looking for a good "starter" company!

Hi Mike; check your local news paper, also on the web trucking companies often show where they are hiring. Also a CDL school may have free info/handouts of companies that hire from them.

Wish I could be of more help and best of luck.

 

There is no such thing as a good starting company.
They all suck, they are all there to suck the will to drive out of your system.
They all have turnover over 130%.
They are places to get some experiance and move on.
Some are better than others, and actually I would advocate for some of the big ones before some of the smaller ones.
I have heard of people haveing great experiances with swift, werner, schnider etc. I hear more horror storys from people that start with crst, USA, England etc. Which are large but many thousand trucks smaller than the ones I listed first.

 

Well everyone is different and what may bug one person won't bother another.

Take what you read here with a grain of salt. Go in with facts gathered, not conjectures. Look at this as an education with some pay. Learn what you like and what bugs you the most and plan career changes around that.

And lastly, remember not every driver posts here. So think for yourself and trust your gut. People are more perceptive than we all think.

 

I would not call any of the starter company's good.
Roehl is not a bad one for many, but they do not hire in all areas.
The BIG ones have 10k++ trucks. Only a few company's are that large. Schnider, Werner, Swift, JB......I think that is it.
So when you have 10k or more drivers you will have more complaints.
But I have seen many that started with those company's that like it.
I have seen much worse from the smaller ones.

I would also lean toward flat or Dryvan, not Refrigerated.
Less time at Grocery warehouses that way, more drop and hook on dry.
A little less money but more chance of miles.
The mid size company's I named I would avoid like the plague.

 

ChromeDome has set you on a good path. With CSA 2010 breathing down drivers' necks soon, a carrier with a good SafeStat score is important, at least to me. Why hamstring yourself with a carrier who will be under increased scrutiny by FMSCA/DOT.

Swift, Werner and Schneider all have very respectable Driver and Vehicle SEA scores. CRST Malone, USA Truck and C R England all have issues with respect to safety, some of which I would find to be unacceptable to me as a new driver.

Just my $.02 cents from one wannabe to another. Good luck!

 

Gordon is not a bad starter company. They have good training and will hire you in your area. Yes I drove for them and left for a much better job, however I will not bad mouth them for a starter company. Good luck to you.

 

My recommendation would be Werner, but make sure you understand paper logs if you're gonna grab the experience and boogy to a better company. Werner runs paperless logs through the Qualcomm, which I really liked, and other drivers absolutely hate. You get to form your own opinion. However, most smaller companies still use paper logs, so you better be on the ball on filling them out correctly when you sign on. Werner does have a decent,but not great, training program if, and only if, you remain in contact with your Student Driver Manager (SDM), and let him/her know if and when any problems occur. If your SDM cannot or will not provide a suitable solution to your problem, go over his/her head, simple as that. Half the trainers (based on my experience alone) pretty much run their trainees as a second logbook, while the other half actually want to train, and will teach you alot of what you need to know to do this job successfully.