"Watkins And Shepard In NJ During Jan.?"...

minus, i hope they atleast put you up in a decent place for the weekend. any word on what truck your getting? a shaker or a volvo??
when are you due in MT??

 

My wife and I will be up in NJ for orientation on the 9th of Feb. I have been driving for a company for a couple months now since I got out of school but now my wife has since got her CDL and we are going to team up at Watkins. She doesnt have any OTR exp. yet so she is kinda worried as to what to what their expectations are. Did you guys see any new grad. teams come thru there when you started? I was reading that they make you go solo for 90 days before they let you team, but still need to get information on that. Anyone have imput on that? Thanks

 

Minus, about the GPS, there isn't one that has every low bridge in it. You still have to use your head. With that said, the one I have does not have a truck setting, and we just logic check the route. I know that seems to defeat the purpose of the GPS, but we got one of the Nuvi 7x5 series and they have "Advanced lane guidance." You wouldn't believe how much that is worth in big city highway driving when it's heavy traffic. It also has traffic info and will help you around some traffic. Not trying to give a commercial, but the reviews I've read of the "truck friendly" GPSs haven't been wonderful.

The 90 days solo seems to only apply if you're not husband/wife. We had two husband/wife teams go through our 30 day class, and they didn't make us go solo. We had a guy go through class with us that was going to team with a guy already in the company, and they made him go solo for a little while before they put them together.

 

Good deal! We cant wait to make the big money with a great company! Nice to bring in two drivers pay into one household! How do you like it over there so far?

 

06, youll like it here, specially if your teaming, the teams and the O/P's get the good miles. even with the bad econemy they are still doing ok from what i hear, of course it can/could/should be better, but it is what it is, still do better then the solo's.

 

We got started right in the middle of the holidays (Dec. 19) and with the Christmas and New Years holidays, we didn't get many miles, got a good bit of layover pay. Now that the holidays are over, we're running pretty good, and the company has been pretty decent to deal with.

The main frustration we're having is with picking up trailers that have maintenance problems, and no one reported it, so it didn't get fixed. When we've reported problems with trailers, they've been fixed. But drivers aren't reporting stuff so... But I don't blame the company for that.

So far, we've made about 50% more than when I was a flight instructor, and that's with the slow time with the holidays. The lifestyle is a bit of a change as you know. The big adjustment we haven't quite made yet is figuring out how to run 1100 miles in a day and have time to get showers and eat. But we're starting to get it.

 

Anyone have any real figures they can give us for how much to expect your first year solo with W/S? They have 43,000 on their website but if you start at .29/mile and about 2500/mile/week that's like 37,000. Any info appreciated.

 

I see you guys are up in north MS. Where are most of your loads goin out of that area? The wife and I are in West TN, between Memphis and Nashville. Only about 90 miles from the Myrtle MS term. Its good to hear that this can bring in some good money. We look forward to it! Who needs showers when you have all that cash eh? lol So are you two a husband and wife team then? Also as a team, did they give you a decent truck to roll in?