My Journey - Clarksburg,WV To Careers World Wide To Stevens Transport

Brett,

when it comes to pay, Stevens seemed to be lower , 39 cents per mile and this was after all the training was done and I am solo. I am thinking that this is more on the lower end of the "cent per mile" , but , then again I could be wrong. I know from what little experience that I do have (2003 to 2005) that Werner was paying 34 cent per mile at the time and JB Hunt was paying 36 cents per mile at that time for solo OTR drivers. Thoughts ?

I'm just "fishing" for straight answers and not answers from recruiters when it comes to cents per mile. I also heard and I think I read somewhere that some companies pay on a "sliding scale" of sorts to where as the longer the haul the less your pay is per mile , is there any truth in that ? if so, which companies are you aware of that does this ?

Thanks !!!

Listen, sweating a few CPM here and there isn't going to help. You're just getting back into the swing of things. How hard you run and how well you perform is going to make a profound difference in your earnings. If you're one of the top dogs your dispatcher is going to throw a ton of freight at you and give you extra perks the other drivers won't get. You'll start at 39 CPM but they'll give you raises during the year, also. Starting at that rate you should be able to make $50,000 - $55,000 in your first year. That's solid dough.

Get through that first year and then decide what you want to do. If you're making a killing and you're happy where you're at - fantastic. If you see bigger opportunities elsewhere then go for it. But you have to establish your career again on solid ground. Make all of your appointments on time, run as hard as anyone out there, and you'll make great money. 39 CPM is solid coming right out of school. Your previous experience should allow you to catch on immediately and really impress them. You'll get tons of freight and raises once you can do that.

If I thought you'd be better off elsewhere I'd say so. I think you'll do great right where you're at.

That is my intentions , I figure being a rookie (again) that should pretty much give me good miles per week (3,000 +/-) and if I make all my deliveries and pick ups on time with no safety issues then my dispatcher should keep me running.

Well I did find out something rather interesting , well , for me awesome to know , careers world wide in Keensburg, CO trains all students in manual 12 speed transmissions so they willnot have that exception or whatever its called on their CDL. I have to keep myself "seated" cause I am wanting to "hurry up " and get to the driving part of my training :)

I will be heading to my 2 local truckstops probably this weekend and chatting with different drivers, to me its a cool thing to do , especially if I get a chance to chat with a "old timer" over a slice of pie and coffee. I did this before and enjoyed the conversation tremendously !!

Pilot Flying J truckstop - exit 146 on I-79N (Morgantown,WV) TA Wheeling - exit 11 on I70W (Wheeling, WV)

maybe I will catch up with someone that reads this !!!

Listen, sweating a few CPM here and there isn't going to help. You're just getting back into the swing of things. How hard you run and how well you perform is going to make a profound difference in your earnings. If you're one of the top dogs your dispatcher is going to throw a ton of freight at you and give you extra perks the other drivers won't get. You'll start at 39 CPM but they'll give you raises during the year, also. Starting at that rate you should be able to make $50,000 - $55,000 in your first year. That's solid dough.

Get through that first year and then decide what you want to do. If you're making a killing and you're happy where you're at - fantastic. If you see bigger opportunities elsewhere then go for it. But you have to establish your career again on solid ground. Make all of your appointments on time, run as hard as anyone out there, and you'll make great money. 39 CPM is solid coming right out of school. Your previous experience should allow you to catch on immediately and really impress them. You'll get tons of freight and raises once you can do that.

If I thought you'd be better off elsewhere I'd say so. I think you'll do great right where you're at.

I was through there two days ago in WV.

Well...well...well....

Where to begin or shall I say start , not to give anyone a increased ego or not (LOL) , but , after some really harsh and detailed "digging" by my awesome wife while I was studying my CDL book , she put it in front of me the "pros" and "cons" of Stevens Transport as well as Careers World Wide (CWW) in Keensburg, CO . She used this site to start her research then followed up with Google reviews , Indeed Reviews , and YouTube Vids as well. She looked over their websites as well and if they have a facebook page , she looked that over also. Basically , she left no stone unturned and took notes. I'm not going to go into the details here because everyone's "good and bad" might be a bit different for schooling.

She did note that Stevens Transport has interesting label on them "starter company" by a good deal of peoples reviews , even the good ones as well called them a good starter company. So, what makes a company a "good starter company"...that is a very good question....

She also found out that if you do go thru CWW via Stevens you will be repaying the "loan" to Stevens for the school , however , it is NOT a one year deal. Its only guaranteed interest free for the first year just as long as you stay with Stevens. The remaining balance after one year is subject to interest (not sure of the rate) for the remaining time employed at Stevens. For the most part , it seems that it takes roughly 2 or 3 years to fully pay off the school from what she read and doing some simple math.

So, needless to say , "happy wife = happy life" wins in this event , so , I called the recruiter at Stevens and told them that they need to remove me off their list and give my spot to someone else. I also contacted Careers world wide and did the same thing.

To be completely honest here , I was too overly aggressive plus foolish in my searching as well as not using the resources that I had available to me. For those who are reading this that have yet entered into this industry , please do yourself a HUGE favor , S_L_O_W_L_Y and I really mean slowly review all the Carriers and what they have to offer. Use the resourses here on this site , plus do your own digging,

For me , this is not the end , but , only the beginning , for I have the WV CDL book and I have The High Road CDL Training Course , so , I will continue my studies and who knows , if I feel ready enough then I will take the CDL Permit test without any schooling or maybe I will still go thru schooling , but , I just need to stay the course and stay true to getting my CDL on either case. I'm not even gonna worry myself about which carrier to go with at this time , I just need to focus all my effort in getting the CDL Permit. Besides , my wife wanted to help so , she is reviewing all the carriers that is listed here while I study.

~ keep it between the lines and keep in mind if ya gotta chain up , then its time to call it a day , be safe out there !!!!

Mike

Good for you and your wife, too. Don't put much stock in reviews you read online, though. Anyone with an axe to grind because they failed can post the most inflammatory crap on there and most isn't worth reading.

Wow, man. You really do think you're going to dig up some golden nuggets by piling on the research and pondering decisions forever, don't ya?

After reopening my 3 ring binder full of research and going over what I was doing before, I elected to start over from scratch and take my time in finding out more for each company

Have fun with that. You're losing a fortune pondering these decisions when you could have been out there already making money, building relationships, and re-establishing your career.

I can't believe you were an OTR driver for a couple years back in the day and still you fall for the classic misnomers like the major carriers are just "starter companies" and they "herd cattle through CDL mills." I would expect a total newbie to maybe fall for that line of thinking, but not someone who has been out there on the road and should understand by now that you'll make top dollar at any major carrier as long as you perform at a high level.

I just hate to see people with good intentions wasting their time and energy with this misguided idea that they're digging up all of this valuable information that will have a profound impact on their career. In fact, all you're doing is wasting time and money and putting all sorts of false ideas in your head.

If there were companies to look out for don't you think we would have warned you about them? If "CDL mills" and "starter companies" were legitimate concerns we would have been talking about it for years. In fact, what we warn people not to do is waste months of their lives pouring over research thinking they're going to dig up this mythical unicorn company. All of the major carriers are outstanding companies. I can't understand why people can't see that. It should be obvious. They're all elite carriers that have reached the highest level of success in this industry and maintained it for decades.

Here, listen to this:

Episode 9: Are Major Carriers Nothing More Than Starter Companies?

OldGrizzlyBear, let me put this in a different perspective. If I said to you, "Give me $4,000 and tell me your preferences. I'll do the research for you. I'll let you know which company is the best to work for."

You would think that was insane, right? Like, who would give me $4,000 to do the research for them?

Well, that's how much money you're losing every month while you sit home thinking about who to work for, and that's a conservative estimate. You should easily make $50,000 your first year back out there because you already know how to do this job. You have experience. You should be able to jump behind the wheel and get back in the swing of things quickly.

Quit wasting your time and money. Pick a company and get to work.

I want to back up what Brett's saying. I'm not trying to pile on, but just want to affirm his comments. We've been helping people do this for years. You just fell into one of the biggest traps that snares the wannabes. People wring their hands over which company to start with. They do tons of research, some of them even create useless spreadsheets trying to pinpoint some special company that is so superior that even we don't know about it.

It's a complete waste of time. All trucking companies have their detractors. It's never a realistic reflection on the company. Very few people who go into this career make a go of it. They fail. They are the ones writing these ridiculous reviews. Why take your advice from the people who failed?

Brett's point is based on economics. You're wasting both time and money. Jump in the water man. You don't need to be afraid you're going to be cheated. You're cheating yourself by delaying getting started. It's costing you BIG TIME!

Here's a personal example. In fact, I'm gonna give your wife an assignment to help you guys understand what we're saying. I started my trucking career at Western Express. I honestly couldn't find any positive reviews on them. The reviews were so bad it sounded like the devil himself was running the place. I was literally scared when I left home for orientation.

Here's what I learned. Trucking is trucking. It's not important who's name is on the truck's doors. Drivers determine their success, not corporations. I did great at Western Express. That's where I learned to hone my skills at time management and communication. I was treated like Royalty. I was always busy, and received multiple pay increases and awards. I also encountered people who were miserable and lazy. They came and went almost weekly. Those were the rascals writing the reviews!

Here's the assignment for your wife. Tell her you want to start at Western Express. Have her do her research. See what she comes up with. Then compare that to my genuine success story. It won't make any sense. I honestly hope you'll do that exercise. It will show you the futility of trusting those reviews.

Old School assigned some homework...

Here's the assignment for your wife. Tell her you want to start at Western Express. Have her do her research. See what she comes up with. Then compare that to my genuine success story. It won't make any sense. I honestly hope you'll do that exercise. It will show you the futility of trusting those reviews.

Grizzly I’ll add my experience with Swift to Old School’s points about WE. I have been driving for Swift for over 6 years and invested less than 1 week researching them. I’ve never regretted my decision or my commitment beyond the first year.

I wish you luck.