Looking For Info On These Companies

So I'm about week through CDL school. I've gotten my pre hire letters from a majority of the companies I expected and I have narrowed it down to Stevens, Covenant, CRST, and Crete. I'm just curious if anyone who works for these companies can give me some insight. Right now I'm really leaning towards Covenant. But again I still have a few weeks before I complete school so am looking to just get information that may not have been given. Thanks everyone. Stay safe out there

Well CRST is mostly a team operation. If you want to run team then that's fine but most people aren't fond of it at all. So I'd be hesitant to go with them unless you really want to run team.

Otherwise the choices are all fine places to work. Is there anything in particular you're looking for in a job? Do you want a certain amount of home time? Do you want to run certain areas of the country? Do you want to haul a certain type of freight? Those are normally the deciding factors when choosing a place to work.

CRST and Covenant are both team companies. Covanent teams you for 6 months I think and CRST is pretty much all team. Stevens and Crete will both allow you to go solo after training. Other than that I would look hard at the questions Brett asked and figure it out from there.

I am a Stevens Transport driver. I have no game-breaking problems with how they operate.

As mentioned, you can go solo after you complete your time in-truck with a trainer. Your training time with Stevens will be in a team-light scenario. You and your trainer will both be driving. To start with, you can only drive a total of 15 hours in a day between the two of you. This increases to 19 hours a day between the two of you by the end of your time with the trainer.

If you are interested in team driving, this will give you a taste of it.

Personally, being in a 10x10 box with another person for weeks at a time drove me up the friggin wall. I will never voluntarily spend more than day at a time in a truck with another person again if I can help it.

Stevens has a pretty good support network for new drivers. They also have good CSRA scores, which means less time at weigh/inspection stations.

Pay per mile is lower than average, (0.30 per mile) but average trip is 1000+ miles for OTR.

Stevens is very aggressive about their lease program. Don't be fooled. It's garbage unless you are a trainer. I have never spoken to a non-trainer lease operator that was happy being a lease operator.

But, if you absolutely MUST try to be a lease operator, the Stevens lease program is a walkaway lease, and you can return to being a company driver if you don't burn bridges in frustration as you learn how terrible the lease program is.

All in all, Stevens is a good place to learn to drive, then you go somewhere else to get better money. Most companies will happily hire Stevens drivers that have mostly-clean MVRs.

I have been with Crete now for 6 months. Love the company. Great benefits. Very organized and plenty of miles to be had. Really have nothing bad to say and would recommend them to any new driver.

They're all major companies and will have great equipment. If you're not looking for a team gig, I'd go with Crete out of the companies you listed. They pay the best. You'll be going through the trials of a rookie in the beginning, so you won't earn the same paycheck that an experienced driver would, mainly because you'll need to learn to be efficient, but once you get familiar with the job, you'll earn more with Crete simply because they pay more. For me, Crete is a "no-brainer" out of your list.