Being a newbie in Florida is SOOOO depressing!

I've worked for werner for 9months, the runs were ok, although they would never get me home every 2 weeks, my particular truck was a freightliner century and it rain 68, I got sick and tired of bringing home 200-300 dollar checks so i came to ccc, I've been here for over a year and I am making wayyy more money then i was with werner, I work 5 nights a week, the job is simple, no touch freight, I run a day cab, home every morning and off every weekend, the only bad thing about the company i dont like it now the day cabs are governed at 57, I miss my 68mph truck

 

i live in florida as well and here are the companies i have worked with.


i started out of roadmaster, went to us xpress for about 9 months. us xpress was a great company but things have changed. if your interested in going lease or team then they are a awesome company to work for. in mid 2008 they got strict on the policy of florida drivers needing to be on a Lease or team basis, no solos. they hire solos on a needed basis. however dont worry about them being a automatic company, they are in the process of switching back to manuals. 90% of there fleet is auto shift but u.s. xpress has a very outstanding equipment trade cycle. they rarely keep trucks over 3 years so it wont be long before the majority of the auto shifts are phased out.

i spent some time with May Trucking out of Salem, OR. they operate a terminal in pensacola. overall i was satisfied with them. nice equipment, manual trucks, reefer units and one of the few companies that still truley believe in coast to coast freight. you will see alot of the west coast with them. they were a great company in many aspects but wasnt personally my cup of tea.

i had a very short lived career with KLLM, they also actively hire out of florida and run reefers. they are they only company that i can honestly say i truley hated. they did not care a single bit about the driver, i had a death in the family and they tried to force me on a dispatch during the funeral. just my opinion though, every driver has a different experience. im not sure about recent events with them but they may have changed to a company that requires you to lease to be employed.

just recently worked for Total Transportation. they are out of mississippi and run dry vans. i spent the last 8 months there and just actually quit today but not because of them. i was burned out and wanted a regional position. overall they were a very good company with steady freight.Total is also a auto shift company, but they are also owned by U.S. Xpress, USX supplies there equipment so Total will also be switching back to manuals.


in my experience the best thing to do being a Florida driver is to get on with a company that runs reefer. doing so allows alot more freight flexibility and cold freight seems to be doing better then dry freight.

 

Anj8488, you live in Lake Butler and have never worked for Pritchett? I thought that was a pre-requisit to living there Anyway, I've been with them almost 3 years now and like the work, I live in Tallahassee and I'm on refuse, the money is good, the equipment is good, I've got a new 2010 Mack, but the hours are very long. Anyway, just don't see a lot of folks from Butler, good people over there, wouldn't mind living there one day.

 

Tre, try Conway Truck Load out of Joplin, Mo. They have training through Crowder college in SW Missouri, I am there now but am from Ft. Myers, FL. After graduation, you spend 7500 miles with a trainer at 26 cpm, then your own truck and regular raises up to 36 cpm by end of 135k miles. When you deliver your first load in your own truck, they pay for your training except for room and board, and 1st 1000 of Crowder.

If you have your CDL Conway will send you to Crowder for a week of boot camp, then put you with the trainer.

I believe if your CDL is over 30 days old and you haven't driven yet, you will have to go to bootcamp.

One of their biggest hiring criteria, is job stability. If you job hopped you probably won't get in, but, give them a try. Can't tell the exact definition, but the recruiter can.


RR

 

WHT trucks do Conway have manual or autoshift

 

Don't get so depressed, I am from central Florida and thought I would have a difficult time with finding someone other than Werner (training yard within 50 miles). By the second week of school I had 10 different companies that were willing to hire me. Don't know your background but there are many companies willing to hire those of us from fl.

 

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