Starting cdl school at community college

Howard and McElroy are good places to start with from where you live. Royal might be, too. They don't seem to be the company they were at one time. These are flatbed companies (royal also runs vans). Is that what you want to do?

 

Watkins/ Shepard is a reefer outfit. Flatbed probably pays the best, at least for a new driver. You have to tarp and chain, but many companies pay you for that. Reefer isn't bad, but you can sometimes sit at a dock for a long long time, and you have to deal with late night appointments from time to time. I just ran a load from Greeley, CO, to Allandale, MI, that picked up at 1100 pm and delivered right at midnight. The flip side is that people never stop eating, so there is always freight to run. You can make good money doing it OTR, as it usually has a good length of haul and reefer outfits tend to pay better than van on average.

IMHO, the key to a good company is how well they treat their drivers. That is different for everybody. I like being left alone. It suits me just fine if I can fuel anywhere within a fueling network, or get trailer washouts without needing approval from anyone. If I'm put on a load that delivers three days later, I don't need to talk to anyone at the company for three days. Some people aren't very efficient in that kind of a setup, though.

look into the accessorial pay for the companies you are looking at. If they cover everything down to parking reimbursement, then they are probably a good company to work for. If they don't offer you a dime while expecting you to babysit a broke down truck for a week, they probably aren't a good company to work for.

 

Watkins Shepard is not reefer. It's all dry van

 

Call Watkins-Shepard and ask what they haul out of Myrtle. Most Watkins-Shepard accounts are dedicated and many are furniture accounts. Pretty good outfit overall.

 

@TROOPER to TRUCKER can tell you how wonderful Averitt is. Please excuse his profanity.