Some quick advice

Things will change company to company, but when you do regional, your home time still isn't that great. If a place says you can get home every week, it will likely only be for barely more than the time for a 34 hour reset, meaning you only get one day off. 2 weeks on at a time gives you 2 days at home. If you go OTR, you will be home less often, but they'll actually give you 3 to 5 days to sit and relax. Don't forget that more hometime is less money though, so the weeks you go home will be lousy checks the next week. As for dedicated, again, differs from job to job, but many that I've heard of are a bit less money a week than an average OTR driver. You're sacrificing money for a stable, familiar route.

You mentioned having other prehires. I'd suggest checking out what those were, and probably would be good to list them here. Werner's not the worst you can do, but you can do much better. Steven's is pretty easy to get into, if Reefer doesn't sound bad to you. TMC, Maverick, Roehl, Prime, Schneider, Melton, Crete/Shaffer and Systems transport are a few I can think of at the moment that, based on my research on here, I would take any day before Werner. Screw that sliding pay scale. Even the short mile pay there is less than the companies I listed pay, lol.

Good luck.

 

Melton is probably the best flatbed company anywhere. Excellent healthcare ins. They have APU's on the trucks which is a big plus. Drivers average over $50K per year if they're hard workers. Check Melton Truck Lines website. They also have a rider and pet policy.

 

Do NOT take a DG account, under any circumstances. There is no better way to put an early end to your driving career than to try to learn how to handle a tractor trailer by backing it through small parking lots scattered with randomly placed four-wheelers, any of which may move at any time.

Have a "preventable" accident (which is virtually any accident you're involved in, if your truck isn't parked legally & properly by Werner's entirely subjective standards) and you'll be out of a job with a bad DAC report. DG is simply not worth the risk.

By all means, start out with OTR and get used to handling the truck under more comfortable circumstances. A lot of drivers, especially new drivers, don't like to hear this but it takes a couple of years in a truck until all of the "automatic responses" that you've developed as a 4-wheeler have changed into "automatic responses" appropriate to driving a tractor-trailer. Give yourself a break and take your time. Best of luck.

 

I can't believe you're thinking about Werner with a prehire from Melton! Prehires aren't in stone, but if Melton will take you, and you still want to do flatbedding, they are, from what I've been told on here, one of the best student hiring companies to go on with. Considering how many whiny drivers give bad reviews on this and other websites, I still haven't heard anything negative about Melton.

Quick Question for Chinatown. I'm considering flatbedding myself, but I'm in the air between Melton and TMC. Do you know if Melton Drivers actually earn more than TMC drivers, because TMC pays on percentage, which I've heard most drivers say equates to over 40CPM. Or do you believe Melton is a better choice due to the better work environment? TMC does seem to go out of their way for driver comfort. They're putting 22 inch tvs in their new Peterbilt 579s and I think they'll be equipped with satellite radio (driver still pays for service if they want it). TMC uses opti idle too, that works the same as an APU for the most part, right?

 

No, optimized idle is the worst device for driver comfort ever devised. It starts and stops the truck's engine in order to 'maintain' the set temperature. A driver may get used to the change in ambient sound as the engine cycles off and on but I've never encountered a driver who wasn't woken up by the vibration as the engine shuts down. It saves the company money in that the option is considerably less expensive than installing an APU, and it reduces idle time; the driver pays for those savings with a poor nights sleep.

 

Melton requires at least 4-6 months experience to start. I spoke with a recruiter from them yesterday. She was extremely polite and helpful and answered all the questions I had. I have heard alot of good things about Melton, way more than negative.
One thing to remember with flatbed loads. You do work. Tarping and securing loads can be a bear, especially in wind, rain, snow, etc. But, you are paid for your labor and it seems as though Melton has one of the best compensation packages in the business when it comes to flatbed.
Personally, and this is just me, but if it was a choice between Werner and Melton, I'd be on the phone to Melton immediately. Again, that's just my opinion.

 

I don't know what the deal is with Melton, as if only half their recruiters got the message that they don't require experience now. They have pay rates for student drivers and don't list experience necessary anymore. If you get blown off by a Melton recruiter saying you need experience, talk to another recruiter.

 

Wow. Sounds like you had a very interesting career welding on Aircraft Carriers. Old timers in any career feel that way as you said though technically the younger guys are replacing them. I'm sure they were making really good money before they had retired, if you're going to retire and don't want to help the guys they're bringing in I have a problem with that. If you're not retiring, and the company is basically screwing you by replacing you because they can hire a younger guy that don't have the experience for half the price I DO have a problem with that. I've seen it happen before in my family and it sucks.

OTR will put a lot of stress on your relationship not only for you but for her as well. There's a lot of stress that goes into it and a lot of worry that's involved with it. She's going to worry about you out there on the road, you'll be worrrying about her back there at home just how it goes. There's a thread from a while back about best advise for rookies.

Here's the link to that http://www.thetruckersreport.com/tr...206044-what-would-you-teach-new-business.html

there's a lot of good information in that link about dealing with things on the road as well. I'd say read through that as well. Might take you an hour or 2 but it is very helpful. There's also some information about dealing with relationships on the road and how to make them better. Hope everything will work out for you in this. It's not going to be an easy ride, but hopefully if you're prepared it'll work out for you. Also I'd say if in a year you're not liking OTR check into LTL. The pay is usually better than running OTR, you're home more often, and usually they treat you better. Line haul is a great career, and if you can get your foot in the door when you're young, and then make a 10-15 years or more you'll definitely be set. They usually require a years worth of experience if not a little more but if werener doesn't work out for you by next year it's something to think about by all means. I know my dad was making 70k/year over at SAIA running 504 miles a night. He was home every day, and home every weekend. It's something to think about down the line. Good luck at werner and keep us posted on how things workout for you. We're around here for ya if ya need anything.