Please Read (I need your advice on this)

Quick recap: hubby and I are in school, will graduate soon with cdl and all endorsements. We are gonna team together. We have narrowed down our starter company to a couple of choices...

which one would you choose ?


Watkins & Shepard: pays HUB miles. First ninety days .29 cpm. After 90 days .36 cpm

Con-Way: pays practical miles. First four weeks during training .26 cpm. After training .48 cpm


With your experience, what do you say is the best choice depending on this info?

thanks

 

I am very familiar with the history of Conway and their roots come at great expense of many great truckers from the old CF.That being said I would definitely pick Watkins.

 

Watkins & Shepard is among the best carriers out there, but they're also among the most demanding. They're won't expect you to know everything, but you better have your poop generally in a group in pretty short order.

 

Yep, hubby is pretty much set on Watkins & Shepard.

I'm not so sure .12 more cents per mile @ practical miles is worth going to a different company for.

 

Go with Conway they have a pretty decent reputation for team freight. Hadn't heard to much about Watkins and Shepard. Their equipment looks old so you may be spending all your time in the shop.

 

Whatever you decide, you MUST agree with each other. The inside of a truck is way too small to have disagreements between you. I've thrown many a flashlight on the ground and broken it beyond repair because my wife and I disagreed when we were teaming together!

Hub miles has a definite appeal here with me. But that 12 cents differential could be a deciding factor for me. As a team, you're out there to make a huge check together! Conway has a huge freight base from what I've seen and read. You'll want to find out what's the percentage of drop and hook from both companies, what kind of truck will you possibly have (I'd be going after the condo style), will you have doubles or 48/53 ft trailers, what kind of a guarantee that they're going to keep you loaded and rolling.

CPM is a good thing to go after, but don't forget to go after some of these other factors too!

 

Took the words right out of my mouth!

 

I know nothing of Watkins Shephard other than seeing them up and down the road.
Con-way i can speak volumes on, but then I work there.
Want a good training program, with good miles, good equipment. I'd say that's the way to go.
There is a lot more than how the mikes are paid and how much.
Keep in mind that pay is split.
Con-way runs the teams just about as hard as you want to run.
Your in charge of safety. Road conditions suck, park it, no questions asked. . Ask other team outfits if they can say the same.

 

i have been at conway 7 yrs i did team here solo trained here i say conway last timed i teamed here was 3 yrs a go we where priorty team so we got big miles had to plan everything carfule fuel shower eating everything was planned as regular team we avrg 5713 miles a week as priorty it was like 6810 i think i can look it up i keep all my records i know our best week was 9210 dispatched

 

One thing this couple is going to find out is how hard it is to sleep when the truck is moving. You wake up dog tired and you have to rock in roll. Back when I was teaming it wasn't to bad because most of the time we did 5 and 5. Now with the hours of service and the 14 hr clock. I don't know how they run it. But better them then me. So hopefully you won't get the super hot loads until you guys get use to sleeping in a rolling bed. Don't let the highways be crappy either. Just makes the roller coaster even better.