Newbie truckers. Don't work for these companies. Heed my warning!

Soon as I hear 63mph trucks,freightliners,driver facing cams that's all I need to know to have an opinion.

 

Ahhh... Stevens Transport. Good times. Good times....

 

Deleted, wrong thread yikes!

 

Good point you have to start somewhere,You need experience to get a decent job in trucking.Dont run anything over,no preventables for atleast a year or two then start your journey up the food chain

 

That's what annoys me about these forums. All the experienced drivers KNOW we newbs need to start somewhere. They know we can't start at the top, or just go out and buy a truck and start our own company. But they just can't help themselves from dissing almost all starter companies. It makes little sense except to show they're superiority. Well no #### sherlock. You're a better driver than me.....duh.

So how bout they pass on some wisdom OTHER than "Don't work there they suck, all megas suck they teach you nothing blah blah blah". Yeah, starter companies aren't the best. Again.....duh. So give us good advice so we can get OUT of those starter companies with our CDLs in tact instead of putting them down.

If you really wanna see this in action go over to Sassy's CRST thread. Even after she's been there for weeks, and only has one week to go before she is finished, they're STILL trying to tell her not to go there......geniuses.

And to top it off, if us newbs were able to come in and get the prime jobs at the prime companies, the more experienced drivers would just complain about that too.

I'm all about listening to the folks in the know. I'll soak up real advice as fast as you can give it. I will ignore anyone who comes in just to spout off about how they know everything and we should listen to them, but they don't actually SAY anything worth hearing. I'm no spring chicken and I've done my time in my field, and I've trained youngins in my field. Want someone to NOT take your advice and tutelage? The best thing you can do is condescend to them. That will guarantee they stop listening.

You may have been driving for 30 years, and you may know more than I'll ever know. But you're still a truck driver. You're not creating vaccines or the cure for cancer. You're not building rockets to get us to mars. Get over yourself.

It's no win here for us newbies.


/rant off


Ed

 

I'll give both sides.

*The Bad*

First of all, anyone who's not an England trainer would probably agree they are (or were a few years back) a HORRIBLE company to drive for. Super low pay, super long time out. They're goal was to get $400-$450/week gross to drivers, and they were missing it. That's my exp, and it was a while ago, but 2200 miles is NOT a TEAM goal for a week.

*The Good* (or better at least)

There are companies that I've driven for that I wouldn't go back to, but WOULD RECOMMEND to new folks. Roehl, for instance. Any large company is gonna have your truck governed, and they, like most companies, want you to do it your way, but in my experience, they have a good program for drivers getting started. AND They have great hometime policies. I was 11 out, 3 in, and that's more than most will do (1 in for every 7 out).

There are some others, but they're limited to flatbed only, so I'll leave it at that.

 

I think what the OP is trying to say is that all the mega OTR's are a pretty pathetic place to work.
If you've worked for one, then you've worked for them all.
The common denominator here is the low, low pay and the lousy working/ living conditions.

 

Awesome, dude! I feel the same way. We know these starter companies might suck. Tell us which of the suckiest will be most worth our time. Does one have real good training? Maybe the best equipment? Have the most consistant miles? Etc.

 

Yup i agree! I know a company that will treat you right

 

Watkins Shepard is a starter company and they don't suck.