Confused and need some GOOD ADVICE

hey scooterdawg,

glad to hear that everything is working out for you. I would have to say that yes i to have a pre-hire from one of those " oh well" at least i have a job company, and i would be willing to say are there trucks blue. My neighbor works for them and he is home most of the time lately and can seem to get the miles.

He stated that he is really at the point of hanging it up and heading back to doing concrete work for meijer stores, due to him not making no money, then again it could be his wife not wanting him gone for more than 1 week at a time, he has not been able to pay his house payment, car payment, and everything else. His wife is not a truck driver's wife so she complains either way, no money for the bills, " i can drive" no want you home can't win.

As far as which company is the best for you, you first need to decide want you want to haul. Tmc, maverick, and roehl are flatbedders, conway is dry van i believe that might have some reefer if i remember right that was one of my pre-hires also. The other being kllm and they seem to be the best of the picks are reefer. Not sure about willis shaw.

I contacted usxpress about a month ago and they informed me that they were only hiring teams at this time and i prefere solo, my brother in law is laid off right now and he has his cdl's and that would be the only person i would drive with if i had to go that route.

I have not decided on with one i will go with as of yet, it betweein arrow transport which is flatbed, or stevens transport or kllm. Most of my family is into the heavy haul, moving machine pressing and most of the excavators, and heavy equipment for us, all i do is run heavy equipment for the last 10 years, so drive flat bed and all the extra work that go along with the job really is not a issue.

I economy freight will pick back up in a month or two, i use to be the receiving manager for home depot for 7 years, and it is alway's this away this time of the year. Good luck at what ever choice you make.

Happy hoilday's and a happier new year.

 

Hello ScooterDawg;
No matter which company you start with, they're all common carriers with high driver turnover. This is why they're anxious to hire you, you're desperate to get some driving experience, and you'll work cheap. After you've put in your 1 to 2 years of verifiable experience, I advice to quit OTR and find yourself a local hourly paying job, or a short-haul job with a private fleet like Walmart Transportation or any of the grocery market chain in your area. Pay attention to the restaurants in your area and find out who delivers their supplies; they're usually private fleets who specialized in providing wholesale supplies to restaurants and institutions like retirement homes and hospitals. I lot of the veteran drivers who have stayed with common carriers have blemishes on their driving record, or they have a history of job hopping from one carrier to another, both of which disqualifies you from getting hired with a local hourly-paying job.

If I was in your shoes, I'd go with one of the giant carriers like Schneider, JB Hunt, Swift, etc... because these carriers have a large customer base. They offer volume discount to shippers who send out 10 or more loads a week, which means more miles. Giant carriers have a large inventory of trailers, meaning they can give each of their clients 2 or more empty trailers, then they call the company when the trailer is almost ready to pull out. They dispatch you over, and you simply spot your empty trailer on one dock, then hook up to a loaded trailer on another dock. This is called "drop-n-hook." Small and medium sized carriers don't have too many trailers to leave at the shipper, which means plenty of live-load and live-unload. With drop-n-hook, you arrive, sign the bill, then you're going out the exit gate 45 minutes later. With live-load/unload, it takes 3 or more hours to load and unload a trailer. If you go with one of these giant carriers, I strongly advice you stay with them for at least one year before moving on to another carrier. If you're not happy with your mileage, ask to transfer to a dedicated fleet account. When I was with JB, I was always receiving notices of openings on my Qualcomm, announcing a spot was open with a dedicated account.

 

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i think the hardest part (though it sounds obvious) was learning to except the fact that when she was upset or something went wrong, i just couldn't be there.

but i guess they say men tend to want to 'fix' things, and women just want to be heard and understood.....so the phone with a no roaming and lots of minutes and a quality bluetooth just became your best friend. (when your comfortable with using it) so if thats true, it may be easier for her if you are there to listen, while it will eat you up (until you adjust), cause you cant be there to just fix it.

but with some things, you can still get on the phone and tell someone how it is for her if they gave her the run around. (ie; home warrenty company, etc., ect.).

but, what do i know about relationships, let alone women?
just my experience

 

hey scooterdawg,

also, glad to hear from you. Thanks for all the good words for the holiday's. Glad to hear that you and yours are having a great christimas and a better new year.

I hope that everyone has a better new year, due to the economy sucking and this making it a little hardier than the norm. I have been on here from time to time, with everything going on right now, and in between remove mother nature's white blanket, it been keeping me busy.

I'd be the first to say it "it take a special wife" to put up with trucker's and us ex military spouses. I have been through hell and back a couple of times and she always seems to be right there beside me. She can't understand the wives that want their husbands to do certain job, and in the same breath tell them that i want you home every night.

Too many women that i know want there husbands home at all, that seems to be a nice break for some of them for the most part. Had family come in from tenn, last night that i have not seen in about 18 years, man was it a great feeling. Just to sit and talk about everything that has been going on.

Him and his wife moved there about 12 years ago, and retired, he loves and she hates it down there. They live on 80 acres and have a beautiful home, hopefully if everything go's well this year might travel down to see them.

Hopefully the fuel prices will stay somewhere down to where they are now, atleast it is helping the economy and families that are on fixed incomes. Went to the work yard today and had to load up some of the excavator's and equipment and move it to the other yard, hoping that work will pick back up in january, everyone except for about 10 people are laid off, with the price of steel falling from 585 a ton, to under 50 in a six month period.

My wife said that she never would make the statement that she is just thankful to have a job, atleast we still have a roof over our families head and the bill are getting paid. That's alot more than some people have, and we are thankful and feel bless. Let me know what company you decide? Looking to a better new year this one has had me doubting a time or two.