Made A Change In Plans

When I posted a few weeks back, I was going to Werner. I ended up having to postpone that because I had to get the meds for my BP adjusted to where they kept my readings steady. No point in going off for orientation if they are going to send you home for high BP. Well I got that under control with a med that works for me, but while I was delayed, I kept looking around. I ended up going to Knight Transportation.

Werner had been offering me a sign on bonus, but because that money was kind of bright and shiny, it was making me overlook somethings I have since decided were not as good. I called Knight last week, they got me in orientation this week right here in Florida. We finished yesterday. Then when it came time to meet my DM , he asked if I would mind going to Ft Myers and pick up my truck from a shop. Heh, I live in Ft Myers. So in about an hour, my wife is going to take me up to the shop, I will pick up the truck and head back to the terminal. I am glad I chose Knight based on my experience of the last few days. Everyone is just great!

Word of caution to you folks just getting started. We had a class of 9 going into orientation. 2 guys left because they got offers from local companies. 1 guy was let go yesterday because he had some misdemeanors he did not disclose. Nice guy too. He had just graduated from school and was working really hard to get in. Make sure you tell them everything up front at the company you go to. I had the impression Knight could have worked with this guy, if he had disclosed to start with.

Hey, that's great! I'm sure you'll do well with Knight.

What division are you running in? How often are you going go get home?

Congrats!

I am starting my orientation with Knight on Monday. They were my number one choice from the start. I will say I had to think about it a little while in school with some of the offers of sign on bonuses on top of tuition reimbursement from other companies. But I felt that I had to keep my eye on what was really important to me, which is different options for home time.

So far all the drivers I have talked to that work for knight speak very highly of them.

Woody

Congrats Sir!

Knight is a good company. Truth be told, I have one month left on my contract and I'm constantly looking at every other company. I've looked at Knight and they remain a top 3 in my current list. They offer a regional opportunity where I live with hometime every 10 days. Tempting. Sure feels good to have some experience on you, its nice that pretty much every company is desperately trying to get you to sign on after a year of experience with no accidents.

Congratulations my friend!

Really glad to see this. Keep us posted, as I'm sure you will do very well over at Knight. I'm kind of curious like Brett, what division are you working in?

I am working dry van. I am told I can do 3 weeks on with 3 days off, so that is what I am planning on. If you take more than 4 days, they slip seat you. They have some part time options like 2 weeks on a week off, or 21 days on with a week off. I need to make some money, and that week off does not seem that good to me to make money.

I am actually in a reefer division truck. The truck they issued me on Friday had some issues and needs to be sent to a dealer for repair. Someone ran it without DEF. The gauge is stuck at around a quarter tank. We never let our DEF tank get below half at CRST, mainly because it takes so long to fill.

First day was a what can go wrong will go wrong day. They issued me the second truck late in the day, and everyone went home. Well the qualcom is out. I had a load that picked up at 1AM Sat heading out to Ft Worth TX. So, I started paper logs. My trailer I parked in front of, when I was pretripping to go get the load, had a flat. I had to call night dispatch and then run all over Tampa to find an empty. I was late for my pick up, but it was no big deal. Delivery is at 11:59PM on Mon. I went back to the terminal after I picked up, to see if anyone could deal with the qualcom on Saturday. No one could, so I am on paper logs until I find out what is up tomorrow. I shut down at 6 tonight with bad weather, and freezing fog predicted in north central Tx. I am 6 hours out. Highs of 40 tomorrow and this will shift me back to days. I should still deliver early by 10 to 11 hours. Good load for my rookie run with Knight. close to 1200 miles.

Paper logs are no big deal. I just make it a point to do them at every duty change Only takes a few minutes. I can see how if you are not on top of them, it could make you behind in a hurry.

Here's a heads up about paper logs....NEVER SIGN THE PAGE UNTIL YOU ARE DONE. If you do, and make a mistake and they catch it, they can, and WILL write you a ticket, because you signed that everything written is true and correct ( or some such verbiage)..so you essentially are saying that your mistake is what you wanted it to be.