Comments By Spanky FKA A.Meggs

Got a call today from drivers solutions recruiter (for PAM) said that pam now has all they need for final assessment and should hear from them by Tuesday. If all goes well I will be needing to make a choice soon. Just wondering if I decide on CR England and something happens (heard slot of stories of students going to school and before it was complete they were let go for some reason or another, recruiter swears I am in as long as I pass the course, drug test and get cdl) would PAM accept me after the fact that I chose to go elsewhere without going through the whole process again, or would I be able to Judy call them up and go from there. Any thoughts or experience from anyone on a situation like this. Not really worried about passing the course, and no worries on drug test, just never know what else could happen. At least with PAM I belive your in once you are accepted to take the course. England recruiter said background and everything else checked out good and accurate to what I told so just have to pass and get cdl.

Well finally got the call I've been waiting on but still may have one more option. The call was from C.R. England, recruiter said I have been accepted and am scheduled to start school at Alliance in Fletcher, N.C. On June 15th, but also got an email from PAM this morning asking for additional info so they can do a final Individual Assessment to see if I am accepted there as well. To tell you the truth I was floored, after all this time, applied at all the training sponsored companies, sent countless fax, emails, ect and someone is giving me a chance. BUT I am in a way not really sure on the company with all the negatives ( I know you all say not to listen to the gibberish) but who can help but be nervous, after all I do have my fair share of bills and the wife is going to be squeezed for the first couple months, and at the pay england starts out I'm just hoping I can prove myself and move up before I'm living in my truck (with the wife and 3 kids :) crammed in with me lol ) Pam starts out around the same as well but if these are the ok nly companies working with me, then I'm going to take the wheel and drive like hell :) Now my first thought was going with pam between the two (still considering I get accepted) until the recruiter told me you are required to team drive after being with a trainer for 6 months before solo, so then I was leaning more to england but for any other newbies looking to go with either, I was informed today england now does the same thing. She did state that it could be cut short if after being with a trainer one happens to land a dedicated, regional or intermodal position, but said you would have to be up on your game and really learn alot from your trainer, but it was possible. Anyway I feel like I could go on and on but I will say for future reference I will be keeping you all posted on the process, school, training and how which ever company I decide to go with actually is in my personal, honest opinion from my own perspective and experience. Have heard alot of negative on CR England, mixed reviews on PAM (mainly Internet reviews) but haven't heard much on PAM here, and git a few comments on england hrrr. So With THAT Said I will do what I can to fill the void fir either one. Anyone else here have any additional info please fill free to chime in. thanks to all and can't wait to be on my way

Not sure how this keeps happening but I reply to a post and it ends up inside the others paragraph like all mixed in together :) sorry if its confusing

A. Meggs, I don't like this option at all. For several reasons.

For starters, you won't have a certificate from a truck driving school so none of the major carriers would consider hiring you unless you get 6-12 months of safe, verifiable OTR experience. Now say you go this route, have a falling out with the truck owner, and he denies you ever worked for him. You're almost certainly in the same spot you're in now...you'll be looking for a school or hoping to land a job with some mom-n-pop company who isn't worried too much about verifiable experience. And if they're not worried about such things you know they're desperate for drivers, and you can probably imagine why. They can't be a great place to work.

Secondly, as you mentioned, this guy is a veteran who runs really hard. He's going to expect you to run your brains out. Paper logs is almost the equivalent of not having any logs because you can make up anything you like. So there's nothing stopping him from pushing and pushing and pushing you to run crazy amounts of miles right out of the gate. It's extremely dangerous for a new driver to try to turn big miles right away. You just won't have the stamina or the time management skills of the veterans yet.

Have a family member on wife's side that has been considering buying another truck and is interested in training me for the spot...Family member knows I would only be driving for him for bout a year or so till I could get with another company and he is fine with that as he will just find another driver. And who knows may decide to stay but he pays percentage, paper logs and I'm just not sure I would want to stay in that position.

All kinds of red flags here. First of all, why would someone want to hire a driver who not only has no experience but doesn't even have a CDL yet? If you're a large company it's because finding a large volume of drivers all the time often requires taking some risks and making some extraordinary efforts. But if you're one guy with one truck, why would you have to bring in someone off the street? It's super risky, totally unnecessary, and doesn't make logical nor business sense. And on top of it he's going to take that level of risk, go out of his way to spend weeks training you, and he's fine with the fact that you're planning on leaving before you've even started? Doesn't make sense.

What if he starts going broke or isn't happy with you in some way or another and decides he's going to take over the truck or stops paying you? Without enough experience you're going to be out of a job and right back in the position you are now. And trust me, this happens far too often with owner operators. They start going belly up and everything unrav

Thanks Brett, this would be why i like Trucking Truth. For these same reasons I was concerned and feely uneasy about it myself. The though of no tuition was starting to look good but the safety of it all doesn't seem so safe. Another good point was the pay, I had already thought of that, how would I be certain what I should get paid if I don't know the original deal and we all know in business alot of times family is the first to roll you oveer. Then all the other "red flags " that you mentioned, doesn't really look all that great of an option after all. Think I'll just keep applying and waiting it out. Thanks again brett, you know how to break it down and show what it might look like Down the road.

Brett, great point, and this is the exact reason I always paid my roofing guys by the square. When I first started it was hourly and it seemed nice (except when I would leave to do estimates or any other errands just to return to guys sitting on the ridge like a row of pigeons then hop to it when they see my truck, and all that time I'm just wondering how long they had been there and seems less was done than before I had left). Then got the news that most roofers were getting paid by the square so switched over to this system and what a difference. Also a great way to weed out the lazy guys and see who really was about the money :) From then on if I hired someone new and they didn't like the thought of production pay, I usually wouldn't hire them, unless they were new then it was to their benefit to be paid by the hour until I thought they were ready to produce a good amount. Once they were switched to pay by the square most watched their weekly pay almost double and they loved it. My thoughts, "go ahead and sit on your a$$, we both will be slack on pay this week" worked everytime lol

As long as it's a fair share a percentage of the load will pay as well or better than CPM. As for paper logs they are awesome.

If you have exhausted all other options what can it hurt to go the only viable option for you? As far as working for other companies goes, as long as you have a year or so OTR and a somewhat clean driving record that can be verified you shouldn't have any problems going to another company.

Keep all your old logbooks and receipts and you will have your own verification of driving.

.02

He had stated starting out would be 15-20% depending on the load, not sure if that's good or bad. My other concern was paper logs. seems most old school drivers prefer them but I know this guy runs like crazy and I'm sure his a little loose :) so hate to get into bad habits then get changed over at a company later to elogs. There are definitely some pros and cons. One downside that really bothers me is having 10-99 so have to keep up with my own taxes. We all hate to rake over money once it's in our hands so would really prefer a paycheck with taxes already deducted, as well as insurance (health) which of course he wouldn't provide, can you say "shade tree trucking" :)

Man, if I could have gone that route and not had a big old school bill, I would have jumped on it. :)

That's the way I was thinking at first but then thought, at least going thru school would prepare me BEFORE going on the road as far as most things (logs, tandem position, basic stuff) but I kniw hands on will work great too. Although I am really liking the fact of no obligations and no tuition. My other concern is that (no offense to anyone :) ) but I know some old school drivers develop habits that nay not be so great at certain companies and may be hard for me to break when going somewhere else. Guess if I can learn to break habits from four wheel to truck, I could learn to break from independent to company standards. Suppose to hear back from PAM Tuesday so if over next couple weeks I don't get any good news then I may be on to "shade tree trucking" lol that's what I've been calling it. Anyone have any thoughts on PAM, haven't seen much about them on here and read where Brett has mentioned before that he doesn't hear too much about them as far as thru trucking truth. Thanks again

Hope all is well with everyone. Have a question for you drivers that's been around for awhile. As I still sit waiting on a few companies to take a shot at me I can't help but wonder how hard would it be to obtain my cdl on my own. Have a family member on wife's side that has been considering buying another truck and is interested in training me for the spot. Of course I would go to dmv, get permit, ride with him for a time and learn the steps of driving, truck control, and all other aspects of this profession in order to obtain a cdl. I would use his truck for all testing and pretrip. If I had no other option but to go this route (trust me this would be my last resort as I would rather go through a school for this but really can't fork out the money right now and another bill would be tough as its tight as a wire at the moment) would ant other companies consider me down the road since I didn't get my training through a school or would it be just taking a refresher course to prove my worth and then on from there. Family member knows I would only be driving for him for bout a year or so till I could get with another company and he is fine with that as he will just find another driver. And who knows may decide to stay but he pays percentage, paper logs and I'm just not sure I would want to stay in that position. Maybe look for local companies after that time and if it's an option the good thing is I would have no obligation or tuition to any company. Any of you have experience in this area or know how it could work out either good or bad option. Thanks and hope you stay safe.

As for the restroom, everyone is assuming that your stomach is cooperating. Here is a tip that I hope you remember. Don't drink tap water everywhere. Stick to filtered or bottled water. Even in the U.S. switching water systems can cause upset stomachs in some people. And trust me, if you are one of the people that have the fortune of finding that one source of water that disagrees with you, there aren't enough rest areas in AZ or NM.

I found out that the tap water from the TA in Colorado (the name of the place just left, it was my first stop when I left Texas. I'm sure it will come back shortly) disagreed with both my husband and myself. A small wastebasket on the side of the road with a trash bag was the emergency toilet until we could get to a place where we could properly dispose of the waste. (yes by flushing it down the commode) It sucked. But not everything is going to be sunshine and roses all the time and sometimes your bowels are not going to cooperate with your delivery schedule.

Most of the time though, everything will work out. There will be plenty of time to make it to the restroom and back on the road. As a woman, my restroom stops (this included parking the truck) took me an average of 7 minutes. Btw, you learn some really random facts about yourself as a truck driver since you have to keep logs. I would have never known that about myself otherwise.

Thanks for the tip. Luckily I don't have any issues or real emergencies on a normal basis and I can usually "wait my turn" until facilities are available but was wondering some good ways you all have had to deal with emergencies :) a small bucket and a few spare bags sounds like a good idea to have around. As for the water I REALLY appreciate that tip as I drink water 90% of the time and mostly bottled. I had never thought of the water differences from place to place (aside from Mexico but that's just wgat you've always heard) but I will Def be asking for bottled or bring my own bottled water when eating in a restaurant because I am aware alot of them serve up water from tap even though most people don't know it. And we all know an upset stomach is not fun no matter where you are, I could only imagine being in no man's land and getting the erge ever so often. Thanks again and be safe :)

Thanks Rolling Thunder, so I'm thinking 12 volt is bad idea. Unless I just want to toss a few bills to the wind :)

Meant to ask, can those converters run a small fridge. Any suggestions on a good type/brand. Have absolutely no experience with them at all.