Newbie trying to get on with either PRIME or KKW (a journal of my progress)

yeah I love the idea of 11 western. The woman I spoke with today didn't really give me any details but said she would send me an e-mail with all the pay and training info but I never received anything. $700 a week during your training? Did they happen to send you that e-mail? Have you decided if you are going to go there yet? I am trying to decide right now.

 

I have not applied with covenant. I will do that tomorrow morning. I would like to mention that you have been one of the most helpful people on this forum and it is nice to know there are guys like you in the industry that will talk to a newbie with honest advice so thank you. Yeah I definitely know to avoid England, you can be on here for the first time and do 5 minutes of research to realize that. I had not actually looked up anything on CRST because I wouldn't really want to do teams. From what I see about pride they do run a lot of southern ca loads so I am still thinking of sticking with them. I am really close to getting a call from the electrical union and might put pride on hold and go work a union gig for 1-3 months. That way I can get caught up on bills and save some cash to have at hand when I make the journey to SLC. Hopefully they will let me go in July or August instead of uprooting right away. I just would like to have a little financial cushion in case things don't go how I hope they will. In my current financial state it would be catastrophic to get there and for some reason need to purchase a bus ticket home or something.

 

Alright Challenger. I found out all the info for Prides training and would like your opinion (any one else is free to chime in as well) so the training program is 90 days. For the first phase (30 days or 7000 miles) I would be doing all the driving with a trainer for $350 a week. After that there would be a road test at the terminal. Then for phase 2 (the other 60 days) I would still be with the same trainer only we would be running as a team. The pay goes to 14 cents per mile TO THE TRUCK not half of the miles. You make 14 cents per mile regardless of who is driving. I was told a good average for a team is about 5,000 miles in a week so it would be right around $700 a week for those 8 weeks. After those 8 weeks there is another road test, a written test, and a driver orientation. Upon completion of those tests and orientation you become a solo driver and the pay goes up to 30 cpm and you are on your own. While you are in training you are not eligible for any bonuses (fuel share, miles, detention, layover or breakdown) but those go into affect as soon as you go solo. I have read some info on the company and their average trip is about 1200 miles so if you get two trips a week at 30 cpm you are still looking at grossing just over $700 a week. Their largest contract is here in Southern California so the chances of some extra home time would be pretty high. They do require a contract but it is only 6 months of staying with them. I explained my biggest concern to the recruiter (and I know they will promise you the world but all the things I have read on here say they are very up front and honest so I hope it's true) is that I have lived in my condo that we rent for 4 years. Our lease is up in July and the owner wants to sell the home. She actually wanted to sell it out from under us but I told her our lease stood whether she sold it or not and the only way we were leaving is if she paid us our rent back for the amount of months we left early, paid our moving expenses and compensated my wife and I for time missed at work to move. So she is not selling now but she is also not renewing our lease in July which means we will be moving. I HAVE to be home no matter what when the moving begins. Jo the recruiter I am speaking to (very nice lady and the wife of a trucker) assured me that the company would work with me in any and all unexpected situations like that and that they would give me 3 or 4 days off in July to complete the move whether I am still in training or not. She "said" they are not like other training companies who always think that if someone leaves to take care of a situation at home that there are plenty of other people to take their place. They seem interested in retaining their drivers. What do you think of the training package as a whole? The 90 days does NOT mean I will be away from home for a straight 90 days. They will get me home for home time during training and their home time policy is like pretty much everywhere else, one week on the road earns you one day off.