Profile For Fireball

Whar kin I get meh one of dem truckertarys? LOL jk best of luck to you Brett has said all that needs to be said.

Phil

LOL. I just thought of myself as the jump seat cover, lol. Thanks so much for the well wishes. You have all been the best help!

I drive for prime who loves spouse teams... and pets. They are one of thw highest paying cpm for newbies..teams go coast to coast . And the tuition is FREE as long as u work for them a year. I have been with them 6 mos and love it. I have paid $0 in tuition thus far.... u pay only if you leave.

Thanks so much. We had honestly overlooked Prime. We're talking to a recruiter now. Love the tuition reimbursement program, benefits, and pet policy. We're still trying to decide especially since we expanded our company list exponentially thanks to the advice here.

My boyfriend and I drive team for Celadon and think they're great. Very team oriented, you'll get all the miles you can handle once you prove yourself competent. Lots of high mile and coast to coast runs. Teams run KW T680s with APUs, factory installed fridge and (1800w) inverter, TV mount. We enjoy working for them, if you have any specific questions I'll try to answer them. Not really sure what their mentor training involves as we didn't train through them.

We're in touch with Celadon and added them to our list. If we choose them we will let them know we were referred to them.

People speak pretty highly of Old Dominion freight lines and they just happen to have a line haul team position available out of Birmingham.

http://www.odfl.com/Careers/openingsDriverCo.faces

Thank you for the suggestion. Unfortunately, we do not yet have the experience they are looking for.

Look at H.O.Wolding. Mid size company out of Wisconsin, has drivers who live all over the country. Runs teams to west coast. Tuition reimbursement. Pet policy although a large deposit, it is refundable.

I've called them and we're in touch with a recruiter. We've added them to our growing list of companies. Thanks so much for the suggestion.

I'm afraid your familiarity with the industry and your knowledge of some former drivers may be hindering you more than helping you. If you can find a company that offers the kind of things you are interested in like team opportunities, pet policies, home time policies, and that sort of thing then you have found a home for yourselves. Everything else will be up to you - what I mean is that you will determine your own success at this stuff. Any of the major carriers will give you the tools and the freight to succeed, it is what you do with it at that point that will determine how successful you are at this.

I see where you and Brett are going with this. I've worked for companies in the past in various office positions as I climbed the experience ladder that had nasty reviews on various job classified websites but I personally never had the issues or complaints I would read about. On the contrary I would find more and more responsibility given to me or be the person upper management would come to when they had deadlines and needed stuff done quickly and accurately. The same for my husband in his 8 years at his current job.

You have all brought up valid points and made me take a look at how hearsay can be our downfall here and that we need to approach this in a different way. Funny enough, I finally got to speak with my father outside of texting and he said the same thing, "go into this with an open mind, work hard, show your dedication to the company you two choose and it will pay off."

Thanks so much for all your help!

You should take the approach that all of the major companies will be a great place to work once you've been there long enough to establish yourselves as top tier drivers. Some will pay better than others, some will have perks you like a little better, and they all have some unique divisions and various opportunities within the company.

So go find a company that you feel suits you guys well and don't worry about what anyone else thinks. Every major company has all of the miles, great equipment, and perks you could ever hope for once you've proven yourselves.

I get what you're saying Brett and make a good point. Definitely food for thought!

Thank you everyone for your suggestions. It is very much appreciated it! We have added a few more recruiters to the mix :-)

I do want to apologize though. I know I was a vague on what we had researched in companies thus far and sounding a bit uneducated in what to look for. I am not unfamiliar with the industry. My father has been driving since my birth 35 years ago. I was my 1st husband's "trucketary in the jump seat" throughout our 10 years together and my present husband's father is a terminal manager for a large trucking company. However, I am rusty as to how companies I knew intimately of in the past are doing presently, hence why I asked for honest opinions for the companies I mentioned and other suggestions of companies. I've learned word of mouth will sometimes garner good results or at least will allow us to learn of little known companies that are potentially great to work for :-)

On our own we have looked at companies' DOT safety ratings, age of equipment, equipment setups, team driving setups, CPM, home time, tuition reimbursement, health insurance, and 401k (as my husband has 8 years vested in his current job he wants to rollover), company perks/bonuses, etc. I also did use the website to apply to companies a little over a week ago and had spoken with a number of companies' recruiters since. Some we didn't like because they couldn't give us straight answers on our questions or constantly threw at us you can make $X amount of dollars in your first year instead of giving a straight answer. That is all fine and dandy but $X amount of dollars while you are miserable and signed on to a company for X amount of months to get your tuition reimbursed does not sound appealing. I know its not going to be rainbows and sunshine at times no matter what company chosen but we would like some straightforward answers going into it.

I'm sorry. I forgot to add we are open to companies with terminals not close to home. :) We stuck to companies with terminals close to home because we liked that we could drive our personal vehicle to orientation and if we had an extensive layover or breakdown in the future at a terminal we could visit family or potentially come home. And we found some companies will not hire you if your too far from a terminal, like for instance, USA Truck so that was another reason for sticking within 500 miles of our home. Celadon, well, honestly, its more because I know of the company as someone close to me drove for them for quite a number of years in the early 2000s and not much to do with a terminal being in Alabama.

Thanks Lynn. I like what I've seen and read so far about them. Best part a few of their terminals is in a reasonable distance from my home. I really appreciate the feedback :)