Anyone have advice for me?

try a sad story, when i dispatched was always a sucker for a sad story. freight gets slow this time of the year usually. some companys dont want to spend more money until the 1st of the year. others depending on there tax structure want to keep there inventories low until next year. just remember if you change jobs you start at the bottom, and you dont want to many past jobs for your new employer too look at. lots of luck

 

Nothing unreasonable about that. But freight is hit and miss and when you're at one of the top 10 mega-dry-van-carriers the 'miss' parts are multiplied by about 3 and the 'hit' parts remain about the same.

Being near the south CA central valley, Swift has a lot of opportunities for good teams at certain dedicated accounts and your location would probably be good. If you're single, maybe you need to find a fellow female (or male) driver to team with and expand your horizons that way. Teaming is not for everybody but maybe an option for you.

 

Stick it out, you're almost there. Get your endorsements. Get out of the dry van trucking. Some LTL dry van may be OK, but the OTR stuff is not. Think about tanker/hazmat endorsement. My neighbor drives for A&R Transport and makes $72K per year. Best wishes.

 

Here's the best annual pay for company drivers; keeping in mind it's an average and there are exceptions:

#1 - Tanker/hazmat
#2 - Reefer
#3 - Flatbed
#4 - Dry Van

 

Yes one yrs exp is a lot better than less than a yr with your first company. However if you really ask around you'll see LTL companies aren't hiring, and if they do, you'll be the first to be layed off when freight gets slow. Most companies now want several yrs safe driving exp, not just months. So stick it out with Swift and try and make the most of it. Sir, if your only bringing in about $1000/month, then something is seriously wrong somewhere. I drive for Swift as well, now as an o/o, but was a company drivers since '03, and believe me, I never made that little money, and w/my exp I maxed out the pay scale at .38 cpm. So its not your increasing pay rate, its something else. Are you refusing too many loads? Are you trying to take all the home time you can? Home time can kill your wage, its all lost money. That's the nature of this industry, weeks and weeks out working, then as little time off as possible, will bring in the most money you can earn. Its sad but true, we live in these trucks, and just visit our homes for only a day or two, when we can.

 

Just keep in mind, do NOT be afraid to pester for those loads. Two, three times an hour, if not more. And if/when you DO get them, do your best not to screw them up. Im with CRST and all it took for my codriver and I was one good load and we havent stopped moving since. Its amazing how 1 hour of free time can seem like a week.....

 

Thats the ######## they want you to believe. I got a union shop LTL gig with just a CDL A and less than a month verifiable exp. It has less to do with what you've got and more with who you know and how you sell yourself. The big dogs will often go to bat for you if you show you're loyal and know wtf you're talking about. The position I have now opened with over 50 applicants, all but me had OTR experience of 6 months or more. I won't lie, I was probably the least qualified on paper, but I made it personal and slowly became friends with the guy doing the hiring. After three weeks of interviews he (very reluctantly) offered me the position. Him and I are now good friends, we have a great working relationship, and after months of boucing back and forth between the idea of going back OTR, I finally decided to stay put. The decision paid off, I get another stop added to my route next week, as well as a pay increase and benefit increase.

All these mega carriers want you to believe that we're a rank and file nation. They love it that you think leaving them in less than a year automatically means you're blackballed from the Local Industry. But the fact of the matter is often times Joe Small Businessman who has a fleet of 15 trucks doesn't give a #### about whether or not you lasted a year at Swift. If you can drive the truck, prove yourself to be loyal and show you're capable of making him money, he probably wants you on his team. Granted, there are some companies who give complete hiring power to the insurance company drones (who don't know you from Jack), but those are few and far between on the local LTL circuit. Don't believe the hype, you CAN get a local job with little to no experience. You just need to work at it, thats all. So how do companies like Swift and CRST stay in business?...In an industry that attracts the long term unemployed and ex-cons, the idea of working hard usually isn't worth it. For some, It's much easier to park your ### at an orientation for three days and get kicked off a truck 10 days later than to pound the pavement and make way for your future. Mega carriers depend on this, and they have no shortage of individuals to keep their expectations up...

 

Ltl is the way to go

 

i thought after 6months other companies will take him on

why wait another 3months? for another $3000?

i guess if he can, he should

me? i would have bailed the first month of no money, taking the rookie hardknocks is one thing, working like a dog is completely different

i remember when i started, schneider promised me i could make $25,000/yr, i hung up the phone on the guy

we are not school kids, we are fathers and husbands, the industry should not bankrupt people just to drive a truck

 

honestly, i believe these newbies get jerked around because they allow it

but shucks, can we blame them? oldheads are all succumbing to elogs, because they are also beatdown

this is becoming an industry phenomenon, beatdown a trucker and he will work for peanuts with a mule harness around his neck