Best starting-pay company for a newbie? If avoiding no-touch freight?

Here are some to check : You mentioned Maverick & TMC -both good choices. Securing freight & tarping on a flatbed is mostly common sense & a little logic. They will train you anyway. Your best pay will be refrigerated vs. flatbed. Both are good trucking though.

transamtruck.com
intd.com
drive4marten.com
Navajo.com
Central Refrigerated

 

MidwestDriver4 : Read post #11

The companies I listed I believe will address your wants for comfort of living. Check the websites I posted for you for a full description of the tractors, routes(48 states/Canada/Regional). I believe these companies have what you're asking about. The pay is also addressed on their websites & you can probably expect about $34-$35K the first year. After 24-36 months you can increase your pay substantially by transitioning to tankers. Look at this website for what you can expect when/if you go to tankers : artransport.com (file this tanker info. away for future reference if interested). I kept a little notebook & kept it updated on top-of-the-line companies so to stay prepared in case of having to change jobs for whatever reason. Always knew where I was going next if I had to.

Edit :

If you check the websites, some, not all, have a feature in which you can submit questions and they will answer by email. One example is Navajo; click on "Contacts" and the email feature will be there.

 

Realistically you are looking at about $25,000 your first year.

Usually you can put whatever you want as far as amenities in your truck. As long as anything isn't permanent, meaning drilling holes in stuff or doing anything you can't reverse. Most companies nowadays do not allow large hard wired inverters due to warranty issues. Nonetheless you can get a small plug in one that will run just about anything.

No way of determining what you kind of truck you will be driving at this point. You get the luck of the draw at the moment you get out of your trainers truck and are handed your keys.

Nationwide routes? Not sure what that means. If you get hired on with a company that runs 48 states then that is a "nationwide" company I guess. As a solo driver you are sure to see just about every town and city out there however usually the long coast to coast runs are covered by teams. You want to make a lot of money and cover a lot of ground (and drive a nice big truck) I suggest you run team. You also will be treated like less of a pee-on!

Per diem? No. You pay for your food if you want to eat and you pay for your shower if you want to be clean. You can get a fuel bonus card in which points will be issued when you fuel. You can use these points to get free showers. I think its like one shower for 50 gallons of fuel.

Bene's, home time, profit sharing etc... is all going to depend on what particular company you end up driving for. They are all different, with some similarities. Home time is fairly standard. Roughly 6-8 weeks out. 3-4 days home.

 

MidwestDriver4 .......you are just another GLEAMING example of some one who wants to start off at the top without paying any dues and not willing to take well meaning advice given because it wasn't what you wanted to hear. You have been given some very sound advice from several folks ,myself included.... the gentleman that you claimed to come off as condescending , and fear- mongering was merely trying to give you the benefit of 40 years of experience..... that is longer than you've been born sir...Might be a really good idea for you to take that degree you have and find some other kind of career...looks like you already know more than most of us that have lived our lives in this one. Chompi kudos to you for that post...you seem to have answered all his questions.

 

You totally misinterpreted his advice. This is trucking. It's not pretty, it's not rosebuds, especially to those just entering the industry who have never done it before and don't know what to expect. Expect the worst, you won't be disappointed. That being said, you need a thick(er) skin to handle what you will be dealt. If something as simple as his true advice, no matter how painful, can upset your apple cart, you have all kinds of things coming down the pike certain to ruin your day in this business. These guys are trying to help you. Some may sugarcoat it while others will not. Your feelings are of no concern to carriers. Their objective is to move the freight from point A to point B as efficiently as possible. You're simply a replaceable commodity to them. If you can't handle that you should find another industry. No one will hold your hand or coddle you in trucking. What he is telling you about new drivers is true. You will be treated like a newbie and have to earn respect, it's not automatically given, you must prove yourself. The companies hiring newbies are listed throughout these threads. Do some searches and you will find the answers to all of your inquiries. Now, if you are of the one-percent of new drivers who go the extra mile and work your ### off to find the companies that will treat you a BIT better than the usual mega-carriers you -may- find a company offering you slightly better than the average newbie. You want to start a rung above most other newbies? Go flatbed. You take Emuslified to task for his advice and say that "you get it" but if you got it you wouldn't be repeating the questions about the companies you're asking about since the answers are in these forums. You want comfort, go teams. You want higher pay? Go flatbed. You want home time, find a local company. What he's telling you is that you're not likely to get everything you want out of the gate. Due the research and find these companies you would consider working for THEN come back and ask about them if you can't find anything else about them. Asking others to simply hand you these companies without you doing the research suggests you're NOT doing what is necessary ... and that's the hard, unadulterated truth. Don't take it personal. As another driver's tag suggests (and he's NOT being personal), "Suck it up, buttercup." His advice, and mine, is NOT condescending. It is what it is. You can expect about 25k to 30k your first year. Chompi answered your other questions.

 

Lets not forget they really pumped up on advertising in the last year so newbies arnt getting much,altho the high turn over is what counter balances this

 

The advice you have been given in this thread is the truth. There have been quite a few times I have posted stuff on here and not gotten the response I wanted to read but it was the truth. Now has that advice changed my mind about what I wanna do no but it certainly opened my eyes to scenarios I hadn't thought of.

 

"Now has that advice changed my mind about what I wanna do no but it certainly opened my eyes to scenarios I hadn't thought of."


Yes Brownsfan, and you will have many more at your expense. The difference is Midwest will get paid to learn and you will be paying to learn.