Been thinking about getting my Class A for awhile now. Need info. Any help is greatly appreciated!

@chrismcallister34 --

All the above is indeed good info, but I would also submit to you the following....

When I got into the CDL world, my driving record was spotless--but I had a shakey employment history, as well.

Thus, to distinguish myself from the rest of the herd of beginner applicants, I knew I needed to add some "bling" to my applications.

I would strongly suggest--that you do the same.

What do I mean by that?

Before you contact any of the above--go ahead, and get your CDL (I take it from the above info you don't have one, yet).

Also--get ALL of the available CDL endorsements--hazmat, tanker, and also doubles/triples.

While you are getting the endorsements--go ahead, and also get a TWIC card.

Thus--later when you do talk/apply to your list of possible carriers--you will appear much more attractive to them, because you will have all these credentials--plus a CDL, already in hand.

All that up-front effort shows them you're serious--and obviously you mean business.

Thus--all those endorsements with the CDL will make you significantly more appealing to just about any starter carrier.

And given your situation--you really need that.

You'll need all those endorsements, anyway--because later on, that's (most of the time) where the real money is.

The above strategy will indeed cost you more time up-front--but I would wager that the payoff in the long run will be HUGE.

And now....for the REST of the story....

In my case--Knight Transportation shot me down--but (mainly because of all those endorsements, and the TWIC) Schneider hired me.

Fast forward to the present--I do hazmat tanker duty, hauling fuel....in south GA and north FL (but NOT with Schneider).

Think about it.....

--Lual

 

Rank them as Covenant, Western Express, PAM, CRST and CR England.
Covenant is ok, at best. Don't base a decision on the google reviews of their hotel, as its likely folks who got cut during orientation. Western Express will run you as hard as you can handle, but their equipment can be suspect and the pay is low. PAM will force you to team with another rookie of their choosing (not your woman, unless something has changed) for the first 40,000 miles and the pay is low. CRST might not be too low on your list if they allow you to team with your woman right after training, but not recommended for a solo operator at all due to low pay and lots of layovers. Ready-made teams might be OK there for a year. CR England is the worst of the worst. They will sit you and starve you as they know you are under contract. They will try to convince you to run one of their Dollar store accounts which has a lot of manual labor and really tight lots. And finally, they will do everything in their power to coerce you into signing a lease (fleece) agreement, where you will find a lot of weeks with, in Army terms, a "No Pay Due."

Granted, I'm not a team driver. Never liked putting my life in someone else's hands in a truck, and never looked further at team operations. This ranking might change a bit for someone coming on-board with a ready-made team.

 

I already posted the other day that Western Express doesn't have a cdl school.
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Also, the best way to get this new career started is to apply to all those already posted.
In your situation, you can't afford to be picky.
Only takes a couple of minutes to apply online. Forget the phone calls, just apply online and if the company is interested, you'll be contacted.

 

Thank you for your time and input. I truly appreciate it. I'm starting to lean more towards Covenant, CRST, and PAM. I think all of these other people's experiences with these team-driven companies is because were assigned to someone that was a complete stranger that didn't know want to do anything. But when I think about things, I think that we can have a different experience since we already know each other, and work and build off of each other, and know how to work with each other. And yeah, I'd rather not have to deal with any touch freight. I can deal with mostly drop-and-hook, but I don't wanna deal with touch freight.

 

Roger. I appreciate it Chinatown. You've been very helpful. At this point, I'm not being picky. I'm just taking the ones at the bottom of the barrel, getting my list in order, and ranking them best to worst. Like I said a couple of messages ago, I'm a bit of a perfectionist. I like to have everything researched, all my ducks in a row, all my i's dotted and all of my t's crossed, and everything on my end ready to go before I apply so that all I've gotta do is apply then talk to a recruiter. I'm a bit of a planner when it comes to stuff like this.

 

Thanks for this Lual. I'm gonna head up to my local community college again to see when their window is. The last time that I was there, which was back in like May, they're earliest open class date wasn't until October. Hopefully they still have some spots open as it's still a month and half out. That's the only school near me that isn't an hour and a half drive away from me. I already planned on taking at least my tanker endorsement, and getting my TWIC card. I was gonna wait on my Hazmat until I get through training. But I might as well go ahead and take it with my permit test along with my tanker endorsement so I don't have to pay again. But I'm kinda iffy on the doubles/triples because I'll never use it. I have no plans to ever pull doubles or triples. So even if I don't ever plan on doing doubles and triples, would it still be worth it?If it makes me stand out and look more attractive to a better company, then by all means, I'll do whatever it takes. My ultimate plan once I get my experience is flatbed, and maybe specialty hauling, oversize, or maybe heavy hauling.

 

The T endorsement comes about in different ways, not necessarily traditional doubles. Say you want to go back local and a wrecker outfit has an opening for a heavy wrecker operator. That requires the "T" because you wouldn't otherwise be able to pull a tractor/trailer combination down the highway behind the wrecker (counts as two towed units). In the oil field, we had something called "double bottom" systems, where it was essentially a straight tanker truck with a pup trailer. Notice I didn't say a pup semitrailer... this has an additional point of articulation and also required the "T."

Its just one written test and you have it for life. You never know, that perfect LTL job might come up in the future and you are passed over because it requires the "T."

 

Oh okay. I gotcha. I thought it strictly pertained to doubles/triples. So how does endorsements work when it comes time to renew my license? Do I have to take a renew test for every single one of my endorsements in order to keep them?

 

@chrismcallister34 --

My response to your above query would be...

The more bling you bring to the fling, the better the sling.

For 2 reasons:

1. At this point in the game, the more endorsements, the better;
2. Later.....you COULD change your mind, and decide to try another type of freight.

If you do later change your mind--you already have what you will need.

Besides....the tests for the endorsements are actually fairly easy.

Your other "roadmap" to future CDL success--in the meantime, especially while you work on all the above--

1. Don't have any traffic accidents/incidents;
2. Don't get any traffic citations--not even a warning;
3. Don't get married (being a new CDL driver is incredibly tough on a marriage--especially OTR);
4. Don't have any children (whether you intended to--or not);
5. If you don't already have a house--don't buy one. No offense intended to current homeowners, but if you aspire to OTR duty, it's later much less to worry/see about;
6. Don't get/start a criminal history...i.e., don't do anything stupid.
7. If you already have another job--do your very best to keep it.

As you are already seeing and experiencing, first-hand...it's a "reap what you sow" world that we live in.....and you do indeed reap what you sow--be it good, or bad.

--Lual

 

Go in, take picture, pay money. That's all they want, your money... and you only pay once for the endorsements, they are a part of your renewal fees.

Then only endorsement that differs is H, as it requires a new background check and fees for each renewal.