FreSH outa SKoolin' from Hagerstown CC... Now need some help picking my first company

I really honestly cannot stand people who think they're the exception to the rule. So you'll work hard, big deal! Everyone else will too. We all want the same thing; A decent job that pays well. But guess what, you've got to pay your dues just like everyone else does. I have over a year combined LTL and OTR and I'm still paying dues right there towards the bottom because of how competitive this industry is. You're fresh out of school and already ######## about having to work for a starter company and not making 10 grand a month. Get over it...

My favorite quote from the first orientation I ever attended at CRST. A student stood up and said; My name is ___. My dad was a trucker for 25 years. I have a CDL A, tankers, hazmat, doubles and triples...and I know absolutely nothing about being a truck driver...

 

YEAH box, we got the point the first time!


OP, I think you've got it down to two good choices, and as a happy cretin you know I'm going suggest Crete. I don't remember all the details but
$150 or so for three days in orintation
$500 a week while with a trainer ( and no team driveing "training")
Aprox. .35 cpm with raises in the first yr to .41 at one year.
I pay $78 a week for family plan BC/BS
I get vaca pay, but no paid holidays
I have a dedacaited account so I don't really know what guys are getting for miles.
Hope this helps.

 

You're looking for what everyone else is looking for. You will have to pay your dues but it doesn't have to be all blood and guts. I've managed to do what several told me couldn't be done. I came back to the road after more than 25 years in another career and managed to snag a decent job with decent pay and decent home time. You don't have to get with a major carrier, you don't have to settle for sub par pay and you don't have to eat dirt. That being said, most new drivers will do all of this because they fail to to exercise due diligence and do the necessary research and legwork required. Here is a tip and it's the most valuable tip I can provide. Google "trucking companies" and start there. Make a list of all the ones that sound interesting to you. If it's a mega-carrier, skip it. If it pays in the twenty-some-cents area, skip it. If the company runs you as team-trucking while training, skip it. If a flatbed company wants to pay you in the low thirty-some-cents range, skip it. I found that if you want and expect the best you have to be the best. This means no criminal record (NONE, nothing at all), a clean license (not a single ticket), be in excellent physical health (companies are more apt to hire a non-smoker/non-drinker ... some will argue with this but that's their issue), a professional appearance and a drive to succeed. You are the product and you have to sell yourself. Avoid recruiters like the plague. What they tell you and what you get are not one and the same. If per by chance you do have to deal with a recruiter and they say you will receive x amount of pay and x amount of miles, have them put it in writing. A good way I've managed to get recruiters to do this unwittingly is to ask them to PLEASE send an email detailing what they just told you because you want to have it for your records to compare with other offers and make a sound decision. If they won't send you at least an email affirming what they verbally told you, walk away because they're lying. Look at smaller companies. Find out what they're paying. Deal. I trained for free for a few weeks to show the company owner how serious I was in wanting the position and it was MY idea. Everything depends on how bad you want it and how far you're willing to go to get it. One of the most important things to remember is EVERYTHING is negotiable, even with the mega-carriers. Company reps will tell you, "This is what we pay new drivers." Fine. It's not written in stone and it IS negotiable but you darn well better be the best applicant they've seen or heard from in ages and have something to bargain with.

Make your list and contact companies every day. There are enough companies out there that you can contact 10 a day for the next month. That should get you an idea of what you want. Forget looking at companies and asking, "Should I apply with them or not?" Realize what type trucking you want to do (Flatbed, reefer, van, tank, LTL, otr, regional, local) and apply to those that accommodate your wants and needs. Look at the mega-carriers and large companies and usual suspects as a LAST result, not first.

Good luck.

 

I really doubt you're that exceptional. Moreover, everybody else probably thinks they are too. So grab a number and stand in line...

Word to the wise; Although we rely on each other for livelihood, Diesel Techs and Truckers don't usually get along all that well. You guys tend to over charge us, leave us waiting (which costs us money) and throw us out on the road with equipment that won't work two hundred miles later. Giving yourself the impression that being a former tech means the driving portion of the industry is going to roll out the red carpet for you is setting yourself up for failure. You went to Wyotech...Truly exceptional...

 

No argument here. But if you think you're better than everyone else and don't feel you have to pay your dues because you were an overpaid diesel tech then you open yourself up to critique. You're not special dude; sit down, shut up, hold the wheel for a starter company for a year, then go be a super trucker somewhere else. Peace...

 

Back off the guys back, Boxxxtrucker, you don't know him. Some of his speculation and hope might be a little naive and a little too generous, but, if he can keep that sort of excitement, work ethic, and attitude up then he can go far in this industry.

Nobody likes working with someone who's only goal is to put someone down, and don't try to pass it off as "giving him the real deal".

A lot of people enter this industry with a good work ethic, but, the problem comes when they start having an attitude towards the people they're dealing with. I don't care how competent you are, if you're an ### that no one wants to work with, you're going to lose work.

And, if you don't like a dieseltech's work, get under the hood yourself.

To the OP: I highly doubt you'll get 40K out of your first year. Yes, the math holds up, but, chances are you won't work 52 weeks straight, and freight will ebb and flow throughout the year. Factors such as where you're getting sent can also effect your pay, and remember, not all miles are necesarilly paid.

But, you have the right attitude of wanting to work hard, everything else, let it go, don't tell people you're "exceptional", just do your work and work well with other's. And put your schooling to work, don't become one of these steering wheel holders who needs a service truck call because the glad-hand rubber won't seal properly.

 

since you don't like Bowman did you try Hoffman they used to be almost all teams?