So I think I'm going with Werner

We all have to start someplace, I know I did back in the day of the oxen carts.

The companies I had my starts with had either terminals near me or at the very least, I was able to back then find parking and blacksmithing services.

You "salad" say the stores you went to have some of the rudest people. I can say to you that in PA, just over the NJ line ( I think it was Bristol, PA, off an airport road??) I had to go to BJ's warehouse for a delivery. Wanna talk rude there..???

Rude people are everywhere. That has not changed.

Starter companies are abound. What works out for some will certainly not work out for others.

All anyone can realistically do is wish them good luck and safe miles. In due time when the o/p feels the time is right, he may decide to seek out employment maybe perhaps as a line haul driver which there certainly are many companies in or near the Boston area to choose from.

Or maybe stick with Werner, as you say, they really weren't that bad.

 

You're obviously green at this and that's OK. You do realize that newer tractors are often times broke down much more then some of the older equipment out here right?

You need to do a little bit more then math to make a decision in the industry.
If you're here 6 months from now talking up Werner I'll applaud you. The chances are very slim.

Good luck

 

$200 per trailer unload. That's good. I only got $110 per trailer doing Dollar Tree at Swift. I can't complain though. I was home every other night. Once I was out for 4 nights though.

 

You will get stuck with no freight, even on the dollar account. They won't always dead head you back to a DC. A lot of times I shagged loads all the way back to a DC.

Once I delivered to a West Texas DG, emptied out and sat for 20 hours because they couldn't find me something going back towards the DC. They wouldn't deadhead me.

Also, I was promised a newer tractor to when I started @ Werner, I was given a 2009 Freightliner, that was without a doubt the most disgusting piece of equipment I have ever driven for any company. I won't go into detail, but it was truly epic in terms of disgusting.

After I cleaned it out, (which they payed me very generously to do, bit over 400$ after I sent in videos and pictures I took before/after) and stayed on for two months they set me up in a very nice 2011 Pete 587 with only 17k on it.

But it effort to spoil any illusion the recruiter may have spun to you, my average take home from Werner was about 650$ a week, I spent more time 'waiting' doing the dollar accounts than I ever did OTR or Teaming. And I shagged loads extremely often (usually from the Dallas Terminal on Pete Ave.) to surrounding DCs and warehouses. At the time I was making 15$ I think to take these loads to surrounding areas (some as far away as Grand Prairie! 30-40 miles in Dallas Traffic) and then hit a dock, sit, unload, and then take the empty back. Sometimes I would do as many as 3-4 of these before I got a Dollar Trailer.

Also this is sort of an Aside, the lifts on the Dollar Trailers, about 1 in 3 doesn't work right. Also for some reason the hub oil is low in about half of them (About once every 3-4 days some ding nut will roll into the Terminal with one of his wheels barely on the trailer "Yup, I did me an inspection yes'r".) I am not speaking just as a driver to this effect, I worked in Safety here before I got my CDL. Most of the cases I dealt with were involving the Dollar General accounts. People cracking the concrete pads to deliver on, tires falling off of trailers, people dragging landing gear, tire fires, and the ever popular "Backing lift gates into doors".

 

Crete has a northeast dedicated that pays $200/day. Home weekly. 100% no touch.