Comments By Josh E.

I contacted Shaffer my second week of truck driving school and was told they require 4 months of experience. They were #1 on my list. I got my CDL on Thursday and decided to apply again. I think it was Brett that said that trucking companies might be more lax on their hiring criteria this time of year, so thanks Brett! They called me back today and are interested in bringing me on!

Would like to touch base with some Shaffer drivers and see how you guys are doing with them.

My #2 is Melton if Shaffer falls through and I've heard nothing but good things about them, actually scheduled for orientation on Monday in OK but Shaffer seems like a really good opportunity as well, especially since my heart was kind of set on pulling reefer.

Thanks y'all! Josh

Thanks everyone. Brett your advice is very welcomed. Some of which I am already doing. The tracking is critical. I have spread sheets setup and every penney gets logged. Whether incoming or outgoing. Also i put 11 cent per mile into a maint escrow besides the others I setup. My fiancee is also in business and we keep the information flowing so we both can examine it. She's much better at that stuff anyway. My biggest problem this far is getting the loads. The very first week was great. I burned my clock in. 6 1/2 days. But after that it dropped out the bottom. It wasn't me, but i went from a senior dispatcher to a boot rookie. The senior took a promotion. Great for him, but didn 't do me any favors. I worked 3 weeks under the newbie and tried giving him the benifit of the doubt, but he said the right words, but didn't deliver results. Me being the shy individual I am, lol I finally took it upstairs. His boss assured me it would turn around and I gave him a week to show me or I had to do something else. I went home got my hazmat and tanker endorsement and switched fleets. So we'll see if they deliver. I talk to alot of drivers here who all say miles are no problem and they will give you all you can handle. I still am waiting to see the proof of that. I hope it steps up, otherwise I will be in the office for another one on one . We had one the other day. It seems to have worked somewhat, but time will tell. I know there are going to be ups and downs . I'm prepared for the roller coaster ride . First time in my life I have had to ask for more work. Usually its the other way around . I haven't had any negative problems of any kind, no late deliveries that were my fault, or any other reason to cause them concern . I manage my time wisely, usually arrive early, and get along very well by all appearances. I am optismitic it will get better.

I got a buddy doing southeast regional at KLLM, been OTR for 6 months I think and just switched. He said the miles are there, so I wouldn't worry too much about getting them. Do they try to talk new guys into doing the lease purchase? I talked to a recruiter that said I could do southeast regional at $.35cpm, which isn't too bad. But it seems like KLLM is more geared towards lease drivers and O/O, would you agree?

Well, actually I dont work there anymore. Things went well for me. They ran my butt off on a dedicated account. I left and went to KLLM and am leasing a truck. I am running the southeast. I do not like snow and ice. I tried getting Roehl to let me lease and run southeast but they claimed I would not have enough miles to cover expenses. I am very grateful for the training and oppurtunity Roehl gave me. I just had other ideas what I needed for myself.

What would you say the ratio of company drivers to lease operators at KLLM is? I got a friend who leases with KLLM and he just switched to southeast regional and he loves it. I don't want to lease, though. Did they talk you into the lease or is it something you wanted to do?

Thanks

Is this quote for non-experienced drivers on the LW or experienced in standard cabs? If they are offering this to recent grads, I've got to reconsider them. They may have edged out my #1. I was initially concerned with Prime due to the cost of their basic health insurance---about 225 a month for single according to the recruiter and their nearly 3 month training with a DE. Great news but a tougher decision.

Crap, I better delete this thread! You guys might take my place!! HAHA. I'm not sure what Swift's insurance is, I was originally going to go with Cargo Transporters but their insurance is pricey for me and my wife, she was not excited about me going with that company. Thinking about Melton and Swift. Con-way truckload has very cheap insurance, $34.50/wk for me and my wife, so I'm considering them. You do start out low with them but after one year you're at $.37cpm and still have inexpensive health insurance. Some companies, like H.O. Wolding and Roehl lower their rates after you're with them for 1 year. I'm not sure if that's industry standard or not but that's what they have on their website.

My most important consideration is pay while my wife's is health insurance. Trying to make the best decision that we BOTH can be happy with because I want to stay with the same company for at least a year. I would have loved to work for CT, I hear nothing but good things about them, most of their guys get 2 days home every week and start off at $.38cpm after training, but I know my wife would've griped about the insurance premiums so that was a no-go.

NEVERMIND, haha, I feel like an idiot...I've done had a few and I thought I was on my thread. I am so sorry...

Is this quote for non-experienced drivers on the LW or experienced in standard cabs? If they are offering this to recent grads, I've got to reconsider them. They may have edged out my #1. I was initially concerned with Prime due to the cost of their basic health insurance---about 225 a month for single according to the recruiter and their nearly 3 month training with a DE. Great news but a tougher decision.

Crap, I better delete this thread! You guys might take my place!! HAHA. I'm not sure what Swift's insurance is, I was originally going to go with Cargo Transporters but their insurance is pricey for me and my wife, she was not excited about me going with that company. Thinking about Melton and Swift. Con-way truckload has very cheap insurance, $34.50/wk for me and my wife, so I'm considering them. You do start out low with them but after one year you're at $.37cpm and still have inexpensive health insurance. Some companies, like H.O. Wolding and Roehl lower their rates after you're with them for 1 year. I'm not sure if that's industry standard or not but that's what they have on their website.

My most important consideration is pay while my wife's is health insurance. Trying to make the best decision that we BOTH can be happy with because I want to stay with the same company for at least a year. I would have loved to work for CT, I hear nothing but good things about them, most of their guys get 2 days home every week and start off at $.38cpm after training, but I know my wife would've griped about the insurance premiums so that was a no-go.

I was just offered the same position with Swift and am now questioning whether this will be for me. I'm glad Josh asked the question because I was not sure what the job entailed.

I'm thinking this is one of the few routes available that will offer weekends at home but the fact that the majority of drivers do not want this job or request transfers off of it probably means that I will end up wanting another route as well.

Thanks again for the heads-up on this route.

Bill D. Cat

She did offer one route that was weekends off, but I told her I wanted the one that was 2 weeks out, 2 days home. I don't really need weekends off, it would be nice, but right now I'm just trying to make some decent money and pay off some debt. Then I can think about going OTR or regional, this dedicated account seems perfect with the stability it offers. Then when the bills are paid down I can have some fun driving! haha

Josh, I ran the Dollar Tree account with US Xpress. Old School is right - you'll never have to worry about a job opening on that account. They'll take all the drivers they can get.

The job is really tough but pays well. Most people don't last long on it. A typical week for me meant unloading 2 trailers - about 90,000 pounds worth of stuff - and driving 2000-2500 miles every 5 days and we were home on weekends. Now let me preface this by saying you won't run those kind of miles because you'll be on electronic logs and I was on paper logs cheating my butt off every day of my life. I also average about 3 hours of sleep every night. Let's just say I figured since I was out there 5 days and home on weekends I might as well just work as hard as I can while I'm out there. So I really took it to the extreme.

What you'll be doing, assuming they still do it the same, is unloading boxes onto the wheel conveyors and they'll roll out of the trailer into the store where store personnel will put it away. You'll be making a lot of stops - usually between 2 and 8 stop on each trailer - you never know.

The two biggest challenges you'll face are:

1) The physical labor is tough. Driving is bad enough without that kind of physical work. It wears people down and there are a lot of relatively minor injuries like crunched fingers, sprained wrists, and headaches from boxes falling on your head.

2) You're going to have to locate and get backed into a lot of different stores in busy plazas. This can be extremely stressful at times. The stores are often in busy, tight areas and the docks are sometimes a nightmare to get backed into. That is...if there are any docks. Some stores don't have any so you're backing down alleyways and such.

It's definitely a really tough gig but I don't see any harm in giving it a shot. If you don't like it they'll switch you to another account. Believe me...that's a common request.

As long as I can pay the bills and get moved out of my wife's parents house I'll be fine with manual labor. We just moved back from Fort Riley, KS.

So like stated earlier, should I get a hire agreement before orientation or just tell them I want to do the Dollar Tree account?

Thanks y'all!!!!

Josh, I'm telling you again, those jobs are available. What they will do with you is as soon as orientation is done they will put you with a trainer who is running one of those accounts. You'll do that together with them for about a month, and then they will set you up with your own truck and and area that you will be running in. Most drivers prefer the "drop and hook" work for reasons that you will soon discover doing that job. But this old world takes all kinds to make it work, and if you're one of the types that enjoys a good bit of manual labor mixed in with your driving then you won't have a problem landing one of those jobs.

Yeh, I know I'm being hard-headed...I guess my past experiences with military recruiters has got me a little weary of any 'Recruiters'.

Are they doing any type of hire agreement?? As for the dedicated being counted as OTR most compaines look at the nature of the account. I ran a dedicated for 6 months from south Ga to Canada and back. Its been looked at as OTR, but if your just running within the same or another state it may not count . Other more experienced folks can probably shed more light on it .

She showed me three options to choose from, and I told her the Dollar Tree dedicated, two weeks out and two days home. When I talked to her on the phone, I said "I only want to go to Orientation if I can make sure that I'll get this position." She told me I shouldn't have a problem getting it since it's open. (On the email it said they were looking for 35 drivers). I just don't know, I definitely don't feel entitled to a Dedicated job because I would think the drivers that have already paid their dues would jump all over them, but if a Recruiter tells me that's what I'm getting after training and I don't get it...I'd be pretty upset.

Thanks PJ, how are you liking Roehl? I thought long and hard about them too.