Looking For Trucking Company Help.
Topic 28251 | Page 1
All 3 companies you mentioned are excellent places to get started, or even stay to turn it into a career. I'll take the easy answer 
with TMC they get you home nearly every weekend. Prime has you stay out 3 or 4 weeks before you go home for 3 or 4 days. I believe swift asks 2 or 3 weeks before you go home 2 or 3 days.
If you're set on doing flatbed you can probably cross swift off your list. They do have a flatbed division but it appears to be small. Personally, I've not seen any but others here have said they do. Prime has a really long training period. The brightside is you'll be much better prepared for getting your own truck. The downside is being cooped up with a trainer for so long. Prime training will be running team for atleast 50,000 team miles. If I recall correctly they bumped it up to 60,000 miles late last year. According to the Trucking Truth TMC review you should expect to spend about 5 weeks with a trainer getting paid $500 a week. Prime will pay $600 (goes up to $700 at some point)
CDL:
Commercial Driver's License (CDL)
A CDL is required to drive any of the following vehicles:
- Any combination of vehicles with a gross combined weight rating (GCWR) of 26,001 or more pounds, providing the gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) of the vehicle being towed is in excess of 10,000 pounds.
- Any single vehicle with a GVWR of 26,001 or more pounds, or any such vehicle towing another not in excess of 10,000 pounds.
- Any vehicle, regardless of size, designed to transport 16 or more persons, including the driver.
- Any vehicle required by federal regulations to be placarded while transporting hazardous materials.
I see TMC trucks all over the carolinas. That translates to having a good amount of freight in those states which equals the ability to get you home easier. They have a sizeable truck sales terminal in Columbia SC.
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.
HOS:
Hours Of Service
HOS refers to the logbook hours of service regulations.
Awesome! thank you for the information. I definitely have TMC near the top of the list after hearing that. I will give them a call and get some more information.
Welcome Joe.
Don’t believe what you read or hear about Swift. All BS, written by failures who likely blame everything and anything for their misfortune, except of course, themselves.
I was trained by Swift 7 years ago and still happily drive for them on a NE Region Walmart Dedicated account. God willing, I’ll retire as a Swiftie.
When you have a chance, I suggest getting to know these starter links:
- Truck Driver's Career Guide
- Brett's Book: The Raw Truth About Trucking (free online version)
- High Road CDL Training Program
- CDL Practice Tests
Good luck!
CDL:
Commercial Driver's License (CDL)
A CDL is required to drive any of the following vehicles:
- Any combination of vehicles with a gross combined weight rating (GCWR) of 26,001 or more pounds, providing the gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) of the vehicle being towed is in excess of 10,000 pounds.
- Any single vehicle with a GVWR of 26,001 or more pounds, or any such vehicle towing another not in excess of 10,000 pounds.
- Any vehicle, regardless of size, designed to transport 16 or more persons, including the driver.
- Any vehicle required by federal regulations to be placarded while transporting hazardous materials.
Thank you for the help everyone. As you can see, i have chosen Werner as my starter company! So far they seem pretty good, many people here are professional, some not so much, but that’s everywhere you go.
Afterwards ill use my Tanker endorsement to find a local route and everyday home time. Maybe even drive for Walmart later down the road, i hear they pay really well, no touch, drop and hook freight, but they have some strict requirements from what i saw on the website. We will see what happens in the future, when and if it happens. Just gotta take everything one day at a time.
I will probably make some more posts later.
Be safe everyone, and thank you again!
Drop And Hook:
Drop and hook means the driver will drop one trailer and hook to another one.
In order to speed up the pickup and delivery process a driver may be instructed to drop their empty trailer and hook to one that is already loaded, or drop their loaded trailer and hook to one that is already empty. That way the driver will not have to wait for a trailer to be loaded or unloaded.
HOS:
Hours Of Service
HOS refers to the logbook hours of service regulations.
Congrats!!! Keep us posted on how your journey goes. 
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Hello Everyone!
I just received my Commercial Permit the start of a career change out of the Marines, and i am looking for a company that allows me to be home, possibly every week, or be able to have dedicated routes to where I live. I think i want to go towards the Flatbed route, and have been looking up information for TMC and possibly Prime Inc. I heard Swift was not a good choice, but.. i hear from others that it is. (mainly YouTube lol).
I live in North Carolina, and i would like to find a way to come home at least a few times a month or so. My biggest question is, what are the differences between Prime inc. and TMC, what can i expect from them, the Pros and Cons. Would live some insight.
Semper Fi.
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."