What are the companies with highest beginning salary?

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Ok I'm not sure about your idea of becoming a truck driver. this is a hard life, and a life style that is not suited for everyone. But lets address some of these questions for ya in one fell swoop.

1. Pets: any company that will allow you to have a pet will charge you a non refundable deposit on the pet to cover damage. There is also a size and type restriction.
2. home time will always vary from company to company. But as a basic rule of thumb ...for every 7days on the road you earn 1 day at home. the longer you stay out the more miles ( money) you make.
3. automatic or standard.....Dont you know anything about cars...a stick shift with a clutch or an automatic that shifts for you.
4.Paperless logs: the computer keeps track of the time you drive etc..as long as YOU input the right codes or macros as they are called. A paper log is where you keep track of all time spent driving etc...and draw lines on a log sheet. It must be accurate or you get into alot of trouble.
5. speed restictors or govenors are put on trucks to keep them from going to fast. for example at jb hunt you will drive at 60mph. Werner 65mph.
6.with a reefer you can haul dry freight as well as refridgerated freight( produce dairy) you will be able to get more loads. with a flatbed you will have tostop and check your securement of the load several times throughout the day to insure that it doesnt fall off your truck.


To make a long story short Lupe you really need to research trucking a little bit more before you put yourself into a position you may or may not be able to deal with. this is a hard life where you WILL NOT make 30-40k in the first year or the 2nd year for that matter unless you are extremely good and end up with a good company. Also remember that you WILL have to run in all types of weather, on all types of roads, and at all times of day or night, you dont have a choice it's the way the game is played.

Make sure this is what you want to do, dont let movies like Convoy or Smokey and the bandit fool ya it's hard it's lonely and it's not for everyone.

 

Lupe sounds like you are picking this really fast. I've been researching it. Make sure to use this site go to bad companies and good and compare. Just remember a good company will be a little stricter on schooling and training. Look at miles. i found thatafew companies stand out for me. Of course i wanted more home time. Look at Millis transfer, for van, flatbed is primarily more money per mile but more work I like Maverick, TMC, McElroy, and BTC all have pretty good reps. Try to stay away form Swift, Werner, and Schnieder.. and some others. read and research! Take your time and also a lot of recruiters come to the schools to talk to students about thier company beware they sugar coat a lot. Try going to a truck stop and talk to a few drivers they can give you the best insight. Good luck! Hopefully may see you out there someday! Going to school in August!

 

Just out of curiosity, could you give a reason why you would suggest he stay away from Swift, Werner, and Schnieder?

 

I wanna hear the Schneider part.

 

Lupe,

If you are going to be in south florida..............

you choices are really narrowed down to just a few companies !!!!!

 

Because those companiesw have thier own schools and pass almost 100%. I had a friend driving for swift and it lasted about 3 weeks. now she is training with Werner and has issues already. I know my brother in law drove for schnieder and he said you were a slave to them for the training. At least that one is based on years and years ago but the other two are recent. I guess it could be any company it just depends on the fleet manager you get. You hear some say they like it and others dont.

 

Lupe you need to understand that they meaning a recruiter at a trucking company will tell you ANYTHING to get you in the seat for them. You have to be able to tell the crap from the bullcrap their feeding you.
To make 37-38k a year you have to run hard. At Werner the best starting pay a few years ago was on the wal mart dedicated they paid 32 cents a mile. Unfortunately you only saw about 1500 miles a week on the account I was on. at 30 cents per mile to make 37k a year you will have to average 10k miles a month. That doesnt sound like much and it isnt it's only 2500 miles a week, which is do- able. As long as you are getting miles, as far as being a good or extremely good driver means....no late deliveries or pick ups, no messed up log books causing the company to shut you down, no tickets, no failed dot inspections, no breakdowns, no detention at shippers and recievers. Being good means being prepared for ALL things that can or will happen.
Do yourself a favor before you sign on with any company go to a truck stop and find a driver for the company you are interested in and see if he'll talk to you about the company and how happy he is with it. But I'll warn ya you will either hear a lot of complaining about getting screwed over or you'll hear so much joy and happiness that it cant possibly be true.

Dont believe 1/2 of what you hear from a driver because there are always reasons for their attitude.
I got shafted at two companies ( large ones promising the moon) they started out great but after a few months the miles disappeared and they gave me nothing but lame reasons for the work shortage. I had a perfect 100% satisfaction rate with both companies......never late good log books no tickets no accidents and more importantly I never whined to my dispatcher. Finally I quit and now drive for a small company where I will finally see 40k PRE TAX for the year.