminishes the amount you have access to through the apprenticeship program.
If you will be choosing a carrier who participates in the MAP, and also reimburses for tuition, you might want to find a way to pay for your school out of your pocket (cash, loan from credit union, financed through the school...doesn't matter how). That way you can get the maximum amount of cash out of the GI bill and get the tuition paid for by the company.

Thank you for your service!

 

That's a good point.. I looked into that scenario as well, me paying for the school and having the company reimburse the cost. The only issue I saw with that, is a company will me back, but only at $100.00-$150.00 a month. That's good if you can find a school that costs around $1800.00, but for a school like Roadmaster, well, you see what I mean. I am still researching schools in the Indianapolis area that will be far cheaper than Roadmaster. I know I want to get my CDL in the shortest time possible. I mean, without going to community college for more than six weeks..

 

To the OP,

I am also in the military and will retire in about a year. So maybe I can help a bit. I have been doing research on this for over a year now.

Not sure when you get back from the sandbox but if you get back in time look into a community college around your base that has a CDL program. I say this because you are entitled to ONE certification during your time in the military. This is FREE (note: With govt shutdown you might have to wait till we have money again). They will pay for a certification up to $3,500 and you will not have to use your GI Bill to pay for it.

There are a few companies that offer Veterans assistance using your GI bill. Shneider is one and there are a few more that do also. That is an extra $1k a month in your pocket. Just remember if you use this option once it is done you won't have a GI bill anymore.

Not sure if you are going to retire or if you are just getting out of the military. My advice is keep your Tri-care it is cheaper than any medical a trucking company will offer you.

You said you wanted to do Flatbed. Do some research and then do more research on the companies you want to work for. Maverick is a company I am leaning towards. They do not do GI Bill thing yet. However I signed my GI bill over to my kids. They start at .33 per mile but in 6 months you should be up to .42 per mile. All total training is 6 weeks (give or take). While on the road it is not treated as a team. Prime yes they start you out at .34 or something like that. and if you drive the smaller truck you get .05 more so .41 starting. Now mind you even with a CDL (with no experiance) you will still have to get trained and that takes 40,000 miles on the truck. You will be dispatched as a team after the first 10,000 miles or so. You will make $600 a week (before taxes).

Those are just two examples. I wish you the best of luck...

 

Do yourself a huge favor; pick a trucking company based on your values and the quality of the company. If you go to work for a great company, you will stay for a long time and be happy there.
If you base your decision on the amount of tuition reimbursement (or the speed at which the company will pay) and wind up with a great reimbursement plan, but a crappy company...

Once you've picked the company (or companies), then call them and explain your situation. If I had someone call me in your situation, I would be happy to tell them that we reimburse Roadmaster directly, rather than paying the driver $150 per month to use toward tuition. For schools other than Roadmaster, we reimburse up to $6000, but do it at the rate of $150 per month.
Even if you went with a company who reimburses at $150 per month, and your school cost you $3600, you would regain that tuition in 2 years. You pick a good company who has a $3000 sign on bonus ($750 per quarter for your first year), access the MAP (up to $1275 per month added to your check from the GI Bill), and the $150 per month...unless you don't expect to work for a company for 2 years, which is not a very good commitment to whoever hires you.

If you go with a company who reimburses at a fast rate, or lump sum, how do you think they limit their losses on a candidate who isn't committed to staying, or who is bound to find out that the company is dishonest or unfair or disrespectful to its employees and wants to leave? A contract. It will say that if you leave within your first year or two that you will owe them X amount, and they will put you into collections if you don't pay it. So you now are locked in to a bad company...happens all the time, I get calls from drivers in that situation who want my help in getting them out of the problem they created for themselves; I am not the contract fairy. I love to help when I can, but I can't advise someone how to "get out of" a legal contract.

Good companies do NOT have their new employees sign contracts. Period. They've realized that if the environment is honest and fair, that retention is terrific, hiring costs are lower, and morale at every level is high. The web is loaded with drivers talking about their companies, both good and bad. It's free. If you ignore the extremists, you will begin to see the patterns of the good vs the bad companies. It will be the best hour you will ever spend online, and will get you in the most comfortable seat out there.