About to graduate and have a job offer, have little red flags. Looking for opions

First off hello everyone, I am a 27 year old military vet and drove trucs while in the service. This site has helped me prior to going to school so I was to say thanks... and figured I should make an account.

Anyways I am in my last two weeks here at the Fort Scott Community College Truck Driving School (mixed feelings about this place btw) and already have a nice job offer. Actually truth is I was offered it prior to school. Right time, right place sort of thing landed me an offer while i was on vacation a week before school.

Now the company s Smokey Joe's Environmental out of Trinidad, CO. It is a flatbed only company which is in fact what I decided I wanted to do. Why you ask... not sure I've just always wanted to be a flatbed driver.
Anyways has anyone heard of this guy? I know he's a small operation which is both a plus to me but also makes me hesitant (I hate large corperate companies). He already has a truck/trailer ready for me he says and has told me he trains a bit different. I have been told that on day one I will get my truck (a 12 speed Freightliner powered with Detriot muscle) and follow him around on his routes. The idea being i already know how to drive the truck enough to get it from A to B safely, and we will just double up load counts as he trains me more specific things like tarping, tieing down, etc. Joe, the owner, is a 15-20 year army vet who drove for the army and then started the company when he got out, so he understands what I drove and is basically trusting that between military and schooling that I will be able to operate the truck safely. Does this sound like anything anyone else has heard of? I like the idea since I will get trained in MY truck and be used to it before going solo (he thinks 2-4 solid weeks before i go solo). The other trade off to this is the pay. Because it would be doubling the income as well for those loads he is offering $1,000 a week to start and after 6 months there would be a review. I have spoken with him a few times and made sure he meant that as this seems high to me. He assures me that is what he will pay. However this pay is not milage based but a weekly flatrate. He said his guys average 3,000 miles a week depending on load and he does alot of central and midwest runs, a few to canada, and a few mountain runs (and yes I know some veteran drivers won't touch a mountain run, however I'm not one to back down from a challenge). Does $1k/week sound like a normal amount for flatbed drivers. Idealy he wants me to be heavey haul after i've been around a year or two so maybe this is to keep me around. I know my brother pulls in more than that, but he has been driving for 5 years now on dedicated runs.

I have family out in trinidad but i had mentioned to Joe about moving expenses and he offered to put me in for a bonus after training to help cover expenses. It all sound so good but i've been screwed in the past with job promises that never came true. Does all this sound feasibl or should I be a bit skeptic. My plan was to go out alone, do training and before going solo come back home and pack the house. Then move the family out and my wife could start looking for a house while staying with family (and our stuff was in storage).

Anyways any input is appreciated, and btw my "plan b" would be TMC

 

Lots of unanswered questions.

A grand a week sounds good to start... but what about health benefits, vacation, life, etc, etc.

I personally like the small company atmospheres, but as it stands you need a few answers to make a good decision.

Are you shaking hands or is there a contract? Pros and cons to that as well.

 

I don't know this company, but I got started much the same way, and happy I did. In fact in 15yrs the largest company I've pulled for was 40 trucks. I've not had to worry about DAC reports or any of the issues I've read here regarding mega fleets.
$1000/wk is great for training! However that works out to $0.30/mile @ 3k when your done <---you may want to talk about how much after his review. Remember your looking for a job you can be sure to stay least 1yr-2yrs, otherwise you will be training all over again. Too many jobs and its harder to find work.
I wouldn't be packing up and moving for any driving job well maybe oil field.

 

His company safety record is kind of iffy.

Do a full and proper inspection of your equipement.

Proceed with caution !

 

1000/wk not only sounds good it is do-able for him to pay you that if he has the 3000 miles to give you once you're trained. It is good pay for your situation as a new driver. You're military and I suspect he's thrilled to have you, willing to invest in you. Wherever you go stick it out for a year. Thanks for your service and welcome home.

 

Is it a 1099 job? And no bennies?

 

Does'nt sounds like too bad of a deal.Since he has Canada runs I imagine he has good equipment but you should ask anyway how old his equipment is.You haze zero exp here in the states,this owner should ride with you at least the first couple days and then follow him on runs.You should talk to the other drivers and see how they like it and if they get paid every week and on time.

 

I looked up the Safer company snapshot and the company only had one equipment out of service and no driver out of service--not bad for a small company! Since you have relatives in Trinidad, CO you know it doesn't have the most booming economy and COL is a lot lower than the rest of the state, so $1k a week is pretty good! But ask the owner the good questions other members have mentioned.

 

Dig a little deeper,

and read the OOS and violations etc.

And shows 1 power unit, at less than 90K miles per year.

 

Unless you have access to the more extensive paid version of the company record, I only see one OSS,no crashes with a satisfactory rating over the last 24 months! I saw the 1 power unit and the 90k miles but have seen this with other small companies that I know have more trucks then are listed--why--not sure.