Good truck companies in Washington area?

Doubles/triples and hazmat are essential, although it probably wouldn't hurt to have tankers as well. At that point, you'll have all you need.

 

If you get your endorsements, just take ALL the written tests at one time. What's the worst that can happen?

If you get your Hazmat, then get your tanker endorsement for SURE. Most of my Hazmat loads are 400 gallon totes. You have to have a tanker endorsement.

 

TWIC can help land a job but most employers will pay for the TWIC for a prospective employee. The only ones that won't are the fly by night can companies that need you to have a TWIC now before you quit by next Friday. Just saying, it is not really a good investment for a new driver.

However, endorsements are. Lots more doors open up when you license is not restricted. WA state allows you to take all the endorsement tests a one time for one fee. It is like $10 or $15 so taking them all at once until you pass is no big deal: good investment.

 

Hey I'm from Lewis County myself. Winlock to be exact. Also graduated from Western Pacific in 2011. I did 8 months with swift. Then went to m&m. I worked there for 15 months. I have things I could complain about. But I'm sure there are worse companies out there. They were good for experience, and I liked the night crew. I wouldn't go back, but if you're looking for experience, they're not that bad.

I'm with milky way now. Right there at the darigold plant. They'll sometimes take new drivers. But you'd need doubles/triples and tankers.

And I'm sure you've noticed the abundance of log trucking in lewis and Cowlitz counties. It's not my cup of tea, but some guys love it.

 

Just to prove I am not joking about M&M rolling over trucks

 

So how did you like M&M compared with Swift?

At one time, about 3 years ago they did have one of the worst safety records in WA. They were in intervention status for 4 out of 7 categories! They were banned from the port of Olympia for loosing a load of logs off a hay rack in the downtown area.

What do you think of LTI?

 

Yeah man. I agree they have a bad reputation. And they don't always hire the best drivers. I guess I was there at a decent time, because my experience wasn't that terrible.

I would say that after having my fill of long haul with swift, m&m looked real nice when it was time to go local. Being new to trucking at the time, I had nothing to compare swift to. They were OK. Like I said, m&m was decent for experience. And time really flew while I was with them. And it like they might be trying to improve things. They've even been buying new cascadias.

Oh and I like lti. I feel like they pay pretty well. Hourly with overtime. Benefits are 250 a month for my whole family. They also supply a bit of life insurance for free with the option of adding more at a cost. I feel like employees are treated pretty good, and a lot of drivers stay long-term. A lot of employees are lifers. They have quite a few division companies, so there are a lot of options if I ever wanted to change it up. Especially up in Alaska. If I remember right, a lot of old timers are retiring so they're looking for for new drivers up there. That being said, I'm still new with them, so I'm still learning the company. But so far so good. I think if a new driver had the opportunity to get on with them, then it would be a great starter company, especially in Lewis County.