Abilene Motor Express vs Covenant Transport

@Flattie C is a woman driver at Abilene and maybe give some advice.
Is she still there @JohnBoy ?

 

In my opinion Abilene is a better company.

 

Always has and always will be, Abilene

 

You might be able to request a female trainer at Abilene. Could be a wait for availability as I think there is only one.

There are 3 stages of training at Abilene. As with anything the more you apply yourself the more you'll learn.

Covenant, I don't know much about other then the bible versus they have plastered on their trailers. That and they are related to us express or were in the beginning.

Anyway good luck to you!

 

When I went through training back in August and September, there was only one female trainer, and I got to train with her. She's great, can't say enough good things about her.

Training with Abilene is a three-stage affair:

Stage 1 is "super solo". You will be doing the majority of the driving while the trainer rides shotgun. The trainer may do some driving, but you won't be a full team operation. Trainees are not allowed to drive overnight.

Stage 2 is full team. You sleep while the trainer drives, and vice versa. You are allowed (and will almost certainly be required) to drive overnight.

Stage 3 is a couple of trips to the northeast, possibly with your original trainer, possibly with a NE regional driver/trainer. You'll have to make at least two trips, and one of them (and probably both) will be a trip to Brooklyn.

That's how it's supposed to go, anyways. My first trainer (not the female trainer, I started with a male trainer at first) had me running team from Day 1.

How fast you go through the stages is up to you, your trainer, and the whims of fate. There is no set timeframe. I was in training for 6 weeks, but other drivers have done it in 4, and still others take 8 weeks or more. (They usually don't last.)

You have to take a written test to advance from Stage 1 to Stage 2, and another to advance from Stage 2 to Stage 3. After Stage 3, they give you your truck.

You get a flat $500/week during Stage 1, $600/week for Stage 2, and $700/week for Stage 3. You take your hometime when your trainer does.

Abilene is a great company. Trucks are nice, miles are good, and they get me home when they say they will. I've never been refused a hometime request, and they've only once got me home late (and it wasn't even all that late, but they still gave me an extra day of hometime to make up for it).

 

No, and thank Christ for that. There is no one with whom I want to spend 24 hours a day in a 6 by 6 foot box. Six weeks of that during training was more than enough.