National Carriers...The Beginning of a New Journey

Good morning or Good Evening, depending where your at...

I wanted to begin a series of postings about my journey back into trucking. I started in trucking about two years ago. I always wanted to drive truck but did not get into it, until later in life. I started with a refrigerated carrier out of Ft Worth, Texas and after a few months, my wife had developed some health challenges and I had to take time away from driving. It has taken her about 18 months to get back onto her feet. We both discussed my return to trucking and she agreed, it is time.

I am 50 years old and while many are winding down, I am just ramping up. The first thing I did was begin doing my research and went at it from a perspective of being a brand new guy and narrowed down my choices to Western Express, Schneider, Maverick and National Carriers.

I spoke with recruiters from each company and aside from National Carriers, I felt that there was a true lack of concern for me as a person and as a potential driver. Just one example was when I attempted to explain my situation, the attitude was sort of like "really dude, who wants to listen to you". Also the fact I have been off a truck for 18 months, the consensus of Western Schneider and the others was that I must have done something wrong or something bad happened and told me that I needed to go back through truck driving school.

Last night, which would be June 27, 2016, I went onto the National Carriers website and sent in my information, at 2:15 am. At 5:45 am, an email arrived from my recruiter that gave some brief information. I was sleeping during the day and the recruiter than calls and leaves me a voice mail and says that she is working on getting me setup and wanted to know if I wanted to run the 48 states or do the SW Regional.

Next thing I know, I am getting another email that has new driver information about lanes of travel, pay rates, benefits and this is less than 24 hours after my initial inquiry. The recruiter did not say to me, sorry but you need to go back to school, did not pass judgement on me or beat me up, for being away from the truck.

I made the decision today to join National Carriers. For me it is a good fit. The reasons are that they are located near where I live, they offer a good starting rate of pay, they will have me ride with a trainer for 6 weeks but did state that if the trainer feels that a trainees skill sets are where they need to be, that they will shorten the six week interval and get you going on your own.

I have chosen to do regional and feel good about what lies ahead. I will add this as I go along. I feel that what I am posting will help some new drivers make an informed decision about joining National Carriers.

 

OOinOC,

Be careful about? I have no worries, I am not saying anything negative about National Carriers, I am in the positive light at all times with these guys, even if I don't get on with them after all of this.