10 Months OTR Driving Experience - Where do I Go?

First of all Welcome!

As for your question here my two cents,Werner is a BIG joke,so I would mark them off your list,J.B Hunt never drove for them but I do know someone who did and is now doing local gigs for them.He started as a otr driver and after about a year or so,there was an opening for a day cab hourly job,so he does runs from PA(where he lives) to NJ/DE and sometime to NY but he home every night or every other night.Not sure what he gets an hour,but must be pretty good cuz he pretty happy and says he comes home with $850 + a week.SN as I far I heard isn't that bad of a company,I have heard there strict in idling but not sure about that.Heartland Express I was told offers a refresher course only if you have min.of 1 year experience,but i'm not 100% how true that is.It may be on there web site.Going back to Werner,I from personal experience had a bad experience with them.I drove for them for 3 weeks and left,I was going threw there training program and my trainer was a nightmare!Make a long story short,my AKA trainer was 21 year old punk with only few months of otr experience!And I was his first student!What a joke that was.There tons of other companies out there just gotta look around.Good luck.

 

You could try Knight Transportation. Heartland is mostly regional though they do have a OTR program. I would say no to Werner. I would look at JBS carriers and take a look at Wel companies.

KH

 

Look also at ROEHL. Stevens. FFE. Ive worked for roehl . Great co but not for me. Currently with FFE. good so far same as any other mega fleet.

 

I heard JB hunt micro manages everything, calls you all the time to babysit and chk up on you, not sure about their pay.Werner pay is a joke and so is knight's ( sliding scale ) Schneider I heard is pretty good but I think they use " short Trips " software for their mileage calculation. Look for a company that pays practical miles. I think Roehl pays practical miles and I have good things about them ( lots of freight ) not sure about the pay.

 

There's about 27,000 or so that have worked for Knight over the last few years. You won't find much good said about them here or anywhere. As truck drivers were used to hearing what we want to hear but Knight takes it too a whole new level. You have to get downright nasty with them to break 2000 miles in a week and forget about accessory pay. They say they offer it but you have to ask multiple times in order to receive it. That's really about the only good I can say about them.

There's plenty of real companies that will express interest in providing you the tools to make them money and hopefully you can find one that actually would like to see you be successful. Glad to see someone doing their research.

 

Well I heard lot of heat about J.B Hunt but like I said,friend of my drives for them and is happy.I know they have local gigs also,but only ones I know are from the north east.Not sure about south east tho.

Also look into WSE and CCC both are sister companies or same company,not sure.Also W&W trucking out of Tampa Fl,I think they have a office in Ga,but not sure.

 

Looks like Forsyth, GA is about 70 miles southeast of Atlanta, is that about right?

I have worked for JB going on 3 years now. 2 years on DCS and the last 9 months on intermodal. Is is true that on OTR and some of the DCS accts they will tend to micro-manage a bit. As in lots of safety lectures, weekly conference calls and sermons on idle percentage. If you have thick skin and don't take stuff personally it's no big deal but it can be annoying if you are thin skinned. Some accts are worse than others.

Since I've been on intermodal there has been no micro-managing, no babysitting, no sermons on idle percentage or the smith system. On intermodal, at least where I work they respect you as a professional, give you plenty of work, good pay, good equipment and know their business.

I know JB needs intermodal drivers in Atlanta. They are offering double the referral bonus for new drivers hired into Atlanta intermodal. Regional intermodal drivers work 5 days and go home for two. Local intermodal are home daily and off 2 days/wk but that may be too long of a commute for you.

At the location I work out of new local drivers gross around 900-950 a week. Regional ave around 1000 a week.Within a couple years you should be grossing over $1200 if you like to run. There is a nice progression of pay raises and lots of accessoral pay, especially for the local drivers. Health insurance options are very good and very affordable. They offer a 401k with a 50% company match. I'd say the best attribute of JB is there are many options. They have the most DCS accts of any truckload carrier and move more intermodal containers than anyone else. Once you're in the door there are plenty of opportunities to transfer if you see another position in house that appeals to you.

Good luck to you whatever you decide.