what company's are good ones to start out with around South Bend IN

Ok do you reallyt want advice? Or do you want my (our) stories?

My advice is take what you can get no matter the horror stories you have heard. Tolerate all the BS from the training company that hires you to get your experience then move on. Your situation is different than mine or anyone elses. Only YOU know what you need or want out of life.


My story is this. 17 years ago I attended CDI and went to work for Roehl Transport out of Marshfield Wi. They were one of two companies willing to hire me JB Hunt was the other.

I got through the house every weekend. Now with that said however, I was always in Wisconsin on friday home by Saturday and out again on Sunday,but true to their word I was at home every weekend....take it for what it is worth.

Now 17 years later I am an O/O living in the same town as you. I have been in the area my entire life. The company I am leased with I really don't like, however there is another O/O living in the area who has been here 8 years and loves it. Same company, but two totally different opinions.

There ya go. You got my story, albiet an abbreviated version, and my advise. Good Luck to you sir.

 

If you mean Transport America. I would chose them over Swift any day of the week.

While that may be there is no law at all saying you can't practice on your own. I talk daily to a lady who drives for Werner. She in no way trashes them, but the things we talk about that they do would drive me away if I worked there. Knowin what I know from her. I will have to be real hungry to work there.

Your welcome. As for meeting I have no problem with that, although if you want to talk sooner rather than later get me your number somehow. The next time I am on I can get it then and get in touch with ya.

 

In response to Ease's first post of this thread, check out this website.
http://ai.fmcsa.dot.gov/SafeStat/SafeStatMain.asp?PageN=results
My cousin is an experienced driver and gave me this site to look at. There, you can search any trucking company in the country, even companies with only one or two trucks, and find out all kinds of info on them. The thing to look at on this site is the DRSEA and VHSEA ratings in a bar graph on the first page that comes up after you select a carrier. After that click on the Driver tab at the top left corner of the page and look at the Driver OOS(Out Of Service) rate. Then click on the Vehicle tab in the top left corner and look at Vehicle OOS rate. Driver OOS rate basically means the number of drivers who were put Out Of Service, most likely due to some kind of log book or other violation. Vehicle OOS means trucks that were put Out Of Service most likely due to failing inspections because of poor maintenance. The lower all of these numbers are, the better. This has helped me quite a bit. Hope it helps you. By the way, out of the companies you said pre-hired you, Transport America had the lowest numbers by far, which is good. To search for them, type in Transport Corporation of America in the Carrier Name search box.