Mcelroy Trucking

Good money , good company and home on the weekends. All the other drivers I've spoken to seem satisfied. You can have an inverter and tv.

If you are up for the work of flatbedding, you can't go wrong with them.

 

Best I can remember it went something like this:

Arrive on Sunday at hotel in Meridian, MS. I think I was a Days Inn, but cant remember for sure. No Continental breakfast, just coffee in the lobby..You can drive yourself or take a bus, I recommend driving yourself so you can go home on Friday...If you want to stay the weekend just let them know. You will have a roommate too, who will be another new guy.

Monday:
Paperwork, Drug Test, Road Test, Computer Based Training on steel coils and other things, Smith System videos.

Tuesday:
Physical, finish Smith System, tarp folding, coupling/uncoupling trailers, more computer training.

Wednesday:
Physical abilities test. They will take you to Tuscaloosa to some rehab center where they make you do a variety of tests while you are hooked up to a heart monitor. Walk up and down steps, push/pull test, stacking crates of weights, lifting up tarps to a simulated trailer height, etc.

Thursday:
I think you spend most of the day on the skills field where you practice backing. Same stuff in school really, Parallel, Offset, Alley Dock, and they have a serpentine back as well.

Friday:
You are officially hired if you want to be, granted you have passed your drug test, physical, driving test, etc. More classroom stuff, out of there by 100pm or so. You can go home or stay the weekend at the hotel.

Week 2:
Staying in same hotel for the week, but I had a different roommate for week 2.
I don't remember a lot of classroom stuff from week two other than Qualcomm training, Trip planning and Map Reading. We did a lot of work in the yard focusing on proper load securement. One day our instructor took us out driving an we drove up to Servastal in Columbus, MS. Its a Steel Mill and while there we would hope in trucks with other McElroy drivers who were there so we could see how steel coils were loaded and secured. You also will do some work in the driving simulator this week.

Weeks 3-6 you are out with your driver trainer

Week 7:
Back in cuba, you will be assigned a truck, practice backing on skills field and they have an advanced skill field with even more complicated backing that you will be on in your own truck during this week. No hotel for you this week, you will be sleeping in your truck in the yard, which you should be use to by now. You will be given your final road test this week which is not hard, but is about 20 miles long driving through mostly city streets of meridian, MS. I cant remember is we did that with an empty trailer or "the sled." Mostly this week is just killing time. You should meet your dispatcher on Thursday an given your first load. You may be able to go get that load on Thursday evening if its close, Remember you have been "On-Duty Not Driving" since about 6 or 7am so you will have to determine if you have enough hours to get the load or maybe drive somewhere close and park for the night. This will be your load to go home with for the weekend.

There is quite a bit more to McElroy orientation, but these are the high points, and should give you a general idea on what to expect. If you want more info, send me a PM and I'll answer any questions you may have.

Chops

 

Hair drug test or urinalysis?

 

Just wanted to post a relevant update from a recruiter who spoke with our class today.
You will be home every Friday by 7:30. That is company policy. On Wednesday you will be within 250 miles of your residence to ensure that.
They have a lot of Lowes accounts. This is there primary customer in the S.E.
Average pay is 800-900 gross per week.
FREE HEALTH INSURANCE FOR SINGLES.
You cant work weekends. Higher paid drivers can earn 1000-1200 per week. ( This does not seem likely in my opinion).
No promise on miles.
No tarp pay.
They pay .46 c/m but do not offer any tarp / detention pay etc. It's like they just averaged all that pay in and raised the cpm to make it more attractive.
You bring the truck and your load home with you.

Sounds like a decent gig in my opinion. You are limited to how much income you can make though. I pressed him hard on this and you may be able to clear 45 your first year...

 

You should really consider McElroy. Your opinion about the pay is wrong. I just made slightly under $1000 this week. But every other week I've made $1000+. Usually 2000-2300 miles a week.

 

If I had it to do over again, I would choose Maverick over McElroy. Mav has apu's and auto shift trucks, tarp and detention pay etc. I never met an unhappy Maverick driver. Just my 2 cents.

 

My husband drives for McElroy. You don't get home every Friday by 7:30. He's been out as late as midnight on Friday. He's been in Alabama on a Wednesday, and has been dispatched to Mississippi on a Thursday. We live in North Carolina.
You "can't" work on weekends? You "must!" work on weekends. You will be dispatched to places 600 miles from your house, for delivery by 7 a.m. Monday morning, and you will be expected to arrived at the consignee and sit for 10 hours before you make your delivery, so you will have a full reset to start the week.
The company management is Seventh Day Adventist, so they shut the whole place down in Cuba on Friday afternoon, and are gone all weekend... but don't expect to be allowed to go to church with your family on Sunday.
The recruiters are liars. The dispatcher has no direct control over your loads, you have no personal rapport with your dispatcher. Your loads are all planned by a committee who doesn't talk with you, doesn't know you, and doesn't care one bit about you.
Look elsewhere, and save yourself the disenchantment when you discover that the whole thing was an elaborate ruse.

 

How much hair do they need for the hair test? I have short hair.