Best Way/Place To Begin

Travis

happy holidays to ya buddy. I'm wishing you good luck and hope you find a great match and all goes smooth for you. thanks for your good wishes too.

which companies are you referring to? you said two your considering and two your steering clear of.

I've looked into a few. I've been told by many to steer clear of swift and cr england. idk why, but I'm Always told that. I've been told Old Dominion is great, Snyder too. Ive heard Knight is ok. What i like about Prime is that they have a very low turnover rate end-of-contract. its like half of what everyone else's is. that tells me that ppl like working for them. i really like this company freymiller out of okc but they don't do the paid school you have to enter with a cdl then they do a 6-8 week driver otr training. so I'm looking into a cdl school and possible sources of funding for that.

best wishes h

Hey, Heath I'm going through the same thing as you are. If it all goes well next year around spring/summer time. Im going to choose a trucking company, get my CDL and do my part. But honestly reading Old School's advice, is the best one I've found and read. And honestly why would you wanna go say 75 mph with carrying what 40,000 Ibs? I've seen YouTube videos of trucks, off the road or turned over because they was going to fast. And what I've gathered if I'm wrong or right about this. Is that in some states you are supposed to drive the limit or under? Like maybe California for one? I mean common no one should be a Snowman trying to evade the sheriff, and run along with Bandit with you.

And for choosing a company, go with the one that suits you. I'm debating on two companies and two have bad reputations. But in the long run I'm just wanting the opportunity and the experience that I need. So, that way I can transition to a home based company. Good luck though.

banks thats great advice and solid ground. thanks for your input. and for the link. i have been looking into this and thinking about changing over to trucking for a couple years actually. and when i called prime a couple years ago, the lady that answered the phone was just a nasty human being and it really spooked me. thats where some of my concern is coming from. but, also, that's life. and what I'm taking away from the elders in this chat is that, end of day its on you. so, again, thanks ya.

happy holiday season to you and yours.

best h

What's wrong with being governed at 62-65 MPH? How fast do you want to go?

Any company willing to train you and put you in the drivers seat is the best way to go.

Companies are just that, companies. If you want to be treated right you have to build those relationships with your team. Dispatchers, driver managers, fleet managers etc are the only ones you need a relationship with and if you do right by them, they'll do right by you. It's a 2 way street. That means being on time and constant communication if something goes wrong.

Apply For Paid CDL Training will send your application to a bunch of companies that provide company sponsored training.

Heath, re: your implied Q, "... i really like this company freymiller out of okc but they don't do the paid school you have to enter with a cdl then they do a 6-8 week driver otr training. so I'm looking into a cdl school and possible sources of funding for that."

See my reply to Mark C. in his "Lookin' At New Roads" thread this morning, same basic question to which I answered with what worked perfectly for me just several months ago. And if that's not an option, maybe a loan source outside of a trucking company, especially if the one you most want to work for doesn't offer CDL training, is a better way to go? No shortage of reports by those who end up regretting the company contract, which is in most cases just a choice-restrictive type of loan, right guys? But then there's the other conventional wisdom here, that the average company that offers its own training for its future employees will do a better job of educating you for the CDL and beyond...which makes sense, and the experts here know more than me, but they also say it isn't a universal truth. A lot of the company schools rush you through it, while a lot of the private ones do not, like the one I went to. Seems to me they all tend to be far from ideal (mine couldn't allow enough truck time per student) and are mostly just about getting you that license, which is a much easier hurdle than what follows.

Nice to have some time lately to feed back some of the basics of what I've learned at this great site mostly (and also elsewhere, especially in my early experience so far) over the past year-plus. Maybe take a little pressure off the moderators et al during their much-deserved holiday time off (hopefully?!), before I get immersed OTR shortly.............

Don't put too much stock in a recruiter or whoever it was that answered the phone that day. They are such a small part too all of this, that it doesn't really matter if they're nice or not. You're going to deal with a lot of nasty individuals out there. People that don't want to be at work and take it out on anybody that walks up to the window. It's important to have thick skin and be polite, even to those that don't deserve it. A smile goes a long way and in some instances can make somebody's day a little better.

Heath, re: your implied Q, "... i really like this company freymiller out of okc but they don't do the paid school you have to enter with a cdl then they do a 6-8 week driver otr training. so I'm looking into a cdl school and possible sources of funding for that."

See my reply to Mark C. in his "Lookin' At New Roads" thread this morning, same basic question to which I answered with what worked perfectly for me just several months ago. And if that's not an option, maybe a loan source outside of a trucking company, especially if the one you most want to work for doesn't offer CDL training, is a better way to go? No shortage of reports by those who end up regretting the company contract, which is in most cases just a choice-restrictive type of loan, right guys? But then there's the other conventional wisdom here, that the average company that offers its own training for its future employees will do a better job of educating you for the CDL and beyond...which makes sense, and the experts here know more than me, but they also say it isn't a universal truth. A lot of the company schools rush you through it, while a lot of the private ones do not, like the one I went to. Seems to me they all tend to be far from ideal (mine couldn't allow enough truck time per student) and are mostly just about getting you that license, which is a much easier hurdle than what follows.

Nice to have some time lately to feed back some of the basics of what I've learned at this great site mostly (and also elsewhere, especially in my early experience so far) over the past year-plus. Maybe take a little pressure off the moderators et al during their much-deserved holiday time off (hopefully?!), before I get immersed OTR shortly.............

Yessir, Heath . . . J.D. is doing his due diligence as the go to responder this week(end!) :) Hey, I'm personally grateful, J.D. ~!!

Regarding Freymiller . . . Georgia Mike started with Western Express, and has since moved on to Freymiller. Y'all could look up some of 'his' posts, too!! Here's the link:

GA Mike's transition from WE to Freymiller

It's kinda hard to search because he posted with two words instead of one ... ie; Frey miller.

Banks ... I agree with your advice, entirely! 2020's been a crap year, compounded with the stress of the holidays, so MANY people in the CSR world are spread thin, and a bit 'grinchy' this year. I've seen and noticed this across many levels and industries, as well~! Just, IMHO . . . of course.

Best to y'all, guys!

~ Anne ~