Your help is greatly appreciated!

Hello there,

I have heard really amazing things about this forum, and looking forward to hearing from all of you! My name is Sam, and I just got my CDL A Permit with endorsements. I have been in the trucking business as a broker, and finally want to switch over to being on the carrier side as a driver. I got offered a position with FedEX Express as a Ramp Transport Driver, Part time with $20.85 hourly pay 17-20 hours a week. Only downfall is that I have to commute 60 miles to the location and back everyday 5 times a week, so I will only end up making little pay after my gas expense.

I also applied for Knight Transportation and just passed the hair/urine/background check and was planning on doing their squire program. I was planning on paying for the school upfront to get a 10% Discount, and to not put any interest on to the schooling. Comes out to $3375.00 total(includes my hotel and transportation). They pay 300 for 1 day orientation, 465 a week when your in their school, and 550 a week with a trainer. I know this is not crazy pay whatsoever, but after 50-60 days it will pay for my schooling that I invested in.

My ultimate goal is to be a owner/operator after a year of driving as I have shippers who can give me SoCal to Norcal to Socal runs every week Mon-Fri. Would you recommend that I go the Knight route or the FedEX route to get my training on the way before going the o/o route?

Thank you in advance for any of your input.

 

Thank you for your input QuietStorm! I know FedEX is a great company, but my goal on the carrier side for sure is being an o/o. I already have the money saved up, but definitely want the experience first so that is why I was leaning more on the OTR side as well for the quicker experiences. Also FedEX has this thing where if you leave less than a year you pay for their schooling, and they will not tell me the price of it every time I ask so I do not like that factor as well. I do not know why they are hiding the price.

 

Thank you WesternPlains for your input. Prime's school is around 5k and they only have refrigerated not Dry Van that is why I did not go with them to be honest. The amount of time which I will be at Knight the pay will be around the same since its 1700 less for the school, and you get paid during their school program. If Knight already paid me for their orientation but I haven't been to PHX Terminal yet to sign paperwork for the school can they leave a bad DAC report for me leaving before getting trained if I did want to go somewhere else Plains?

 

Ahh that makes sense. I haven't gone to their PHX Terminal Orientation but I went to their Fontana, CA Orientation where i took the drug/urtine/hair test and passed and they paid me 300 dollars for that one day. Have you heard bad things about Knight?

 

Hahaha thats true but I talked to some Knight and Swift Drivers they said Knight will only drive Knight Trucks, and Swift will only drive Swift trucks! Well to be honest 3-6 months is the max I am staying with any OTR company before I go o/o. So I think it shouldn't be too bad for a short term gig to get some experience otr. When I go o/o I am only doing Los Angeles ----> NorCal runs and vice versa. Sacramento/San Fran back to LA so I can be home on the weekends.