Comments By Phil P.

Just a side note, I am a retired individual with 4 years of TT experience and was thinking about coming back into trucking and in my research I found Millis transfer to be on top of my list after some research. They offer what looks like some better than good training and they only train for their company. And they pay you when you are with the trainer. And they offer a per diem pay as well as straight pay. The per diem allows you to have 3 weeks vacation in the first year of working which is unheard of with most companies. And they have a training center in Ohio near Cincinnati (Trenton).They are listed on Trucking Truth's site.

I was hoping to get a larger list of companies offering CDL training similar to Roehl and near the price they charge

The only compainies that offer CDL training that I know of that isn't listed is Celadon. They just opened a brand new school and I haven't gotten their information yet. But I don't know of any others. If you know of any that aren't on my list, please let me know and I'll add them. But there's not very many that offer it.

If you're looking to be home a lot, Roehl has the best home time options I've ever seen.

I have the note 3 and have a nice case that protects it well, also just ordered an otterbox case for G friend, I cant wait to see it when it gets here, it is supposed to be the best and costs over $45. I have been a smart phone user for several years now and I can say this phone is remarkable, and I am still finding other things it can do, that I had no clue they were even there. It may be too smart for me.

Did you buy the phone from a Verizon Store..? I have the Old plan also and don't want to loose it

Excuse my ignorance, but what is a LW?

Difference is that there wasn't any other parking spot available in the entire truck stop. And as a LW you have a nice advantage with the backing because the steering is better and the truck is smaller.

That guy should have found an easy spot to park in. If there's plenty of spaces then find an easy one. No need to risk an accident just to save yourself 20 feet on your walk to the truck stop.

And I used GOAL about 9 times with my backup. Took my dear time. Hitting things isn't an option for me.

I usually try to find a LARGE truck stop or one that I have been to two or three times, because if I go to one I have never been to before, I will usually be disappointed. An example will be the truck stops in Mahwah, New Jersey, which are FAR FROM medium or large.

Dave

I think you could hash and re-hash the positives and negatives of per-diem pay for weeks on end, but as far as I'm concerned it keeps the money you've earned in your pocket instead of having the government hold it for you until they decide if it really belongs to you or not. I was an employer for thirty years before I started this truck driving career, and I can tell you that I paid a fortune in payroll taxes over those years. To be fair, most of it wasn't even my money, it was money my employees had earned that was deducted from their pay, but even for a small business like mine the dollar amount added up to be an astronomical amount each year. If you can get it now and not have to wonder if you are going to get it later or not, I say take it now.

The benefit to these trucking companies when paying per diem is that they have less dollars to pay for their portion on matching the social security taxes. When you have a couple of thousand or more employees out there driving and getting a good paycheck each week this amounts to a tremendous savings in tax dollars spent by the company.

One company I know pays .05/mile less for per diem, than straight pay, however, they offer a very good vacation bonus to the per diem drivers.

Nobody in business requires anything unless it benefits them somehow

Brett .... that being said is there any wonder why companies 'offer' it , why some companies try to 'force' it and why drivers can't see through it ? I have not done enough research to find out the federal rules but I read somewhere that an employee cannot be forced to take it but I imagine like anything else in trucking denying a companies right to their piece of the pie so to speak may look less than favorably for the driver .

It looks like just a math thing, I have never used my tax refund for a savings account and like being taxed less upfront, even if it means less of a refund at tax time. I can manage my expenses while on the road. Thanks for all the help, I am beginning to see this forum is very worthwhile.

To Thinks too much, thanks, you have defined your answer very well and I now understand how it works.

I am looking to change companies and the one I am looking to go to has two types of pay: per diem and straight: can anyone help define the difference?