How long should I wait?

Well- knock on wood- today I was offered a flatbed job. It's based on the truck company getting this account. If they do, they'll need 2 drivers. They're putting in a bid with the idea that I'll be one of the drivers. They seem to have more faith that I'll pass my CDL than I do. I still haven't been over 40MPH. I've made a few left hand turns now though. I even made a "good save" according to my instructor when I missed on something.

What's ironic is that I didn't think they liked me. I've got to believe they still think I'm a hothead, but I guess that I didn't freak out or panic when I made some mistakes on the road-yea, I've made a few- worked out in my favor. I guess now I'm more a selective hothead. I only blow up when it's in a parking lot or somewhere that's ok to blow up at.

Apparently they see qualities in me that I'm not seeing yet. When offered this job, I told em I didn't think I was ready to do this. I liked the idea, but I thought I needed more experience. I was under the impression-at least at first- that they wanted me to go straight from CDL school to this job as a solo. I found that isn't the case. For that matter, it's not the case with pretty much every company in any segment of driving.

They'll train me before I start. There's no set time, just whenever the trainer thinks I'm ready to go solo. Someone else- not the person offering me the job- said this is generally 2-3 weeks. The information I have is limited. To the best of my knowledge I'll be delivering steel, which has a low center of gravity. I'm not sure what an "easy tarp" is, but they said it was an easy tarp. I got the impression it was meant as a selling point to take the job. I was told it should take about 15 minutes to tarp this. Having nothing to compare it to, I'm guessing in terms of tarping most tarps take a lot longer.

I didn't ask anything about the tarping. They just told me. That's why I'm under the impression that there was something good (meaning not a lot of time tarping) about it that they wanted me to know.

The job is semi dedicated (I think that's the term). Every other run I take will be from a city near me. From the way I'm understanding it, every other run would pick up near my house and then the back hauls are whatever they can get back. They pay going out is real good for a new driver, about twice what Swift would pay, but they told me not to expect anything near that good coming back. Still, if I make almost 2X what Swift pays out and the same as what Swift makes coming back, I come out ahead.

It wasn't stated like this, but when I told em about Swift, the message was "if you take Swift over this you're a total idiot."

I'm guessing the back hauls would not be an easy tarp. I'm fine with tough tarps (if that's the right term)- I want experience securing freight vs no touch or complete truck unloading.

Sorry I don't know all the terms. I know what no touch is. I'm not sure what it's called when ya have to hand unload your entire truck.

I'll keep the same truck/trailer unless repairs are needed. I forgot to ask about APU's, idling, and such. It was a spot interview, meaning I was pulled aside for it rather than something planned. I was told I'd be able to take a microwave and fridge though. I did bring up eating my own food on the road.

So if I get some consistency with the main account and some variety with the back hauls, this could work out pretty well.

I still want to do car hauling. Who knows if the trucking company will even get the account? This could be a good start in the right direction if it works out. And I may end up liking this enough that I'll want to stick with it. The pay isn't what car haulers make, but it's better than the starter companies. Car hauling is at least 6 months down the road, if not more. So this seems like a pretty interesting way to get my trucking career started.

note- I purposely didn't put the trucking company's name or any $$ amounts other than generalizations because I didn't wanna put too much info out there for someone else possibly seeing at this point. I'd hate to mess up someone's bid. If I get the job, or even if I don't- I'll be happy to share company names, amounts, etc if anyone cares.

 

I would have thought doing enclosed would have been what most people wanted for the reasons listed. What would be the reasons people would not want enclosed?

Also, I was wondering if they had enclosed 3/4 car trailers. Admittedly I'm green, but I was thinking a 3/4 car enclosed trailer would be a great idea.