A Lesson Learned

I am about to start my final week of CDL training and am testing Thursday and Friday. Assuming I graduate with my CDL, I am to work for one year with USA Truck. Unfortunately, I just now realized their hauls seem to be primarily based in the east side of the country (east of the Mississippi). I was hoping to move to southeast Arizona soon but now I'm thinking it won't be happening for awhile. Does anyone know of any companies that are based in Arizona or have hauls that go there frequently?

P.S. This is somewhat of a cross-threaded post due to my lack of knowledge of the discussion areas.

Isn't USA main office and terminal in Arizona?

I am about to start my final week of CDL training and am testing Thursday and Friday. Assuming I graduate with my CDL, I am to work for one year with USA Truck. Unfortunately, I just now realized their hauls seem to be primarily based in the east side of the country (east of the Mississippi). I was hoping to move to southeast Arizona soon but now I'm thinking it won't be happening for awhile. Does anyone know of any companies that are based in Arizona or have hauls that go there frequently?

P.S. This is somewhat of a cross-threaded post due to my lack of knowledge of the discussion areas.

Swift is based out of Phoenix, AZ. They have trucks everywhere.

Schneider has a terminal in Phoenix. I live in Florida and have been to Phoenix a few times. Since Schneider is so big there's freight all over the country.

I am about to start my final week of CDL training and am testing Thursday and Friday. Assuming I graduate with my CDL, I am to work for one year with USA Truck. Unfortunately, I just now realized their hauls seem to be primarily based in the east side of the country (east of the Mississippi). I was hoping to move to southeast Arizona soon but now I'm thinking it won't be happening for awhile. Does anyone know of any companies that are based in Arizona or have hauls that go there frequently?

P.S. This is somewhat of a cross-threaded post due to my lack of knowledge of the discussion areas.

I'm fairly sure Knight is based out of AZ.

Most companies have most of their freight based out of the Eastern half of the country because that's the way the population density, manufacturing centers, and shipping ports work out. But USA has terminals as far west as Laredo, TX and they do operate in all 48 contiguous states. In fact you may find that once you put in a few months with the company and prove yourself to be safe and reliable they may have divisions or dedicated routes you can get into out west.

I have to be honest and say you shouldn't get training from a company and then look for a reason to leave. They've done their part and now you're going to have a new career because of it. They made an investment in you on the promise that you would work for them long enough to make it worth it for them. If your plans were to move to Phoenix then you know you should have spoken with different carriers about that before agreeing to let USA Truck fork out the money, the equipment, the people, and all of the other resources it takes to train you.

It's also possible they'll take a payout from you to get out of the contract but that isn't what these companies want. They want drivers. They could build a for-profit school if they just wanted to pump out students for other companies. They need drivers in the seat.

Talk to them and see what your options are. They may let you run team so you can get out west more regularly or they may have special divisions or dedicated fleets out west that would work perfectly. I just don't think it's valid to say, "oops, my bad. I need to move to Phoenix now but thanks for the training." Work with USA and find a solution within the company and fulfill that contract you agreed to. That's the way to handle it.