Wrong time to start trucking?

Yeah, find a place to work and stay there until you get your year in. It cost these companies a lot of money to put your butt in that seat, and in this economy, they can afford to be picky. You are hurting your chances of getting a better job later on if you keep job hopping. Just my two cents.

 

I was in our Fontana terminal today (Swift) and have heard several times that we are laying off exp drivers and keeping low paid noobs. I was running 500-600 mi per day as a trainee and clearing about $55 per day bring home on training pay. Do the math, better to have a ton of these drivers than the .39 per mile drivers... I will put my time in and see, if I have to move on, I will..

 

I just came out of school and am looking forward getting hired. Even before I signed up at school they asked if I have a problem being out for weeks at a time. Cause if not this was not the industry to get into. The instructors came right out and told us you'll have to go through the WRINGER to get the GRAVEY. Once you've done your time 6-12 months then you'll have the experience (MILES) under your belt and then can look for the nice and easy runs close to home. Believe me I'm not looking forward being away from home that long at 1 time but then if I don't I won't have a HOME to go back to if you get my meaning. Bite the BULLET and GET-R-DONE then look for the CAKE JOB, if there's 1 out there. Good Luck to ya!

 

How many rookies are they telling that to , how many gravy runs ae available , and why would drivers give them up ?

 

You know it's the dream of every driver with more than 10 years experience to give up his newly dedicated run, to the new guy with a year behind the wheel.

 

Never trust a recruiter. Go to your local truck stop and talk to the drivers that work at that company. That's what I base my decisions on. Recruiters get paid when you get hired, they will tell you anything.

Also, Trans AM likes to push inexperienced people into leasing agreements, and then call you an "owner operator." You're not an owner operator, you're a company driver getting screwed out of pay and benefits. Don't buy into anyone's crap about leasing. All the companies are shoveling this horse crap, even the one I work for, because they want to save on labor costs. If you want to be an owner operator, save up about $15,000 , go to the used truck lot, and pick out a nice truck and pay cash for it. The lots are full of bargains because everyone is going belly up. My advice is to stay a company driver for now, and do not let anyone push you into leasing.

 

Quit guys ya'll making me depressed.

 

It only takes about 30 seconds on the phone, to get suicidal.

Swift Comfort Zone = Pennsylvania, for me. Go figure, since I live in MS.

JB Dedicated = Work your way in, from 6 months as an OTR driver.

 

Was it office personnel or drivers saying that they're laying off experience drivers?