Attention all company drivers!!!

No "maybe" about it, not for a loooooooooooooong bloody time, either.

 

I just wanted to say hi! I am new to this field use to be a union bricklayer for 20 years but it was getting rough out there. And plus getting tired of laying brick,block and stone all day. But anyway just wanted to say hello and i hope to have some good chats here. I would like some input on who to drive for? How much really should i expect to bring home on check? Should i go to C1 i used to have a CDL A but not anymore. So sure i can get again. How long do you stay out before getting home? Insurance ? And anything else you want to throw at me. Like i said i have no clue just always wanted to drive see the country. So any input would be great and thanks and hi to all.

 

I went to C1 in St. Louis and came away with my CDL. The problem I have found is that most instructors a drivers but have little ability to teach. Also with only two weeks behind the wheel and as many as five students in a truck it's hard to get wheel time.

I would recommend you check out Roehl. I am still new with them but they are the best I have worked with or talked to at straightening out things when life doesn't work the way it is supposed to. I am on the 7/4-7/3 program. I may get home late, but I still get my time off. This is the only company I have seen that guarentees my hometime. I also know they will hire newbies. After six months to a year your options will really begin to open up.

I would avoid Star at all costs. They don't teach you how to drive legal, they teach you how to get around the rules. My brother drove for USA for almost a year, they weren't great and the weekend dispatchers were a mess. He seemed to have a pretty decent dispatcher most of the time. I think he got home about every other week for at least a restart. I know his experience was better than mine starting out.

I would advise you to set your priorities and then find a company that matches up with what you are looking for. I need hometime with a family at home. I get home about every seven days, first for three full days and the next time for four full days. I get $.27 a mile and get decent miles that are steadily increasing, the goal is 2800 to 3000 every trip out and that is what most drivers are getting.

Good luck, this is a hard business but if you stay with it, keep your mvr and dac clean, you will always have a job.

 

U.S Xpress may have there wrongs but, they are better as for as getting the loads for you than covenant they don't know there butt from a hole in the ground as for as loads goes...... seriously covenant has to get loads from J.B.Hunt this I have total experience on......I brought a load back from Utah and it was one of J.B's

 

You company can't to anything to you for posting on an internet website for a few reasons:
1. Your Constitutional rights to free speech
2. You, as an American, are free to have an OPINION of your own
3. Companies have no way to verify anything posted here except to ask...
4. If a company does try anything...you can always quit there and find another carrier, after alerting the state labor board or commission.

Say what you want about any company here...that's why this forum was created. Would you want to work for a company where you felt threatened about expressing your views?

I'd steer clear of any company that did ANYTHING to make me feel, even the least bit, uneasy....

 

This website is better that the Better Business Bureau because it comes from the drivers that are working for the companies and are just telling other drivers the truth about the way the companies really are I LOVE THIS SITE and I have told all my fellow truckers about this site

 

i would hope to think that we r allowed to have our own opinions and inform the next guy of what to look out for...

 

I see you say that you have been a driver for 2 years in your profile. You should be getting at least $.30-$.32 a mile or maybe more with 2 years experience. $.27 is extremely low for 2 years out, my first driving job 7 years ago paid $.29, by 2 years out I was up around $.34
Also you mean 2800 to 3000 miles every week, not every trip. Most companies try to make the average across amonth to somewhere around 12,000--so your miles are normal, but your pay isnt.

 

I just noticed my typo. I get $.37 a mile. (Big difference!)

 

ok,...there we go....37cpm is much better for 2 yrs out...lol...