Falcon Transport, Good or Bad?

My class was 240hr's, I just don't have a few G's layin around to throw into it. The local job is gauranteed as soon as spring breaks, I just hate waiting that long. I'll make some call's to some local places here next week once christmas is over with, little reefer outfit down the road hires new drivers, If they offer me a road test I will prove that I have'nt forgotten everything...

 

Falcon wants to hire me out of their Gary terminal as a flatbed driver. I'm doing this to learn how to run flats, and coming from werner.

This is kind of a hard choice for me, i'd like to learn to run flats because im SICK of the places i go with dry van (people who dont want their freight/are jerks), and reefer is even worse, tried that for a couple days and wanted to quit my job LOL (it was a temporary assignment). Plus i've just plain always wanted to run flats. I'll be elgible to be a trainer here soon and they make a lot of money and it'd be a chance to make a difference in this world of people who just cant drive....

Are they just another bottom feeder? I'd really love to be done working for the bottom feeders.

 

Choices????


Run flat for falcon or train for werner? Train for werner or run flats with falcon? How can that be a difficult decision? My opinion.....

Go to Falcon & learn the flats. It is harder work, but most of it is mentally. Besides, I personally don't think you have enough experience on the road to become a trainer.

 

Haha, i like this post. The only reason it's difficult is just that i've been burned by a bad company before and dont want to get screwed. I have *no* doubt whatsoever that i will enjoy running flats. Infact, thats exactly why i want to do it.

Also, werner most likely will not be able to rehire me for atleast 6 months because i live in a blackhole for freight. I might even have to move to indiana to get a trucking job again if something goes wrong. (i have contacts, its just a matter of transferring my cdl...)

As far as training, I think that you are right, however, there are a lot of trainers who should've never graduated from training themselves, and that just MAYBE i could make a difference.

I'ma call falcon back tomorrow anyhow and find out the details and see if they'll reallllllllly hire me.

 

I love the concept of refresher courses. I talked to a guy who was working as a yard dog and went OTR, said he had to take a refresher. What does a yard dog do? Backs trailers in all day. What's a refresher course involve? Pretty much backing up all day.

When i went to the cdl mill, mostof the people getting refreshers were people who had just gotten out of school and really shouldnt have ever gotten a CDL and failed CRST road tests (and CRST was atleast decent enough to send them back to the school, make the school do the refresher at the schools expense because the school did such a poor job, and then let the people come back to orientation and try it again). This one chick in particular, she thought she knew how to drive and claimed she failed the crst road test because the tester was a racist, blah blah blah. Its funny cause she ground every single gear i saw her shift. Oh, and there was an owner operator from CRE who somehow couldnt back a truck up, at all. She claims its because all her loads were drop and hook. Thats funny, because, doesnt she park at a truckstop at some point?

Refreshers are the biggest joke ever.

 

I personally don't know a #### thing about Falcon except they haul a lot of coils! But I'm sure they can't be any worse then Werner. I would go to Falcon. Get trained on the Flats. Stay with them a year to get 2 years verifiable OTR experience... Then go to your other plan of buying a truck. Then you can lease onto a company such as the company I'm leased to. Continue to run flats.... Pick & choose what you haul.... Pick & choose where you go.... Pick & choose when & how your gonna run.... Enjoy less stress, less pressure, more freedom!


As for training.... I could make a difference as well. But I don't have the patients for stupidity. I took a friend with me a couple months ago. He has always asked me questions & expressed interest in becoming a driver.... I'm known this guy for 30 years.... We went from Florida to Los Angeles. I about ditched him in Long Beach because he was being stupid... I didn't ditch him because he I've known him for so long.... I didn't give a #### about him being a friend, but we got a lot of history! So I took him home! Gave him a weeks experience of REAL trucking.... Since then, he has not asked me anymore questions or expressed interest in the occupation.

 

They run trucks through my area all the time and they look like they have some pretty junky equipment IMHO. Flatbed, I thuoght about doing it myself but then you gotta look at how good flatbed is doing, not so hot. Not much you can do anyway being under 21 with a "wet feet". Trucking companies are cracking down as the new CSA 2010 regulation's near.

 

Appearances are deceiving! I'm a pretty good looking guy until you get up close!

It isn't? Man! Why didn't anyone tell me that? I guess all these loads I'm hauling are just a figment of my imagination.

 

We didn't have a lot of recruiters come to our school. The guy from Falcon seemed honest. I actually talked to him last week when I was having my MVR problems.

They dropped their requirements to 3 months.

No APU's. He said "if you are cold? Run the engine. If your hot? Run the engine."

They aren't high on the pay scale. They do have lots of dedicated. They do lots of automotive.

When I talked to him he had a team van job. Dedicated run Laredo TX to Dayton OH. $800-$900 a week.

 

AFA refresher courses my school does 15 or 30 hours. From what I saw mostly on the road training. $1100