Need more information on Swift, PAM, and Driver Solutions who recruit for PAM

David, I work for PAMela. Listen to Chompi he knows what he's talking about.

 

Thanks Airforce, appreciate the kind words! I'm by no means a jeopardy contestant, just come on here to share my past experiences and what I've learned from my mistakes.

Not sure where you live Davidf777, I saw you mentioned Indiana and Tennessee. Either way both states are chocked full of great smaller companies to work for! I've have driven for many different companies, a lot of them require experience though. My wife and I drove team and one of the companies we did very well with was Central Refrigerated. Central is large enough to keep you busy yet small enough to still treat you like a human being! The reason I always recommend Central is because they really went above and beyond on many occasions to help us succeed! In one instance they even got us a huge settlement from Volvo! Central is a very well rounded company. Yes they have their good points and bad points just like any other company but it was how they treated us that really impressed us! Their pay isn't the highest in the industry but when it comes to making money in this industry you don't want to gauge your pay by what a company is willing to give you per mile. A company may boast that they pay their drivers $.50 a mile but if they aren't driving any miles and don't have the freight then you aren't making a dime! As long as you prove to Central that you are professional and capable the miles should be there. We did very, very well with Central!

They have their own school in Utah and also Atlanta so this would definitely be a big plus getting your foot in the door without forking over thousands of dollars up front. Yes you will have to sign a contract with them, however if you go through a regular CDL mill you have to sign a contract with them too! Plus I would rather be on the hook with a trucking company than a bank or worse yet, a government loan! The other big advantage is that provided you pass your CDL exam you are guaranteed a job! That's a no brainer! From there you ride with a trainer for a short while and your own your own. Central really has some top notch equipment too! Some of the best I've seen as far as company issued equipment. Central hauls mostly reefer but they do have a few dry vans. Running reefer though is an added advantage. You have twice the chances of getting a load because you can haul refrigerated and also anything else a dry van hauls. The nice thing about hauling reefer is its almost 100% no touch freight. In fact Central prefers you don't load or unload, or even stand on the dock for that matter.

Central has terminals and drop yards located all over the country, their main terminal being in Salt Lake and their second largest in Conley, GA (Atlanta). I think you would be very impressed with the Salt Lake terminal.

Besides Central their are thousands of other great smaller companies out there to work for. You just have to do your homework and make some phone calls. You can try checking Craigslist, I often see some really good gigs posted on there. Here is another site too that will help you find the smaller companies:

http://www.truckdrivercentral.com/truckingcompanies.html


Keep an open mind and think outside the box. General freight isn't the only thing you can haul out there with a CDL. There are many unique specialized gigs out there that you can really make some good money doing. You just have to find them. Positions like those don't usually advertise. For instance, my wife and I hauled horses commercially in a custom 53' show trailer with a decked out Freightliner! We hauled some very expensive horses for the race tracks and high end English riding barns. Instead of being paid by the mile we were paid a generous salary. Like I said, think outside the box, there are many other types of trucking out there: reefer, tanker, heavy haul, specialized government loads (classified), exotic animals, horses, cows etc... airplanes, boats, cars, NASCAR, CBS Sports, then there is also the entertainment industry such as "Upstage" (a company that does the concert tours), medical equipment (like the mobile MRI's) Companies like Western that have an armored tractor trailer division (for really sensitive, classified freight) Budweiser has a whole custom fleet of trucks that haul just their Clydesdales from event to event. Carnivals and fairs, bike weeks across the nation (motorcycle freight), air freight, container freight (from the docks) companies like that P.O.D.S company that drops those containers off in your driveway for storage and then stores them in a warehouse. They travel all over the country and only go to their warehouses, no where else!

Sorry I could go on and on these are just a few examples to get your brain buzzin! So get crackin!

If you need anything or have any questions I'll be more than happy to help, you can "pm" me if you would like. As you can see I have no shortage of words!

Good luck man...

 

I should have been talking to this ^ guy a couple months back when I was too busy researching companies like Swift and Stevens. It would have saved me about a hundred hours of work. *shakes his head*

 

Just out of curiosity chompi, what caused a settlement with volvo? an accident or something?

 

Yeah, Chompi is a good source of information, no doubt about that!

 

Well I'm only comparing companies to choose which I want to go to. I've been reviewing them on this forum and a couple of other sites for about 6 months, and I've mostly only been looking at starter companies. Out of the 12 companies I've been checking out, 4 of them stood out to me: Con-Way, Central, Prime, FFE. All of these companies had sponsored training, and they all had pet policies. I liked Central's program the best, for many reasons. They get you on the road solo in a reasonable amount of time without sacrificing training. I admit I was really impressed with Prime's training program, but my situation in life isn't suitable for going OTR with a trainer for 4-6 months while my dog is starving at the house. Also, after talking with recruiters from all of these companies, I liked Centrals the best. It was straight to the point, no B.S. She even went out of her way to make sure I had been warned about how hard life is on the road, and that there will be very few days off. I liked that because it showed me Central wasn't as desperate as the other companies, and they gave actually gave a crap about making sure their recruits were mentally prepared. Little acts like that can go a long way, and perhaps it indicates that they treat their drivers with the same respect.

More importantly, Central offers me competitive pay compared to other starter companies, and the driver's I have talked with have had little or no complaints to getting the miles. Those are the two biggest incentives probably.

 

Has anyone heard anything about being treated differently if you choose to go company driver?

 

C1 aint THAT bad. I got my cdl back in 08..and i went to a six week school called Central Tech..in Oklahoma. THAT was a very good, in depth school. Im only at C1 cuz its been 3 years or so since i drove, and need a refresher. I think your experience with schools and starter companies is what you make of it. Im also going USA..Ill be asking to be on the road 30+ days at a time...so i have a feeling getting miles shouldnt be an issue. Im expecting to run hard, and not act like im on vacation.. I know some guys get hired, and the first thing they say is " oh oh NEED to be home this many days..and i MUST be home every 14 days etc etc. these are the same drivers who now complain about getting 150-200 mile yard drop runs..and no big mile runs. coincidence? not at all. It is what you make it.

 

Yeah man, it seems like the majority of complaints on here are from people that are just lazy or picky. I remember when I was on a Greyhound once and these 3 kids were training for Stevens Transport. One of them was ready to quit, and the other two guys were trying to convince him to stay. But the kid was complaining that he didnt like his trainer, then he started complaining that his girlfriend missed him, and then he was complaining that his trainers truck broke down for 2 days, etc etc...he was so full of complaints, and you could tell he was the typical type that would get on this forum and be like "DON'T GO TO THIS COMPANY THEY WILL TREAT YOU LIKE CRAP...MY TRAINER WAS BAD AND THEIR TRUCKS DONT WORK AND THEY DONT EVEN CARE IF YOU GO HOME. BLAH BLAH BLAH"

 

Even tho I agree with you that staying out here is an advantage for your paycheck; some ppl really need to be home every so often for whatever reason. My ex teammate was one of these and even tho it agravated the heck outta me, now going solo and being out 5,6,7,8 and even 9 weeks at a time gets old fast, so I say good for those guys who need to be home. As for me I need to make money so I don't have that luxury.