A lot of us go to Allentown, just out of curiosity, which warehouse were you in? There is a chance some of us have been there before.
Do unpaid tickets resulting in suspension disqualify from prime? I may have had some over a quarter of a century ago- parking tickets or unpaid registration. I'm not sure if I caught them in time or not. Maybe not.
Never mind- looks like just the past three years for suspensions.
Do unpaid tickets resulting in suspension disqualify from prime? I may have had some over a quarter of a century ago- parking tickets or unpaid registration. I'm not sure if I caught them in time or not. Maybe not.
A lot of us go to Allentown, just out of curiosity, which warehouse were you in? There is a chance some of us have been there before.
Hah, yeah, I can imagine; it's pretty busy around the whole area.
I worked at Kelloggs off Schantz and rt100 - That "mess" of a place I'm sure many of you are familiar with. I'm especially sure some of you Hunt, Swift, Crete, Prime and Carlisle drivers try to avoid like the plague :P The one where everything's double-parked 200 doors, across from nestle waters.
Do unpaid tickets resulting in suspension disqualify from prime? I may have had some over a quarter of a century ago- parking tickets or unpaid registration. I'm not sure if I caught them in time or not. Maybe not.
I'm not 100% sure, but i'd rather not burn the bridge by applying too soon with out a professional driving background established first.
I just applied to wil-trans , see what happens there, i know they haul a lot of prime, but i'd rather shoot one high, then one low. Please tell me if i'm making a mistake by that :P
Darrel Wilson bought his first tractor in 1980 at age 20, but, being too young to meet OTR age requirements, he leased the truck out and hired a driver.
Through growth and acquisition, Wil-Trans now employs over 200 drivers, and has a long-standing partnership with Prime, Inc. to haul their refrigerated freight. The family of businesses also includes Jim Palmer Trucking and O & S Trucking.
Knight seems like a good option since they do offer regional/dedicated routes to lower seniority drivers.
Jon C, welcome to the forum!
I've been with Knight for three years. It is a great company. They have a lot of specialty accounts that would be available to you, especially once you've established yourself as a safe, efficient, dependable driver.
I am on their dedicated flat-bed "SAPA" account. I know they run some drivers out of Carlisle, PA on that account.
I'll tell you the most important thing when getting started at this is how you determine to approach this career. If you have a strong work ethic, get along well with others, and are self motivated you've got half the battle won already. Don't let all the foolishness you read online about the various companies give you pause. You are basically in control of your own destiny out here. That is the reason those qualities I mentioned are important. It also happens to be the reason so many folks fail at this when they first get started, and then write stupid reviews of how bad these trucking companies are.
Unfortunately most of the folks who can't seem to find success at this can't seem to focus on what their issues were either. Their misguided concerns usually go something like this:
"Such and such a company set me up for failure, and I want everyone to know how bad a place that is to work."
Now, does that sound logical to you? What kind of business plan tries to run off the very employees they desperately need?
All I'm trying to convey is that you can find some really bad reviews on Knight if you want to believe them. Actually you could find them on every major carrier there is. All those unemployed slackers have apparently got lots of time on their hands to post ridiculous slander all over the Internet. As for me, and the other successful and content drivers for these big trucking companies, we just dont have the time to pump out voluminous reports of how great our jobs are. We are too busy making great money and taking care of business.
A driver or carrier who transports cargo between regular, prescribed routes. Normally it means a driver will be dedicated to working for one particular customer like Walmart or Home Depot and they will only haul freight for that customer. You'll often hear drivers say something like, "I'm on the Walmart dedicated account."
Usually refers to a driver hauling freight within one particular region of the country. You might be in the "Southeast Regional Division" or "Midwest Regional". Regional route drivers often get home on the weekends which is one of the main appeals for this type of route.
The Substance Abuse Professional (SAP) is a person who evaluates employees who have violated a DOT drug and alcohol program regulation and makes recommendations concerning education, treatment, follow-up testing, and aftercare.
I applied for both Prime and Wil-trans. Neither seemed to care about my one misdemeanor DUI debacle when I was young and stupid 26 years ago. Knight also would let me move forward. I got my one- one in my whole life, mind you- speeding ticket about two and a half years ago. Yes, right before I decide to look into trucking. Wil trans rejected me for the speeding ticket, but it was just the one, and Prime and Knight will take one, I believe. That's all my driving screw ups. If you root around on the websites enough you can find some general guidelines as far as what they will accept, or not. It seems like unpaid ticket suspensions 8 years ago would be okay, but I'm no expert in all this.
Driving Under the Influence
Darrel Wilson bought his first tractor in 1980 at age 20, but, being too young to meet OTR age requirements, he leased the truck out and hired a driver.
Through growth and acquisition, Wil-Trans now employs over 200 drivers, and has a long-standing partnership with Prime, Inc. to haul their refrigerated freight. The family of businesses also includes Jim Palmer Trucking and O & S Trucking.
Knight seems like a good option since they do offer regional/dedicated routes to lower seniority drivers.Jon C, welcome to the forum!
I've been with Knight for three years. It is a great company. They have a lot of specialty accounts that would be available to you, especially once you've established yourself as a safe, efficient, dependable driver.
I am on their dedicated flat-bed "SAPA" account. I know they run some drivers out of Carlisle, PA on that account.
I'll tell you the most important thing when getting started at this is how you determine to approach this career. If you have a strong work ethic, get along well with others, and are self motivated you've got half the battle won already. Don't let all the foolishness you read online about the various companies give you pause. You are basically in control of your own destiny out here. That is the reason those qualities I mentioned are important. It also happens to be the reason so many folks fail at this when they first get started, and then write stupid reviews of how bad these trucking companies are.
Unfortunately most of the folks who can't seem to find success at this can't seem to focus on what their issues were either. Their misguided concerns usually go something like this:
"Such and such a company set me up for failure, and I want everyone to know how bad a place that is to work."
Now, does that sound logical to you? What kind of business plan tries to run off the very employees they desperately need?
All I'm trying to convey is that you can find some really bad reviews on Knight if you want to believe them. Actually you could find them on every major carrier there is. All those unemployed slackers have apparently got lots of time on their hands to post ridiculous slander all over the Internet. As for me, and the other successful and content drivers for these big trucking companies, we just dont have the time to pump out voluminous reports of how great our jobs are. We are too busy making great money and taking care of business.
Wow, thanks for the great writeup!
I know there's always some negative words, especially about the mega-carriers. This is why i'm banking on a (somewhat) smaller company at first, then i'll work my way through to Knight. I hear good things, some bad, but the majority of the bad is mostly people who are 'outraged' a little too easily and like to 'speak out' about it.
A driver or carrier who transports cargo between regular, prescribed routes. Normally it means a driver will be dedicated to working for one particular customer like Walmart or Home Depot and they will only haul freight for that customer. You'll often hear drivers say something like, "I'm on the Walmart dedicated account."
Usually refers to a driver hauling freight within one particular region of the country. You might be in the "Southeast Regional Division" or "Midwest Regional". Regional route drivers often get home on the weekends which is one of the main appeals for this type of route.
The Substance Abuse Professional (SAP) is a person who evaluates employees who have violated a DOT drug and alcohol program regulation and makes recommendations concerning education, treatment, follow-up testing, and aftercare.
So... I totally forgot it was Labor day... :P
Hope to hear from wiltrans tomorrow, i'll keep the thread updated as i know more
Heads up, for people who want to apply and are relatively young like myself - Wiltrans wants 10 (ten) years of employment history regardless if it's driving or not.
Just finished filling out how i was in high school and living with parents afterward :P
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I currently have no pets, girlfriend, wife, no dependents whatsoever, though I do have a foreclosure property that i've purchased a few years in the past. It's currently livable and i'm living in it right now. It does still need work to become mortgageable.
How do you handle managing the properties while on the road? I don't really want to rent this current place out; rather i'd like to return to it after finding a local or regional route/job after that first year and finally finish it up with the 'banked' paychecks.
As far as starting driving: After a long search, I'm really considering Knight to get 'rolling'. I don't have a cdl currently, and I had issues as a teenager when i first started driving, so that kind of knocked Prime out of the running. (no accidents, just unpaid tickets resulting in a suspension ~8 years ago)
Knight seems like a good option since they do offer regional/dedicated routes to lower seniority drivers. Their nearest terminal is about an hour from my home in north-eastern PA.
I've last worked on the other side of trucking as a shipping receiving clerk at a very active warehouse in Allentown, PA (~100 TL's per day). Trucking is in my blood and i've always wanted the other side of the business.
For the past 5 years I've driven 52 miles one way to work and enjoyed every minute of it. Traffic, snow, and ice; it's all a challenge I happily accept and enjoy.
I haven't been able to find very recent Knight information - most of it from around the 2014 time. Has anyone been through lately?
I know starting pay is low, but having next to no major expenses (mortgage, rent, sending money home to family etc) it isn't really an issue for me. I could pay for everything with a full-time mcdonalds job :P.
Thank you all for your time :)
CDL:
Commercial Driver's License (CDL)
A CDL is required to drive any of the following vehicles:
Terminal:
A facility where trucking companies operate out of, or their "home base" if you will. A lot of major companies have multiple terminals around the country which usually consist of the main office building, a drop lot for trailers, and sometimes a repair shop and wash facilities.
Dedicated Route:
A driver or carrier who transports cargo between regular, prescribed routes. Normally it means a driver will be dedicated to working for one particular customer like Walmart or Home Depot and they will only haul freight for that customer. You'll often hear drivers say something like, "I'm on the Walmart dedicated account."
Regional:
Regional Route
Usually refers to a driver hauling freight within one particular region of the country. You might be in the "Southeast Regional Division" or "Midwest Regional". Regional route drivers often get home on the weekends which is one of the main appeals for this type of route.