Want to drive..who for though?

There are advantages to getting your CDL through a school not affiliated with a trucking company.

 

The nc community college system has one of the best training programs available anywhere. The only downside is no financial assistance you pay up front. It's worth it. Even though they have the usual suspects recruiting they also have relationships with smaller, more local companies as well but the biggest benefit is you have not only outstanding, comprehensive training but you have options. You won't be tied to a company sponsored slavery contract.

Epes is a good training company out of Greensboro. I did 3 years with them out of school. Good equipment, trainers, solid freight base/ customers and pay/benefit package. Home most weekends. I have moved on to a much better gig but they have many 10-20 year drivers there.

Many good companies running in and through nc you're in a good place. Good luck.

 

A lot of info in the prime threads you should read through and make your own assessment.

I have no direct knowledge of prime other than their trucks are very slow. they have their cheerleader fanboys and just as many that hate them.

the biggest advice I can give is choose well the first time and pick a company that suits your needs and that you can stay with for at least 2 years and keep a clean record. after that you can pretty well write your own ticket.

I have had an above average experience but I did the homework, read through literally hundreds of pages here and then talked to actual drivers from the companies on my short list and had a plan and stuck to it. 45k first year and home most weekends and graduated to 65-70k now 4 years in and home every weekend. it is possible to have a good experience and post a success story if you take your time and know where you want to go as opposed to just buying the recruiter's bs and jumping on the first thing that sounds good.

 

another very important consideration is that you want to look for a company that adamantly states up front that they do NOT do team training......then confirm it either in their section here or by asking the drivers directly.

you want that trainer awake and in the jumpseat the entire time you're driving, not sleeping in the back and using you as a 2nd logbook to pad his paycheck. if he isn't beside you, paying attention to you and watching your every move, you are learning nothing, and it will show when you get turned loose solo. we see examples of this every single day.

 

Mr Cerberus...

I'm curious, are you wanting to drive or do you want to be a Trucker? Are you looking for a job or do you want to hit the road for a few years? What difference does it make? Well, if you were a senior in high school, and your favorite sport is basketball, what college would you go to if you wanted to play college ball? Usually a college that has a strong basketball team wont have a strong football team and vise versa.

The same thing goes for trucking. If you want local, you beat the bushes in your area. If you need to be home on the weekends or every other week, you look for companies that have a terminal or haul alot of freight in your area. If you want to be out for a month to 6 weeks, just about any company will do. If you're looking for the next adventure, got a clean record, there are companies that roam all of the States, Canada, the Territories...etc. On a gig like that, you're not concerned with getting home, you're concerned about the money.

So, what is it that you want to do?

 

You can make money with Millis, not be treated like crap and drive well maintained equipment...they will get you home as requested. They train you the right way as well....with a commitment of course.