do you get to choose what type of truck after training is over?

Your welcome...
Good luck in your search and I hope it all works out for you ..

 

i agree with the flatbed thing...lot of extra work for that extra pay. they all have quite a bit of sitting around at shipper/recvr unless you find a company that is MOSTLY drop and hook. reefer does have a bit more, but dont think you are getting away from sitting because you choose van. reefer also has the added bonus of a noisy sleep environment- if you think this will bother you then be wary. never bothered me, but.... tanker i know little to nothing about. shied away from that because of the constantly moving load...strikes me as more dangerous.
i wouldnt be too worried about where you start. after 6-12 months you should pretty much have your pick of types and many many companies open up to you. assuming you drive without incident that is. concentrate for 6 months to a year on making sure you dont run into anything...especially while backing.

 

I started with van & hated it; low annual pay and waiting. Went to reefer and made much more money & got detention pay for waiting. Tried flatbed next and enjoyed it the best at that point; tarping, chaining, strapping, mostly common sense & really not that much work. Went back to reefer for better money. Got endorsements, TWIC, hazmat, and moved to OTR tankers & pay & miles jumped; don't remember waiting unless I was early for an appointment, & even then they usually let me unload early. Simply put, hook up a hose and turn a pump on, wait 45 minutes to an hour, and roll down the highway again. Loved flatbedding though, if pay was better, would have stayed with it.

 

ok now i have a question mostly for chinatown. you say tanker was better pay because you end up with less wait. how much less safe would you say it is to be driving tanker, what with the shifting load/sloshing around? always said that was something id never consider for that reason, but maybe im being stupid?

 

Well, you learn to shift smoothly for one thing & you can do it between the sloshes. Ramps & curves, usually drive slower than posted limit. Another factor, how full the tank is. If it's completely full, very little to no sloshing. If it's say 3/4 to 1/2 full, have to compensate for that when shifting, approaching traffic lights, entering curves, or leaving a stop sign or traffic light that's on a steep uphill grade, slick roads, etc. I drove an automatic transmission Volvo for awhile and that made it much easier in hill/mountain country and really all terrain, 48 states & Canada hauling acid. All the drivers that drove the auto liked it better with liquid loads. There are other factors, and the learning never stops. It's worth it though, my pay averaged $65K per year and many tanker yankers make much more than that.

No, pokerhound67, you asked a legitimate question, so that's not stupid. Take a look at A&R Transport website at their average pay, & they haul dry bulk, no sloshing. A neighbor drove for them and made $72K every year.

The company tested a Freightliner automatic & the transmission became confused with the sloshing and didn't know which gear to go to and would start shifting to different gears. The Volvo with the Volvo transmission married with the Volvo engine worked perfectly.

 

If you're with a company with all those divisions like Werner has,then you tell orientation which one you want before training.They'll get you a trainer for whichever one you choose.Say you wanted flatbedding after training,then you would have to go thru training all over again to learn flatbedding.

 

You're at a point where I recommend that you sit down and make a list of the type of equipment you want to drive. You may want to start out on one type and end up with another. Just take each type and write down all the pros and cons you can come up with for each truck. You've already got some for each type. Also you'll want to think of what type will make the best living for you and fit your ideas of a career. For example you like flatbeds and you would like to end up with your career hauling oversize loads. Or work into tankers. You can do these types of list for a school,job,area, just about any decision you have to make. Also just do not use us for your information. Get out and talk with people that have hands on. The more you put into any research the more you're going to get out of it. Whichs means the more pay you'll get with the better job.