Swift?? and go...

Does your old friend have a smart phone? Because I've seen some older guys with flip phones not knowing the weather up ahead or where the exact location is or the route to take for that matter. They will sit there on the driver's seat for hours calling dispatch for help to figure basics out.

And believe me, once they learn how to use it, they will be much happier.

 

Yes. What he said.
The add looks like they are offering training, but you need your CDL to get hired.
But it's incredibly unusual for them to even offer someone a position without several years of experience.
If you have your CDL, and could get trained by them is what I meant. You'd be golden.

 

The advice would still apply to CRST JB Hunt, CRST, Swift, Schneider and Werner are all kind of the same when it comes to 53' dry van there the same in the business aspect of it, meaning there are certain accounts that they all do Family Dollar, Dollar General and others all pass the contract around from carrier to carrier. Actually JB Hunt probably is alright, I think there reputation has come some ways, they don't really hire new people any more either.

Either way, the name of the game for you and it would work any where is, pick up on time and deliver on time, keep your truck nice and clean and be courteous to dispatch and customers and you'll be top of the dispatch board, there's plenty of other drivers at the company that will make you look like driver of the year if you do just those things.

One of the things to do is try to work with dispatch and don't fight and argue with them, I've never fought or argued with any of my bosses and I'll tell you, you catch more fly's with honey.

 

When I was at CEMEX ( teamsters ) they took on 3 kids that only had their CDL's. But all 3 were also family or friends of management. The one kid was with every trainer on the west side, lol, like 6 or 8 months, finally got his own truck lol.

 

I would agree 100% long term wise you'll get better experience and have better quality of life working for ABF or any LTL carrier over a truck load carrier. Truck Load is good for single people like me who are never married and have no children, of course I work for a local company (kind of) so go figure, but benefits wise you'll get much better benefits out of ABF or the others then you will from an OTR 48 state dry van company.

It's all about what kind of life you want to live, and what you want to do. The only real local job that you could get where they would train you to get your CDL is working for Coke, Pepsi or Beer and I highly doubt you want to do beer side loader, you'll be home everyday, but that's a rough job and the pay is kind of blahh.

 

We got one of those guys too, drives management crazy, of course I think it's just laziness and lack of caring on that drivers end.

 

Yeah? Is he at the coffee table telling everyone about yesterday's road closure and that that's why he's not moving? Waiting for his company to tell him the road has been cleared?

Yeah..haha. They're funny!

 

Mine as well be, he gets to a stop and calls management and asks them what door he should walk through.
One time he walked out of the wrong door at a stop got out his phone and called management and said "I can't find my truck, I don't know where it is or what happened to it."
They said "Go back inside and maybe go down a different hallway."
He did just that and found his truck.

 

Those guys do some line haul as well. In day cabs. Just a lot more reward for the effort.
Central pays their line drivers very well, and sleep at the Best Western.
If I didn't have Dad to look after, I'd probably be hanging around Central's terminal until I got hired or arrested.
They make excellent money. Now not sure what the pace is. The local Fed Ex guys make $27 and overtime, but always seem pissed off. Very hard to get in their too. Central always seems to be looking. At least around here.

 

I tell you what, if you can run the road for those companies you'll do just fine, I know Taho Trucker has been doing good at Estes and all the Old Dominion guys seem to like it over there.

Dave, do you ever read @Russian Rabbit UPS Freight thread? I know that, once you get up in the rankings a little bit at UPS freight there's good money to be made, much more then probably an OTR company.

However I will say this, trucking and it doesn't matter to a certain extent who the company, is but trucking is a hustle business, the more you put into it the more you get out of it, that's pretty much the bottom line.