May Trucking new driver training

So if it were narrowed down to two choices (terminals close to home and take people with little-no current experience) which would ya pick May or Swift.....

 

Careful listening to some people on this thread. It appears they have limited experience with May or are just disgruntled where ever they are.

I run 48 state reefers. Ive never been to the Fontana yard. Ive been to yolo two times in a year and a half. Ive never had to stay at Halsey either. Im gonna guess bigblu was 11 western or they didnt trust him to leave the area in our blazing fast trucks.

Ill give everyone here a little log book class that applies to the May way. All of our loads are based on 500 miles a day. Do you get dipatched to them with very little time to get there,yes. Do you sometimes repower with a day lost on them, yes. Does it happen often, no, rarley. So if you have to run 500 miles a day you drive 8.25 hrs + .25 PTI(post trip inspection)+ .25fuel = 8.75. You can make 495 miles that day. The next day you do 8.5 driving with a PTI and that is also 8.75 with you driving 510 miles. That is 502.5 a day. You also keep your book balanced out (8.75x8=70) and you dont have to restart(unpaid). It does not always work out that way but it is a good goal and keeps you moving. Is this the cowboy way no. It works for me and I make a living. I might add I dont stop for coffee and video games at every truck stop I pass.

 

By any chance you wouldn't happen to know what its like for the May drivers that just do the 11 Western though would ya? That is the side of May that I am thinking of looking into since even 10-12 days out is being a challenge to get the wifey's approval of

 

NightHawk best I know it is tough these days. Miles are down a bit on the Dry side.

 

Miles can vary from week to week --- 2 weeks ago i got about 3200
the next week only about 2000. Just depends on the available freight in the area, i guess ????

 

From Florida, who does not run 11 western for May and is hardly ever at their facilities on the west cost, where I may add is where Nighthawk is from. Yet then claims to be a expert on the 11 western dry fleet operation?

By the way, if I drove 8.5hrs a day when I drove OTR I would of had plenty of time to drink coffee and trash around the truck stops.

If your choice is Swift or May, I would pick May. They pay more are a smaller outfit and you live in Salem OR.

Also if you are on the dry side you can pull refers also. I did. Heck when you got refer drivers driving them 8.5 hrs a day, someone has to take over and get the freight to the customer.

 

lol... as for the chaining deal... as I am originally from Alaska and have no problem chaining, so I tended to chuckle at all the Qualcomm messages, but yes, I read every 1 (sometimes 5 per day)... I will confirm the aforementioned Qualcomm statement.. it came across from Rick in the Safety Department at the Brooks Terminal that whenever you encounter snow and/or ice you are to chain up.. they did infact let a few drivers go when they didn't chain up, BUT it did not tell the drivers that they were let go because they got into accidents while not chained (and the accident is what got them term'd, not the lack of chains on the tires)...

I also am ex-military, and can follow rules and such, but unlike the military (at least the infantry anyway) drivers are not allowed to make hardly any judgement calls.. bad weather comes in, no you can't reroute around it, you sit an wait it out, oh yeah, and if you kicked up the idle time to keep the batteries charged, oh well, it still comes out of your pocket...

It is a decent entry level company, but if you already know the business, even just a bit more than the average CDL school graduate, you will find a lot of things that get onto your nerves...

They also tend to chew up new drivers, as their training tends to be rather short.. a mere 4-6 weeks (I see a lot of companies in the 2-3 month range) and when the new drivers get term'd for mistakes, their new careers just came to a crashing and probably permenant halt... I have seen more than a few drivers just out of "training" that have gotten into minor accidents or incidents (most common is backing incidents at truckstops, especially BLINDside which is NEVER addressed in their road/skills testing) and gotten term'd just because they really just needed better training...

I am not peeved with this company, and I got along well with a lot of the people I had contact with.. just not everything with this company (as is with most) is as bright and shiny as the upity-ups would like everyone to think.. Like I say, this is a great company for a new driver to get into their career with and gain some experience, but for those who are seasoned drivers, the micromanagement might be a bit stifling....

 

The guy I got to sign onto May strait out of school trained for 10 days at May before he went Solo. He drove 6 out of those 10 days 4 for a trainer who was a dirt bag and 2 for a IC who's licence was suspended and shut down.

He lasted a year at May before they starved him out so they could keep the new hires happy. He then went to Knight Trans and was ran 1600 miles in 8 days before he threw the keys back at them.

He now drives a tanker on local runs and says he would not drive OTR again.

 

Thank you, This is what I have been saying for a long time now. Glad some one has confirmed the chain up thing. IMO Any company that thinks they know when you should or shouldn't chain up from an office 2000 miles away is a company to stay away from.

 

Wat exately are they charging you for idleing?