Simple lightweight truck question.

No you said you can "almost guarantee" he wont get a condo

Definition of "Almost": very nearly but not exactly or entirely

So if we look at your statements logically you must know of a third option. You say he wont get a lw, and you can almost guarantee he will get a condo.

So what does the space between very nearly [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]guarantee and absolute gaurantee get you these days?[/FONT]

 

Like I said . A lw wasn't mentioned when I got my truck. Success leasing ( who assigned my truck) told me " Flatbed gets condos" .

 

Just to add, about getting a fullsize company truck, you may get one after upgrade only if you talk to head person in charge of assigning trucks, which I was told his name but wont say it here, but once you tell this person that you want a fullsize truck as a company driver, be prepared to pay for your room stay til they get you a fullsize, or go home and wait. Success leasing will inform you of this when you come to the truck assignment part of the class. As far as moneywise, if you don't have enough to pay $50.00 a day for hotel room or go home with, I would take the lw if I were you and go make some money. That's what I did.

 

I saw more than one Prime LW FB while I was on the road last month with hubs. FB doesn't guarantee a full size like it used to.

Guess what, you get to decide what's more important---the condo or getting paid a DECENT wage from day one. Prime is the ONLY company that pays it's company drivers 41cpm (LW or NE) plus fuel bonus right out of the gate. That first year, hubby averaged 43cpm, and that's BEFORE the 2cpm raise that company drivers got last July. Those LWs get loads the condos can't. It *can* get you out of the area faster, as can having your hazmat endorsement (get that on your first hometime after upgrade, but start the fingerprint stuff about 4 - 6 weeks ahead of time.)

You are already taking a pay cut. Do you really want a 50% (or more) pay cut? Do you REALLY want to be out for 3 months? You CAN get home every 4 weeks with Prime. As long as you aren't planning around some event or other, then timing gets creative.

 

The Cascadia has a higher ceiling. I could reach my hands above my head and still not reach the ceiling...but then, I'm only 5'3" but have monkey arms that reach my knees.

 

The lightweights really aren't that bad. A guy I went through training with was about 6'5 and 300lbs. He ended up with a Pete lightweight (considered the smallest of them all) and didn't have a problem at all. My personal biggest problems with lws was storage space, especially after I got a APU. I never had a problem as far as stretching or anything. (I'm 6'0)

You could try going flatbed, it greatly increases your chance of getting a full size. Plus, with being tall could work out well for you. Tanker is another option if you don't mind Jersey, most of them had full sizes or midroofs when I was there.

I do remember back when I got the keys to my truck, they told us explicitly that all of us would get a lw, no exceptions. Choice is yours buddy.

 

You can go flatbed and get a condo, otherwise it's a roll of the dice, I'm 5'9 and 350, and was sent to pa to get my truck coming out of training, they gave me a choice between a condo or a lightweight, I chose the lightweight for the extra 5 cents a mile, plus they get somewhat better fuel mileage (until they load you down fully and send over any kind of hills). The ring about the lightweights is they are slightly underpowered, and are smaller, but it's not hard to learn to cope with them, hell I actually love my lightweight

 

If you get a cascadia or pro star its not an issue, my buddy & I started in a one of those old Pete 384s though and I'm 5'10" felt cramped no stand up at all.

Pro star has biggest interior of lightweights - 56"
Cascadia is 48"
Pete has longer but much shorter box

Thing is you get .05cpm less if you go company big truck, it is offset if you train but if not that's kinda significant.
Talking to another companies driver that was bragging about his 25yrs experience & how he is getting .41cpm...told him thats what i started at...discussion ended lol

In a cascadia now & loving it, unfortunately buddy is 6'2" & still in the Pete, he said he's gotten used to it.

The Pete's definitely have higher quality interior & feel more "homey" but.....

 

The Pete's are being purged from the fleet as fast as they can get more Cascadias and Prostars to replace them. They have the unfortunate tendency to roll over.