Need Info On Trucking Companies

Hi all, I was wondering if anybody who works for these companies Swift, USA Trucking, Millis, F.F.E. Central Refrigerated, and Pam, could p.m. me? I would like to ask some questions that I would rather not have on a public forum. Also any one who might want to answer some questions off the record so to speak! I am just wanting to make a proper well informed decision before I make my choice as to what Company-Sponsored Training I would like to give my next year of my life to.

Thank you, Kevin

Kevin, do you have an idea about what type of driving job you want? It seems like the training companies you've given us are all over the spectrum. I can sense your struggle with thinking you've got to get this right. I don't even know if my old threads about my training choices are in this forum or the old one, but I wish you could see them and realize how I got rejected several times and ended up with a company that I couldn't find a single positive recommendation for on the internet. The most critical thing about this decision is your commitment to making it work, not where you're going to work.

I suggest you go to Swift simply because they've got all types of jobs available to you, and if you decide three months into this that I think I'd prefer dry van or flat bed over refrigerated then they can help you move to your preferred job without any interruption to your first year's commitment.

Old School, yeah I'm not sure what I want to do. I do know I want to be out on the road I want to go east coast to west coast north coast to south coast lol... and I didn't think swift did all that. As far s what kind of driving I don't know that either I seem to be interested in dry van but lately I've been thinking about flat bed to. I also think I may have to wait another 2 mos tho. Just to be sure I can pass all tests. That's why I asked for pm's. I don't want to waste my time getting out to a company that is gonna do a certain test that I know I can't pass yet. I figured if people pm me then they could answer some questions more privately.

When I was looking at companies WAAAAAAY back in the day, Brett always told me that the company I picked wouldn't be that big a decision as I thought it was. I thought the ole man was whack and out of his mind.

Once I chose a company, and learned the job, and became a driver, I realized he was right.

When I was looking at companies WAAAAAAY back in the day, Brett always told me that the company I picked wouldn't be that big a decision as I thought it was. I thought the ole man was whack and out of his mind.

Once I chose a company, and learned the job, and became a driver, I realized he was right.

Hey jakecatt!! Great to see you back!!!

Yeah, that message is a really tough sell. It seems intuitive, almost common sense and obvious that the company you choose to get your career started with would be critically important. But it certainly isn't.

I think there's a few reasons people make that assumption:

1) You can't move around from job to job as easily in other industries as you can in trucking. So it's not a life sentence. You can move around easily from company to company anytime you like.

2) There is soooooo much negative garbage strewn around the Internet about the various companies that everyone gets the impression that there are a lot of "bad companies" so they have to find a good one to avoid suffering a terrible fate. That couldn't be further from the truth. It's not bad companies that are the problem, it's the people bashing the companies that either screwed up or failed training or didn't belong in trucking in the first place - they did something to screw it up for themselves and they're looking for someone to blame in order to save face. It's so easy to just tell the world "It's the company's fault! They're abusive! They're a scam!" than it is to stand up like an adult and face the fact that you screwed up or chose the wrong career. They know the company isn't there to defend themselves so we'll never hear the other side of the story.

3) People don't realize just how similar all of the companies are. They all have a few unique traits, but overall when you're comparing dry van to dry van, flatbed to flatbed, etc - there is very little difference between them. Every company uses the same types of trucks, the same fuel, the same highways, and are governed by the same laws. Often times they even use some of the same customers, freight brokers, logistics software, and dispatching/load planning structures. So it's very difficult for a company to differentiate itself. Not to mention, they all keep a close eye on each other. If one comes up with a great idea, they're all doing it within a month.

Well now that I've talked about this, I like this topic for my next blog article.

Thanks jakecatt! Hope things are going awesome out there!