Comments By RedBeard

Well if your asking for us to tell you choose a company for you well sorry i cant do that cause i am not in your shoes or position, but i can tell you someone told me when i was in your position: he said pick what company suits you and your family best not what other people say or they want you to choose.

as for pay well you know we get paid .46 cents per mile so it depends on your miles if you run hard they will give you the miles if your kinda slow they wont throw alot at you it just depends on you. I hopefully will get 2000 miles this week which i say is good for my first week.

as for where we run it depends where you live, i live in middle tennessee so i mainly run the I 65 corridor through kentucky tennessee, and alabama also hwy 45 through mississippi but will branch out also but not a whole lot.

Wow its really good to see everyone is doin good and being safe out there sorry squid about your luck. Parrot your going to love bruce for final week are you going this week? Like you already got a truck number?

Sorry i know its been awhile but been busy and been using up all my time talking to family guys for class and dealling with some personal things here at home. But anyways i am solo now thanks to my great school, trainer, instructors, squid, and everyone else on here holy crap. i gotta leave out tommorrow to make my first drop. What a real eye opener it is when its just you in the truck it really brings you back down to earth. I was cloud nine cause of making it this far but soon had a reality check when i had to make some tight turns by myself like the setup by getting in the other lane also by being so worried about my trailer i over revved the engine. So all i can say is good luck to any rookies lord knows we need it.

Completed first 2 weeks and got to talk to my trainer today...He seems to be a pretty good guy...Start out with our first load Sunday @ 4

hey how is it going out there? It has gotten a lot better for me. Do you got a good trainer? I hope so my trainer has been great for me and telling me horror stories about other trainers but its really only been two of the trainers and one does not work with us anymore.

Hello all!

I've been thinking about making a change, and I have thought about becoming a truck driver several times just never actually took the time to look into it. I've delivered pizzas for round about 5 years straight, and i have grown tired of having to rely on the kindness of strangers to make a living (being a tipped employee and whatnot). I'm not the type of person who wants to be in a warehouse or in a cubical, I have tried to work those jobs and they just were not for me.

I love to drive, no kids, and no girlfriend/wife to worry about. I prefer to be alone, so I'm fairly certain being in a truck by myself wouldn't be an issue. I'm a fairly laid back and patient person. The only issue that has me a little worried is the amount of sleep I would be getting but I'm sure I could get used to the erratic sleeping patterns.

I have had only one at fault accident and that was when I was 18 (I had just got my license not a week before) I am 27 now. I have had 2 to 4 tickets, I can not remember how many due to being so long ago, but they were for lights being out and no proof of current insurance, and from what i remember I got those tickets removed/thrown out by sending in pictures of the lights working and proof of insurance during the time of the ticket. I did get a camera intersection ticket for turning right on red (which was kind of strange) but was not required to pay it. I have not had any speeding, reckless driving tickets, nor any dui/dwi.

What do you all think? Do you think this lifestyle would be a good fit for me? any information, criticism, and help will be appreciated.

Sincerely, Alexander

I cant and wont tell you should or shouldnt do something but i can talk about the sleep question of yours. I was really worried about that also you know about a company making me team drive and trying sleep during the day in a moving truck or just trying to sleep during the day period would be hard for me so thats why i chose flatbed when i stop driving the truck stops same if my trainer is driving that day. I know there might van and reffer companies that do the same but the flatbeds used it as their selling points and its been truth. So if thats one of your hold backs i would start doin some research and look into companies that wont use you as a team driver.

I'm in the flatbed division that is regional. I'm home most weekends and they really practice what they preach. I guess my only complaint is that they have autos

yea thats why i chose mcelroy over them was cause of the tranny. So are you solo or still training? Were do you mostly run at? Really wondering since your on that side of that state and in eastern time zone if they try and keep you in that time zone.

Started with 8 and after 2 drops + 1 for DOT physical & 1 for agility (heart rate) we are down to 4

yea they drop fast Mcelroy has high expections for its trainees and those who dont make it get cut we had started with 12 and only 7 went to trainers. The group after me started with 12 also and only 5 made it to 1st week but one did have to leave cause of the guard so he is coming back. Now i am hoping that all seven come back for final week plus the two boys from your neck of the woods and the two guys from north carolina.

Better than when you're at a dock with your fly down and a brisk wind blows in. I take it back. I actually enjoy that.

that is so funny and true! The sad part is this actually happen to me already cause i slept at the consignee woke up and put my pants on and forgot to zip them up and it was 50 degrees outside what a way to wake up.

I hate truck stops so I try to spring for a hotel 2 nights a week. This covers showers 4 out of 7 days as you can shower both the day you check in and the day you check out. This works well in theory except that I'm flatbed and some times after loading or unloading a shower is necessary even if it isn't a hotel day.

after one week of training with mcelroy(flatbed) a shower right after i have tarped or a least helped tarped a load is needed, messing with wet, old, and dirty tarps really gets the arms black and sometime the face due to wiping sweat of my face

Thanks RedBeard..Hows it going out there....Almost got this first week knocked out..Got through the road and agility test, Smith System and hopefully we'll get to review coupling & uncoupling today..Get a chance to meet up with Squid the other day also, good dude who's willing to help as well as all the other folks I've meet this week...Be safe good luck

congrats dude uh as for me well..... my shifting really sucks and my trainer is getting a little ****ed but he is a good one and is hard on me but fair so hopefully it will get better.

How long have you been with them and what fleet are you in? The one that tries to get you home every weekend or the one where you go to all 48?