Con-way truckload (aka CFI)

AF461: Just finished 7500 mile training with my finisher and am waiting for a truck. I have been waiting for 4 days and judging by the flow I am seeing I expect another 4 days. The finisher training was excellent. The length was short compared to most companies( about 20 days) and the pay while training was $.26 per mile wiith some northeast bonus miles and New York bonus. Some companies the training is 8 weeks or more and you get $300 per week. I am also receiving layover pay while I am waiting. The delay in trucks is because the maintenance dept is over loaded with the normal volume of getting trucks to newbies plus they are recycling some of the fleet so they are extra busy.

For Goldwing Daddy: No "truckload" division in palm beach but there may be a "freight" division yard there which may be a parking possibility while you are home. I am from Ft. Myers and a local Pilot will let me park there for home time. for your training and experience, I suspect they wil send you to a thing called "boot camp" for a week at Crowder College in Neosho as part of your orientation. Good instructors, great place, I recommend you confirm with a recruiter what they will make you do. Also, they may put you through 3750 mile of finishing rather than the full 7500 like I did. Recruiters know for sure, I am guessing at which program you will fit into.

Bee safe you all.

RR

 

RR, Congrats on finishing with your trainer. Sorry to hear you have to sit and wait for your own truck. You'll have to be sure to get on here and tell us what kind of truck you get when you get it.
So, was your trainers truck nice? What kind of trucks do they operate? I know they don't have APU's, but do they allow you to have a inverter in the truck?

 

Presently, there are KW T600, 660, T2000's, Freightliner Cascadias, and maybe one or two Volvos in the fleet. As they age, they are being replaced with KW 660's and International Prostars. I have been told I will get a 600. The cab is smaller but the sleeper area isn't bad. Being solo, it will be fine. I expect I will be switching it out in about a year.

My finisher was great. He was great at explaining. Driving is not the hard part, getting from point A to B in the right time, with the most amount of rest, best places to park overnight...I think he liked to start a little after sunrise, I prefer to go when I wake up at 5 or so...he nicknamed me Rooster and I will have that lettered on my door as my handle.

His truck was a Cascadia. I like the 13 speed (new ones are all 10's) the sleeper is nicer than the KW's for two people so it was as good as it gets.

Almost no trucks have APU's...they experimented with them and chose not to go with them. Company says drivers still idled so they weren't cost effective, drivers say they didn't save enough fuel. I sort of believe the company on this one. If APU uses 5 gallon per night (I think that's high) and truck uses 10, that's $15 a night savings, and only 200 nights per year, thats a $3000 saving so the APU should pay for itself with these conservative numbers in 2.5 years.

The trucks are all equipped with bunk heaters, haven't had to use one yet and I have had some nights in the upper 30's. Company does allow idling at certain temps, but I don't remember the numbers. They didn't seem unreasonable so I didn't worry. They won't ping you about idling if you are getting around 6.2 MPG. They work with you to hit that goal too so its not like you had a bad first month and they fire you.

Inverters, yes. 1500W max. Buy it at Conway, they install for $200. warranted!! If you buy elsewhere for say 30 bucks less, Conway still installs free, no warrantee.

Be safe!

RR

 

Thanks for all the great info! So, when do you get your truck? Hopefully they will get it to you soon so you can get out and start making money... I haven't fully made up my mind yet on who do drive for. It's in between Con-Way and Schneider. I talked to a recruiter yesterday from SNI for over an hour and she was way cool. If I take a job with them, I'd be on the JCPenny's account and would be home most weekends. I would have to deliver to one that was close to the house, so that's how they'd get me home.

After talking to you, I still like Con-Way! They were my first choice when I first started looking at crossing into trucking 2 years ago. I've had the opportunity to talk to a few of their drivers and never once heard a bad comment. That has to say something about the company! Plus, they are ranked number 6 as far as profit goes in the industry. Again, that's really saying something.

I have some time to decide still, so I will have to think long and hard about it. I just want to make sure which ever company I choose, I'll be able to be there for quite a few years...

Be safe and keep me informed as to how things are going.

Kevin

 

So Con-Way has their own school? Didn't know that.

 

IIRC Conway stopped the training. If they restart it they may stop for the winter to not have rookies playing in the snow.

 

I don't think Con-Way as a company was ever in the training business. I know they have people go to Crowder College close to Joplin. They will hire from any PTDI certified school, but they encourage new folks to go to Crowder. I believe they will even help with the cost at Crowder as well.

 

So they sponsor? No PTDI schools in Ga.

 

Conway Truckload has both student programs and a program for Vets i think it is called the apprentice program. A company recruiter is the best source of details for both.

If you haven't spoken to a recruiter, contact Christine in recruiting at 1-800-641-4748.
My emp number is H6944 for the referral credit.

Be Safe,

RR

 

I have to dissagree on that one. Most changes was for the good but other changes sucked. For example They rush you more now on delivery times. It's
no longer the 50mph dispatch. before when you had a write up in the shop
they fixed it no matter what. Now you have to raise hell to get it fixed. Even on steer tires. Instead of putting new tires on the steer axle they want to put on used tires.