Eastern Freight Ways flatbed training program

Its been a while since I have been active on this site but I am still here at Eastern Freightways. A little about me; I have been employed at Eastern Freightways since June of 2001 so I have seen the ups and downs of this company for the past 15 years. I started as a solo north east regional driver, became a driver trainer for the company, personally trained my former spouse to become a truck driver and ran for almost 3 years with her as team drivers for Eastern on the van side going out to California and down to Miami Florida before the recession hit. The relationship with my spouse ended and we parted ways...

Since my divorce I have continued working at Eastern Freightways. Focusing on work, I earned a little over 78K last year (I worked most weekends and holidays to achieve that). I have realized work alone is not enough to maintain a healthy state of mind, nor is it conducive to maintaining any kind of long term relationship so I started looking for something else to do besides drive.

Discussing my future with Eastern management, I expressed a desire to work my way into an office position at some point. To use my 25 years of driving experience (15 years with Eastern) to help me get to the next level in my career. Based on my performance within the company as a driver, management told me about a new position that was opening up in the Flatbed divisions training program that would be based out of Camp Hill Pennsylvania. After discussing the details, I agreed to accept the new position.

I am still a driver trainer working with new drivers but I am also an assistant in the training school now. So rather than teaching 1 student at a time now I am teaching up to 10 at a time. Originally, it was to be a trial position to see if I was a good fit for the school. It has been about 6 months now and my superiors have confided in me that they have no plans to look for a replacement at this point. I do still have to drive when the school is not in session but that works out fine as it helps to keep my skills sharp.

I teach classes on map reading, logging, HOS regs, backing maneuvers, as well as on the road driving, proper shifting techniques and turns. Having 25 years of experience in trucking gives me a wealth of information I am able to share.

Some of the things about this school that I wanted to share with you folks here at TTR is the fact that we hire inexperienced drivers with a class A cdl, put them through a 6 week course; 4 weeks classroom, yard maneuvers, and day trips, and then 2 weeks with a driver trainer for on the job training. While the new recruits are learning, the company PAYS them $100.00 per day plus a $25.00 per day meal reimbursement (paid at the end of each week), plus .40 cpm for traveling to our school from their home and back to their home each weekend. To my knowledge we are the only company that offers this.

The students are put into the Quality Inn hotel where they have their own private room plus a free breakfast each morning. Students attend class from 8 to 5 each day with an hour off for lunch. On some occassions the class will take road trips to Newburgh NY, North Brunswick NJ, Dansville Pa, New Columbia PA, etc. On those road trips the class may be picking up flatbed supplies, a load of paper, or moving trucks back to the home terminal so be prepared for a longer day than usual.

The company actually has 2 schools up and running at this time. The first school is located at the NEMF terminal in Camp Hill Pa while the second school is located at the NEMF terminal in Montgomery NY. The schools intent is to train new drivers to become the best and safest flatbed drivers we can. Offering ongoing mentoring services even after the student has graduated from the program and has his/her own truck. Thats right, we have had several women come through the program and are doing very well in their new careers.

I get no bonus, referall, or recruitment pay for offering this information. I am simply trying to share an opportunity that may be beneficial to some of you just getting started in the industry. It is expensive to go through truck driving school to get your CDL in the first place. Thats why Eastern has structured this program to actually pay you while you learn. This is more like an apprenticeship type program than anything I have seen offered.

The best part is the starting pay .46 cpm plus a .02 cpm incentive bonus to stay for 1 year. This means if you stay with the company for 1 year the company will cut you a check for all the paid miles you drove during that calendar year @ .02 cpm. In addition to the start pay, plus incentive pay, the company pays for tarping, congestion pay for major cities, breakdown pay, and multi stop pay. Other benefits include major medical insurance through United Healthcare, Delta Dental after 1 year of service, 3 paid sick days per year, 2 paid personal days per year, 6 paid holidays and up to 3 weeks paid vacation (paid days off are paid @ $120.00 each day).

Since we are part Of the Shevell Group we utilize NEMF terminals for dropping loads, fueling, parking on weekends, and repairs. The NEMF network has terminals from Maine, out to Elk Grove Village Illinois, down to Cincinatti Ohio, and over to Richmond Virginia.

We have EZ Pass installed on every truck and utilize an EFS fuel card for fueling at truckstops when needed. Each driver will be issued a tablet that connects to the built in wifi hotspot installed in the truck. This tablet enables the driver to communicate directly with dispatch as well as keeps track of the drivers logs through the HD100 system. No, the trucks wifi hot spot doesnt allow you to surf the internet or watch movies.

Our drivers get home each weekend as well so factor in good benefits, late model equipment, regular hometime, and higher than average pay and we may just have a great place for you to start your career. Feel free to post any questions or comments you may have and I will try to answer as soon as I can.