Got 5 companies on my mind, need a advice

Nope. As a company solo, you'll get a lightweight. They'll make this very clear when you 'upgrade' and get your keys.

Down the road if you decide to train, you can upgrade to a condo or if you lease/team.

Really though, Prime imho is one the better starter companies out there. They'll get you miles and run you hard. Their equipment is top notch and taken care of, all the trailers are pretty new and the trucks are new. I drove for them in the past and when I went solo, my truck had only 11k miles on it. Nice thing also they're doing now is putting bull guards on all their trucks due to deer accidents, so can help minimize downtime if you're unlucky enough to take out Bambi. You'll also get an APU or have no idle timer till you are able to get an APU. Also with the lw, you'll probably start at the highest pay per mile you can get on the road. Finally, SpringMo is possibly one of the best terminals in the trucking industry.

Downsides to Prime are dependent. Hometime isn't too great, you're gonna stay out at least a month or so. Like any company, sometimes you'll get those crap weeks with short trips and miles, especially if you just keep rolling over your miles. You have to pay for your own chains/load locks (taking out in payments). And of the course the 'famous' lightweight which in my opinion are not suitable for otr life. (small, lack of storage space, under powered).

Are they the best company out there? Hell no. Are they the worst? Nope.

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[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Tahoma, Calibri, Geneva, sans-serif]Now as far as comparing to Stevens. [/FONT]

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Tahoma, Calibri, Geneva, sans-serif]I deal with Stevens trailers at my current company and they are usually pretty well taken care of. Only common problem I find is the drivers don't seem to know expired federal inspections are bad things. (Seen one that was expired 7 months before). Their trucks are also pretty nice.[/FONT]

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Tahoma, Calibri, Geneva, sans-serif]Their starting pay is very low though, I believe somewhere in the .26 or so. I know they're one of the lowest in the industry. Remember mileage isnt always everything. In theory, comparing .26 at Stevens and .41 at Prime. You can do significantly less miles at Prime to make what you make at Stevens doing more.
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Just thought to consider.

 

Their CDL training program is very good and probably one of the best company paid ones in the industry. As far as just the 'training' phase, basically you are just doing teaming with a trainer. Probably do some super solo for the first week or so till the trainer is sure you won't kill him, then you just run team.

From what I remember, Prime requires 3 weeks out minimum before you go home.

As far as Northeast. As with most 48 state companies, it's forced dispatch and you pretty much just go where they tell you. They do have a Northeast division, so you probably won't end up getting stuck doing loads up there, but don't be surprised if you ended up there every now and then.

Milage wise, one nice thing about Reefers is people will always have to eat. Once you prove to your FM that you are capable of doing your job, the miles should start adding up. Only downside is getting screwed at places like Tyson and Walmart and wasting time due to their incapabilities.

 

Heading to where ?

Did you ever decide ?

 

US Xpress?

 

Good Luck Driver









And no matter what,

never abandon your truck............

 

Good Luck, Driver. Keep us posted on how it goes for ya..