The students guide to choosing a good starter company

As students fresh out of school, we students have less options than a experienced driver with four to five years. Now how would one go about choosing a good company to start with? In this thread, I will make my best attempts to guide students in the right direction. I will discuss pay, benefits, and Note to all readers: I am NOT a RECRUITER for any companies about to be mentioned.

Pay: Most companies out there pay around .25 cents per mile (aka cpm) and give raises throughout your first year. Some companies like US Xpress use a sliding scale where the longer the dispatch, the less cpm you will get. Some like Roehl will pay a flat rate depending on the fleet. Most if not all companies have per diem plans. This means some of your cpm is tax free. The number usually varies. For teaming the company will give you a smaller number that multiply by the total miles or a number that you divide by two as there are two people. Example:

6500 miles x .185= 1202.50
6500 miles x .37= 2405.00 divided by 2= 1202.50.

Equipment: This is one area everyone will look carefully. Most companies have fleets that are averaging 1.5yrs to 2 yrs. Usually, all trucks will be traded out by 500K with the exception of a few companies. Most if not all students will get a older truck thats about to be traded in as students tend to do more wear and tear. Most operate the International Prostar, Freightliner Cascadia, Kenworth T660, Freightliner Century/Columbia, Volvo VN780/670.

Benefits: All companies offer the basics. However a few offer 401K plans and stock investment plans.

Home time: Lets come to reality; As students we are peons meaning companies will test us on how long we will stay out. Werner is notorious for doing that. Usually, it is one day per home for every week. If you go out four weeks, expect no less than four days at home.

Companies that hire students:

Swift (hires in certain part of FL)
US Xpress (hires in certain parts of FL)
USA Truck
PAM Transport
Southern Refrigerated
Central Refrigerated (currently accepting students from their school only)
Covenant (hires in certain parts of FL)
Armellini (hires in certain parts of FL)
Stevens Transport (hires in certain parts of FL)
Werner (hires in certain parts of FL)
CRST (hires in certain parts of FL)
Roehl (hires in certain parts of FL)
TMC
Prime Inc.
Crete Carrier Corporation
LCT Transportation (hires in certain parts of FL)
Conway Truckload (hires in certain parts of FL)
WEL Companies (hires in certain parts of FL)
CR England
Transport America
Will Trans (hires in some parts of Florida)
Wiley Sanders (hires in some parts of FL)
Western Express (hires in some parts of FL)

Hope this information helps you out. Before you make your decision, please check out each one to make sure their operation fits your current needs. Note: Some companies require you to team for your first year or six months.

 

Thank you very much for the excellent feedback siri. I did edit Star out.

My reasons for not posting Financial information and safestat is recruitment. I hope everyone understands. I would like to keep this thread going and for anyone who needs information.

Note: Transport America does hire students.

I wish I could post the hiring areas for each employer as that be very beneficial to everyone on here. Are we allowed to do this?

KH