Does This Sound Like a Reasonable Plan?

Yes, once you have some experience under your belt, you would be able to move on to a different company. My hubby trained with Werner, had his own truck with them for three months, then moved on to Celadon. The rest of your plan sounds ok, since you are a quick learner. Backing will come with time. Even some of the more seasoned pros still have their bad days!

 

Actually it sounds like a very good plan. What does your gut tell you? I think you already know but you are questioning yourself. Take a deep breath and relax. Good luck to you and please keep us up to date.

 

When you finish CDL school, It all depends on how well your driving test goes at SNI. There dedicated requires 6 months of OTR on alot of their accounts. After the test, they might do the short training and they might ask you to go through their school? All depends on the evaluator, but I have heard they are pretty tough on you. if you hit a curb, forget about it....But since you are paying your own way, why not look at every angle and consider taking the time to find a company that you can stay with for longer than it takes to jump ? The longer you stay at one company, the better the benefits get and your travel agent will reward you with decent runs after you prove yourself. Maybe even a dedicated run that gets you home daily or at least on weekends and thru the house during the week. The mega carriers bid on freight , so contracts come and go all of the time. But any company that offers newer well maintained trucks,and inverters, healthcare and decent miles within a hundred miles of home would be a good start if that's possible in your area. I have read that some drivers start for a company and stay for years and are very happy. The BS is going to be there no matter who you drive for. So it's up to you to control the amount of it from the start by being prepared. Good Luck at school.

 

Have you actually checked with other trucking companies? Or, do you just have your heart set on driving an orange truck?
There are other companies that take school grad's. Even the companies who advertise paid training, at an Arkansas college.
So, you might even check with the one in your neck of the woods (from Van Buren).
You have to take everything you read on this site with a grain of salt. Sure, a lot of people do have legitimate complaints, but others are just complaining because others are listening.

Good luck in your pursuits.

 

I went through the training program with PAM. When I first went out, I though I would stay out 5 weeks, and get 5 days off at home with the family.
Didn't like that, so I went to 4 weeks out, and 4 days at home.
Didn't like that either. So, I finally went to 3 weeks out, and 3 days at home.
That worked much better with me, and I was home every time I requested.
I did all that, because 5 days off really cut into my pocketbook. That's 5 days NOT GETTING PAID. Not to mention, I usually saw more miles than I wanted. They would wear me out.
But, I'm not here to praise PAM. Just thought I'd offer my 2 cents.

 

Werner has a 275 hr training period, you drive for 275 hrs and then you can go solo. I've got two people whom graduated with me whom were on local runs directly out of training... ########!

And they have recently basically retrofitted the fleet with APU's so you are pretty much very likely to get one, and thusly your idling the truck thing would be moot. And they are 65 mpg as to SNI's 60 >.>

But I'm bias cause I like em. Your plan is feeisble, and as for the microwave, heh, what they don't know won't hurt em.

 

I would say go with SNI, they are a really good starting company and is pro driver. As for the driver comfort with sni I never had a problem with them, I idled when it was hot and all of there trucks have a webasto heater in it for the winter so no worries about being cold. As for cooking in the truck you can get cig lighter plug in ovens, crock pots, and other things you can cook with in the truck. So I would say go with sni, im glad I started with them two years ago, learned alot and enjoyed working for them, the only downside right now with them is they slowed all there trucks to 60.

 

Positivity and patience and you will do just fine! Give yourself about a year and you should have enough experience to decide what you think of the industry and where you will go from there. Good luck! Oh yeah, and have fun, its quite an experience.