New CDL grad..PTL offer

With PTL you'll be sent out with a trainer for 5k miles and then you'll be forced teams with a new driver for 40k miles. That was a deal breaker for me. That and they drop your pay .02cpm if you cross the Mississippi River. Which includes a substantial portion of their freight.

 

I ruled them out after I was told by the recruiter, Amanda, that they forced teams of new, inexperienced drivers. The cpm drop is not unique, however...Swift does it also and I'm told other starter companies do it as well but I have no direct knowledge of which ones.

 

There are threads here on ptl , to many threads ....if you get my drift ...

 

Why would there be a drop in pay of .02 a mile for crossing the Mississippi River? Is one side of the river that much more difficult to drive on than the other? It REALLY doesn't make any sense at all.

God bless every American and their families! God bless the U.S.A.!

 

RWH Trucking runs Eastern states about the same as PTL and also hires new cdl grads.
The most common complaint is the lease/purchase deal with PTL. Seems to be an average run-of-the-mill company.

 

The reason the Swift recruiter used was it was because fuel is more expensive in the mid-west and west. There is some truth in that but I believe it's just one more way to make money off new inexperienced drivers. The company I went with pays the same rate regardless of where you pick up or drop off.

 

And speaking of cpm drop when west of the Mississippi.
They dont , its a myth .
~ ~ follow along ~~ if u dare ~ ~
People look at this wrong , truth is the rate INCREASES when EAST of the Mississippi.
Its an "incentive " to keep drivers running in ' slow moving full of headache low mileage ' lanes -
Which would you rather do , run 700 easy miles a day for 50 bucks , or 600 miles a day for 60 bucks ?
Companies are hoping youll opt for the money .
Another analogy ~ you have two construction co.s , on one side of the street its 68 degrees , on thee other its 105 degrees . the guy on the cool side pays 10 an hour , the guy on the hot side pays 15 . now ask yourself - is the guy paying 10 because its cooler ? or , is the guy paying 15 becauses its hotter and no one in thier right mind would do the same work for the same pay in harsher conditions so its thee only way he can get people to work for him .

 

If you're based East of the big muddy and cross it, then it's a rate drop. Period. Especially if the company quotes you one cpm in a loud voice and then whispers the caveat.