Co-DRIVER Needed For A TEAM Out Of AZ (Seeking A “needle In A Haystack” Here At The T.T. “magnet”)

Gotcha Anne... Except I still don't grok the "AZ" part. Not sure what you're sayin there...

CRST...Yeah, I mean no, of course that'd lock me into teaming, instead of having the option of solo after training. And besides, they rejected me a year ago after my father died, when I told them I technically didn't have "continuous employment", just about a year total in the last 5, unless they were willing to accept my 5 years of being Dad's primary caregiver and POA at the end during his end-stage Parkinson's. They weren't.

Will check out those diaries and posts... --JD

JD,

Been busy w/the fam w/the after Christmas 'stuff' a mom/wife has to do, but during this . . . have been in contact w/ a pal from TT that made his 'final' attempt at trucking with Dutch Maid Logistics, here in Ohio. Got me thinking 'boutcha . . .

You can look up posts from our infamous 'Marc Lee' ; I believe he started w/ Schneider, then J.B.Hunt, then Veriha, all in training ... and got hurt at JBH. Veriha took him on, but his backing was insufficient even for their training program.

He lastly got accepted by Dutch Maid as a CDL holder; but unfortunately ... drove tired. Reason he WAS tired, was the 'TEAM TRAINING.' Point being of course, this company WILL train you team, and let you team even AFTER training ... until you get (if ever?!?) into a comfort zone.

Just another thought; not sure of their hiring area and/or lanes, but he was/is from Wisconsin, and they took HIM in/on ~!

More diaries for you to read, good sir~! I'm still reading along in your other thread/posts!

~ Anne ~

Old School, Hope your Christmas was a good one. Wife got the virus so we had to keep it small (no symptoms).

I always appreciate being challenged to think again. I don't mind push back, it forces me to look for things I've missed. If it sounds like I'm pushing back, it ain't about arguing; it's how I use forums like to to understand what's driving my decisions.

I used to work my own little home improvement business, before that I was a commissioned plumber. I understand completely what you mean by performanced based. I prided myself on being efficient, not fast. That meant I was hitting all my marks the first time through a job. I took my time to make sure I never had to come back and redo something. It made me profitable even when bidding on highly competitive jobs. There are some things in the non-trucking world that cross over and I'd reckon this is one.

I'm not excited about teaming, just trying to find the best fit for my first year. CPM , time til benefits, home time, and school location are all in my equation (might be crazy but schooling in Jan just seems better in FL than WI, too many years in FL). Moreover, I ultimately have to get hired by one of them. As my old neighbor used to say, "if the big fish ain't bitin', I like the little ones the best".

There were days in plumbing I could run little drain jobs and make over $400 in commish and each job would be under $150. Then there were those high dollar leaks that end up taking two days to find and barely cover my expenses. Commission is a funny thing, higher price tag doesn't always equate to higher pay, I get it. (there was a day I completed 3 of those hard to find leaks and earned a weeks pay in a day, and other days when I could only get 2 drain jobs which didn't pay for gas)

Thing is, all I have to go on when applying for a company training program is what they tell me. They all tell me $50-60K is average 1st year and all the forums say $35-45K, there isn't much to go on beyond CPM. If everything else is equal, and I can't know if it is, I'd rather make more per mile. It's the only benchmark I have to work with.

I want a company that will let me grow. In my experience, better tools means better pay, so having something like HAZMAT seems like a good idea. My crazy Uncle Jimmy used to say "swinging beef pays the best, cuz it's awful tricky and too many get scared". I think he drove for about 40 yrs and passed on some years back, don't recall if he made it to the internet age of trucking. I ain't looking for swinging beef, so don't worry, just saying the more challenging the gig, the more it's likely to pay. Looking at the comments here I'd say teaming is more challenging to find drivers than solo, so it makes sense to me that it'd have a premium.

Ultimately, I'll likely be looking for that dedicated or local gig once I've paid my first year dues. I'll have to see what life throws at us in '21.

Thanks for spending the time, it's been good for me.

p.s. I reckon I'll have to write out my posts in Word, then log in. Getting logged out while typing than God help me if I refresh, the whole thing goes away.