New Husband/Wife Team needs help with questions....please?

RickG · Jan 18, 2012

Gearjammers2121 said: ↑

Hopefully we don't get thrown under the bus for this thread.

BUT, we haven't really seen a post that answers concerns that are specific to our situation (and we have sifted through ALOT of posts on here, so we aren't just lazy).

So, first off, we are totally newbies. We are planning on attending Katlaw trucking school in Austell, Georgia in March, and being ready to sign on with a company the beginning of April. We have heard tons of good things about Katlaw, and so far it seems to be our best option.

There are a couple of concerns we have about companies though. We have gone through Katlaw's list of companies, and only four of them seem like companies that fit our needs. We would really like to be able to apply to as many companies as possible so that we (pending us both completing our CDLs, of course) are guaranteed a job with someone, somewhere.

Our concerns/what we need in a company:

1) Obviously, we need a company that takes on team drivers fresh out of school.
2) We also are both 21, so we can't go with a company like WEL, McElroy, or TMC (according to their websites).
3) Our main concern is that we are able to stay in the same truck throughout the companies extra training. We are NOT up for being separated and OTR with different trainers, in different trucks. Don't judge, it just doesn't sit well with us for personal reasons.
4) This is not really important to our choosing a company, but those that allow small pets would be nice. That way mom-in-law doesn't have to keep the little guy for us.

Companies we are considering:
1) Watkins & Shephard- they seem to be perfect for us, but we are very skeptical about perfection, we know it doesn't exist. (Do they pay you for the 10 day orientation?)
2) Schneider-they seem to have more negativity surrounding them than W/S but overall they seem to be a decent company to work for.
3)CRST-We're told they do team driving but I haven't read much about them, any comments?
4)Swift-We hear alot of crap about swift, but if it comes down to it, they are on the list.
5) CR England- By far the company we have read/heard the most negative comments about. But most of them seem to be from solo drivers, do they treat teams any differently?
6) Covenant Transport- We thought this was the "it" company for us at first, but now we aren't so sure. We've heard they are unsafe. Can someone with work experience from this company chime in on the conversation?

If you can think of any other companies that meet our needs, we would seriously appreciate the feedback.

IF we have missed an answer to our questions somewhere else, we will be happy to delete this thread and we apologize for wasting your forum space. So please, be nice to the n00bs.
Click to expand...

It doesn't matter how good a school is . The problems are with the training companies . There are NO guarantees with trucking companies . There is no guarantee both of you have the ability to become truck drivers . Everybody going to a CDL mill thinks they can be a truck driver but 90% of them fail in the first year . The plan is for you to team together . Suppose one of you gets rejected at orientation , then what ?

123456 · Jan 18, 2012

The failure rate is only 86%.

Don't try to make it sound so bad !!!!!

Gearjammers2121 · Jan 18, 2012

Okay, I think most of y'all misunderstood what I meant by us "being in the same truck." We don't expect or want to be handed keys to our own truck straight out of school, that would be crazy. What we mean is that if the company requires OTR training with a trainer, that they will keep us both in the same truck, so yeah, it would be 3 people in a truck. And no, the dog would definitely not be coming during that time.
Watkins and Shepard doesn't do OTR training with a trainer from what we are led to understand. Their deal is a 10 day advanced training school in Conover, NC, then if you pass all their tests, they put you in a truck and you start working. Schneider told us that they do one week of classroom training and one week in a truck with a trainer, during which there would be 3 of us in the truck, me, my husband, and the trainer. We have called two separate times now, and I think we will call again and ask the same Qs. CR England also claims this 3-person set up during training, but we know people who have gone with them and we don't trust them as far as we can throw them.
So we were hoping there would be other companies y'all could recommend that would do the same thing for us. We aren't really concerned about making big bucks right off, or ever really. We're willing to work our tails off to earn our keep, but we definitely don't want to get totally screwed over, which seems to be pretty easy in this field.

jlkklj777 · Jan 18, 2012

Gearjammers2121 said: ↑

Okay, I think most of y'all misunderstood what I meant by us "being in the same truck." We don't expect or want to be handed keys to our own truck straight out of school, that would be crazy. What we mean is that if the company requires OTR training with a trainer, that they will keep us both in the same truck, so yeah, it would be 3 people in a truck. And no, the dog would definitely not be coming during that time.
Watkins and Shepard doesn't do OTR training with a trainer from what we are led to understand. Their deal is a 10 day advanced training school in Conover, NC, then if you pass all their tests, they put you in a truck and you start working. Schneider told us that they do one week of classroom training and one week in a truck with a trainer, during which there would be 3 of us in the truck, me, my husband, and the trainer. We have called two separate times now, and I think we will call again and ask the same Qs. CR England also claims this 3-person set up during training, but we know people who have gone with them and we don't trust them as far as we can throw them.
So we were hoping there would be other companies y'all could recommend that would do the same thing for us. We aren't really concerned about making big bucks right off, or ever really. We're willing to work our tails off to earn our keep, but we definitely don't want to get totally screwed over, which seems to be pretty easy in this field.
Click to expand...

Never heard of a 3 man training program. Safety concerns abound with this concept. While there are only 2 beds in a team truck only the bottom bunk is supposed to be used while the truck is moving. This is to protect the person in the sleep berth (there will be a restraint net fashioned out of seat belt webbing that is designed to keep the occupant in the bunk in the event of an accident).

While a trainer could be in the jump seat during this process all his time would have to be recorded as on duty not driving and would make for a mighty boring day. Especially if he/she had to watch and train 2 traineees every day.

Not sure how you all would work out the shower situation unless you and hubby plan on doubling up (can be done but some showers are pretty small).

If you guys are serious about learning to drive a truck then learn to drive a truck then worry about pairing up after you both have been trained.

Gearjammers2121 · Jan 18, 2012

cpttuttle said: ↑

before you spend the money on school,heres what might be a good idea.if you have a walk in closet,i want u 2 too go in there and live in there for a weekend.maybe take a radio and some books in there.limited food and potty breaks.if you make it without killing each other,then proceed.i'm just trying to help.
Click to expand...

Haha! I had to laugh when I read this but you make a good point. Fortunately we are both accustomed to living with multiple people in tight spaces. We both grew up living in RVs, and I don't mean the fancy ones, I mean the ones where you have about a foot of space between the couch and the kitchen table. So close quarters, being gone all the time, living out of a suitcase, all that is no big deal to us. We know it ain't gonna be all sunshine and roses, but we are content to take the bad along with the good.

Gearjammers2121 · Jan 18, 2012

RickG said: ↑

It doesn't matter how good a school is . The problems are with the training companies . There are NO guarantees with trucking companies . There is no guarantee both of you have the ability to become truck drivers . Everybody going to a CDL mill thinks they can be a truck driver but 90% of them fail in the first year . The plan is for you to team together . Suppose one of you gets rejected at orientation , then what ?
Click to expand...

We know there are no guarantees of anything. Everything we are planning on is pending us actually graduating the school and being hired on with a company. There IS the possibility that one or both of us fails...
But you can't know if you can do something or not until you try...

thecleaninglady · Jan 19, 2012

GeerJammers,
My husband and I was at the local truck stop looking at trucks when we came across a Covenant truck, we stopped to talk to the driver, which was a trainee, he was training with his wife and had a covenant trainer, so, there were 3 people in that truck. We asked the trainer how they did the driving, and it was 6 hours for each driver. When there's a woman on on board Covenant always has a motel room for her. So, the trainee's and trainer took turns sleeping at the hotel while laid over.
He said that they had to have 150 hours training each. In fact, when they had a layover, he made them practice their backing for 5 hours! Good Luck on your adventure! My husband and I are going to team drive as soon as I finish with my schooling and training. Fortunately for me he has 40 years experience! ***Good Times***

vinsanity · Jan 19, 2012

If you think 2 people in a truck is crammed just think about 3. That would be crazy.

CRST won't hire you until you are 22 according to the ad I saw yesterday. They do not take couples on one training truck. Their pay is low.

US Xpress has one of the highest pay rates for teams. They won't train a couple in one truck.

You are severely limiting yourself by wanting to be trained together. You can't be apart for a mere month?

Gearjammers2121 · Jan 19, 2012

vinsanity said: ↑

If you think 2 people in a truck is crammed just think about 3. That would be crazy.

CRST won't hire you until you are 22 according to the ad I saw yesterday. They do not take couples on one training truck. Their pay is low.

US Xpress has one of the highest pay rates for teams. They won't train a couple in one truck.

You are severely limiting yourself by wanting to be trained together. You can't be apart for a mere month?
Click to expand...

First off, we totally understand that us wanting to remain together throughout training poses some issues, which is why we posted on this forum in the first place.
While most of you make very valid and reasonable points about our wanting to stay together, we put "personal reasons" in our original post because there are reasons we don't wish to discuss with everybody on the forum. So that being said we aren't going to sit here and argue and try to defend ourselves over it.
At this point, if we make it through school okay, we should be able to hire on with Watkins and Shepard, if not, Schneider, Covenant and CRE, are next on our lists. If none of those three will hire us, we will be forced to re-examine our situation and see if we can deal with the potential separation.
We appreciate everyone's responses and wish good luck to all of you!
Keep on truckin'

hrtbr8kr · Jan 19, 2012

5) CR England- By far the company we have read/heard the most negative comments about. But most of them seem to be from solo drivers, do they treat teams any differently?

They are no different whether you are solo, a trainer or team. been all three. good luck with where yall go. if you choose CRE, DO NOT LEASE from them go to anyone else if you wanna lease....dead honest. not hating on the company, just tellin the truth. the company has gone way down hill with how they treat their drivers and the money they take from us.

Log in or Sign up

Forums

Find Trucking Jobs

New Husband/Wife Team needs help with questions....please?

RickG Road Train Member

Trucking Jobs in 30 seconds

Wait, employers can't reach you!

123456 Road Train Member

Gearjammers2121 Bobtail Member

jlkklj777 20 Year Truckload Veteran

Gearjammers2121 Bobtail Member

Gearjammers2121 Bobtail Member

thecleaninglady Light Load Member

vinsanity Road Train Member

Gearjammers2121 Bobtail Member

hrtbr8kr Medium Load Member

Trucking Jobs in 30 seconds

Wait, employers can't reach you!

Log in or Sign up

Useful Searches

Find Trucking Jobs

New Husband/Wife Team needs help with questions....please?

RickG Road Train Member

Wait, employers can't reach you!

123456 Road Train Member

Gearjammers2121 Bobtail Member

jlkklj777 20 Year Truckload Veteran

Gearjammers2121 Bobtail Member

Gearjammers2121 Bobtail Member

thecleaninglady Light Load Member

vinsanity Road Train Member

Gearjammers2121 Bobtail Member

hrtbr8kr Medium Load Member

Wait, employers can't reach you!