BTC Flat

Hey Mike

Do us all a favor, if you will.... let us know a little about the company when you get there and as you train. This will help many students on this forum make informed decisions about their futures. I'm sure someone has commented on this company in the past.......one thing about trucking, its static! Rules change, companies change, and our view changes as we get more time in the seat. They seem to keep their drivers busy as I see many coming through Nashville.

Good Luck To You!

There ya go Ram, you now have someone to get some accurate & truthful information from, to help make your decision

P.S. One more company you might take a look at is Boyd Brothers Transportation.

 

Will do. I am fresh out of school and I have dealt with Jerome and Treyce there, and they both seem much different than many of the recruiters I have dealt with. Very honest and forthcoming.

BTC was #1 on my list, and thank goodness they accepted me! I will most likely start a blog and link to it from this thread when I get going.

CAN'T WAIT.

 

Well you sure have a great attitude and that will help in your success! Flat bed work is hard work, but with right attitude you will be fine. I'm sure the blog would have value to many new drivers. Be safe!

 

Congratulations on completing your training and getting your cdl! How was Trainco's training overall? What was the deciding factor(s) about BTC that helped you with your decision to go with them? Did Maverick Transportation and Swift send recruiters to Trainco? I am interested in flatbed, and almost ready to make the leap in; just deciding whether to go through Swift or a private cdl school.

 

Trainco goes way beyond teaching you how to hold a steering wheel and pass a CDL test. My instructor has 4.5 MILLION miles...with no at fault accidents along the way. He was so full of information that he would just tell stories about life on the road and people would start writing down these tips he would give randomly.

I talked to 4-5 recruiters that actually came and gave presentations at Trainco (Swift, Werner, Maverick, TMC, MCS, Roehl). The recruiter from Maverick's glass division said that she is constantly impressed with the quality of students coming out of Trainco. Also, BTC and Roehl said that they prefer to hire students from Trainco because they know what they are getting as far as education and experience on a regular basis. Kris Keplar from Swift (swift4me.com)is probably the most direct and honest recruiter I have dealt with. Outside of James and Treyce at BTC, of course.

I ended up graduating #1 in my class (of only 6...but hey) and from the very start I knew I wanted to pull flatbed. It just seems more involving than dragging vans around all over.

I have talked to about 20 drivers at various local truck stops and asked most of them about their opinion in general about their carriers, and also about what they knew about BTC and its drivers...not a single one had a bad thing to say about BTC. In fact, all but a few said how courteous and well spoken the drivers they dealt with were from BTC. One said he was on the side of the road without his reflective triangles (he left them at an accident after being the first on scene) and he said the BTC guy pulled over and not only offered assistance, but gave him his triangles and made sure he was safe before heading off.

The one that stuck out to me though, was a BTC driver I talked to my first day of school actually. I grilled him about the company (while he was on a lunch, mind you) and not only did he seem more than willing to answer questions, but actually asked me some questions about what is important to me in a company. Near the end of our conversation, he told me that the best decision he ever made was to drive for BTC. As he walked away, he told me that it would be the best decision I should make as well.


Talk about sealing the deal.

I literally thanked God when I found out they approved me.

 

Well Ram,

How is school going? What are your thoughts so far??

 

Ive been with BTC for 7 months as of yesterday. Haven't had any problems with them. Its just the stress factors on the road itself that get to me once in awhile. Otherwise no complaints Anything in particular you want to know?

 

since you asked....lol.

What is their idle policy?
How are the dispatchers?
What kind of trucks do they have?
How are they about write-ups for repairs?
Do they have cheap tarps, or nice/heavy ones?
Do you get paid for the miles you are supposed to always?
Do you really get home for a reset every 7-8 days?
How is their orientation, anything that would be useful to know prior to going to Memphis?
ummmmm.....

How was your mentor if you had one?
How many miles do you average?
Do they let you take your truck home? If so, can you drop the trailer somewhere safe and bobtail home?
Do they have APU's? Do they allow inverters?

I will stop there. Thanks for the information. Hope to meet you sometime.

 

Haha well Ill try to do my best at answering them.

What is their idle policy? Keep it under 40% for bonus. All of the new trucks, and I think either the 07s, or 08s and newer have bunk heaters so this should be easy.

How are the dispatchers? Depends on who its going to be. I haven't had much of a problem with mine. Some bad, some good. But I think that's the case with any company.

What kind of trucks do they have? Most of the trucks are 06 to 09 freightliner columbias. They are starting to phase out the freightliners now. Brand new Macks and some International Prostars. All around 430hp, and all manual 10 speeds.

How are they about write-ups for repairs? Ive heard guys say they're bad about repairs. I think thats bs. If you take it the shop, or if your on the road and you go to a t/a or petro, It WILL be repaired. It just depends on how many trucks are in the shop at the time.

Do they have cheap tarps, or nice/heavy ones? They're decent tarps. Sometimes odd sized for certain loads which can be a pain. I believe the heaviest tarps are in the 90lb range If I remember. They will have you pick that one up in orientation.

Do you get paid for the miles you are supposed to always? Ive always been paid for the miles that was listed for my load, on time. Were paid the same for loaded and empty also which is nice.

Do you really get home for a reset every 7-8 days? Ive been home every weekend, except for two in the last 7 months. But not always a full weekend. Some times just barely a 34 restart. I'm usually out for about 5-6 days at a time though.

How is their orientation, anything that would be useful to know prior to going to Memphis? 3 days orientation. I forget if it was 1 or 2 days for load securement. They want you to have steel toe boots. If you don't have any, one of the days they'll drive you over to a store that specializes in boots and I believe they pay up to a certain amount. They feed you a couple lunch and dinners. Oh, and don't be a real smart ##### or know it all lol.

How was your mentor if you had one? He was pretty cool. Took a little bit of getting use too. But was a good teacher. Was always right there with me when securing and tarping. He ran extremely hard though, so unfortunately it was hard to get rested sometimes.

How many miles do you average? Currently Ive only been averaging about a little over 2000 miles a week or so because of the holidays. It seems lately I have bad luck with going to shippers and consignees that have me waiting for ever. You are going to find that the miles from driver to driver is going to differ drastically. All depending on your dispatcher, where you live, and how hard you are willing to run.

Do they let you take your truck home? If so, can you drop the trailer somewhere safe and bobtail home? Yes. Allowed to do both. They're going to give a sheet to have signed by whoever owns the property that your dropping your trailer at though.

Do they have APU's? Do they allow inverters? No APUs. They allow inverters. Have to have the shop install it. Newer trucks have bunk heaters though.

Anything else just let me know. If you decide to go with them, good luck and be safe.

 

WOW...

Thanks for the reply. I am 100% going with them, and I will be attending the January 31st orientation. Everything about BTC is a good fit for me. I live 2 miles from the Ohio Turnpike and I-75, and they say that I shouldnt have a problem getting home for a reset. If you want to PM me your name, I will use it as a referral if you would like.

Certainly appreciated.

~Mike