Choosing A Company When Your Options Are Limited..

GuyJax,

Much, much better reply the second time. Those of us who have been reading your posts for a while appreciate your passion and expertise. A newbee might be a bit more alarmed at the tone you used. All is well that ends well, eh?

Jopa

Guy, I wanna butt in here because I'd like to hear from your experience. Don't mean to hijack the thread, but I think the info I'd like to hear from you could benefit every prospective and rookie driver. Not sure if a thread has been started on this or not. I vaguely remember a thread about how to make your dispatcher happy.

Can you list some points on how you or any other driver can 'spot light' themselves and stand out in a company or for their dispatcher?

If you think it will hijack the thread, would you mind starting a new one with this topic? Then hopefully other experienced drivers can chime in. I think I could make some obvious assumptions on how to make yourself stand out (like never turning down a load), but I'd like to hear it from you guys / gals.

Hey Floyd...Millis was the 1st Company I applied for Company-Sponsored Training and they didn't hardly get into more than 30 min's into my App before they said Sorry we have better candidates because they couldn't verify the dates of my last employment on the first try and won't follow the other companies HR procedures for verification. They said can be picky because they have lower turnover and offer higher starting pay and better benefits plus equipment...I was sold on them but they didn't want me so I sure hope Prime will take me and pay me even more than Millis..lol

GuyJax,

Much, much better reply the second time. Those of us who have been reading your posts for a while appreciate your passion and expertise. A newbee might be a bit more alarmed at the tone you used. All is well that ends well, eh?

Jopa

Truly and most certainly correct. I had to step back and rethink my post cause have am I to have any creditably even I am ranting and raving?

I guess my only excuse is I truly have a passion for trucking and the AWESOME lifestyle it allows me to lead and take serious offense when I feel an industry I truly love is under attack when the perceived attack was only in my mind. Everyone has "THOSE" moments.

I can be, at times, that fanatic fan of (Insert sport here).

Guy, I wanna butt in here because I'd like to hear from your experience. Don't mean to hijack the thread, but I think the info I'd like to hear from you could benefit every prospective and rookie driver. Not sure if a thread has been started on this or not. I vaguely remember a thread about how to make your dispatcher happy.

Can you list some points on how you or any other driver can 'spot light' themselves and stand out in a company or for their dispatcher?

If you think it will hijack the thread, would you mind starting a new one with this topic? Then hopefully other experienced drivers can chime in. I think I could make some obvious assumptions on how to make yourself stand out (like never turning down a load), but I'd like to hear it from you guys / gals.

I can make a separate post but its not really all that hard.

Guy loves his job, loves his life, loves his truck and as such I would guess he loves the company that makes it all possible. He probably gets tired of all the Werner bashing that goes on and flabbergasted because he knows for a fact Werner is good because they are good to him. He's right, you can search high and low on forums and if that is all the info you have you will begin to believe Werner is the devil. But ask yourself how Werner Enterprises could have possibly become as big as they are (my guess would be around a billion dollars worth) if they were as poorly managed and treated their employees as badly as you read on forums. With 8000 drivers and a massive turnover rate, the amount of jacklegs that Werner sees in one month must be staggering. Is it any surprise that they don't babysit all these whiners and assuage their poor little feelings? They don't have the time. By necessity, they let the lazy whining masses just bury themselves which hurts their feelings even more because inside they know it's their own fault.

Guy loves his job, loves his life, loves his truck and as such I would guess he loves the company that makes it all possible. He probably gets tired of all the Werner bashing that goes on and flabbergasted because he knows for a fact Werner is good because they are good to him. He's right, you can search high and low on forums and if that is all the info you have you will begin to believe Werner is the devil. But ask yourself how Werner Enterprises could have possibly become as big as they are (my guess would be around a billion dollars worth) if they were as poorly managed and treated their employees as badly as you read on forums. With 8000 drivers and a massive turnover rate, the amount of jacklegs that Werner sees in one month must be staggering. Is it any surprise that they don't babysit all these whiners and assuage their poor little feelings? They don't have the time. By necessity, they let the lazy whining masses just bury themselves which hurts their feelings even more because inside they know it's their own fault.

Not just Werner. It applies to all companies industry wide. Most companies go through 100+ drivers just to find that one driver that does his job.

Trucking is the worst industry for getting bad press....and that stands for every company, no matter if they are at the top of the list, or the bottom. Why ???? because every company has disgruntled ex employees !!! So, that being said, how DO you do any meaningful research on a company ??? Well, you can go to a truckstop and talk to the drivers for each company, or you can try and go by some canned financial crap that dribbles all over the internet.....I'll take the face to face at the truckstop.... NOW...that I've said all that....I'll tell you what you REALLY need to do.....For your first company, its not about what other drivers, ex or still employed, or any financial dribble sez. Its about a company that YOU can stand for a year...because YOU need to get that first solid year in, before the other companies will really consider you and ASSET. Yup...you need to be WANTED for more than a seat warmer. So in the real world...ANY COMPANY WILL WORK for that first year....So, what if you pick a bad one, that lies to you, gives you slow freight, lousy truck, bad home time, incorrect paychecks ?????? Well, after a year of that crap, you will know what to look for, and what questions to ask when you go hunting your next employer.. Its a cruel education, but its one that I think all of us truckers have gotten at one time or other in our career. So don't feel like they are picking on just you. Step out there, YOU pick the company that has the freight lanes where YOU want to go. Pick the company that has the kind of trucks that YOU want to drive. Pick the company that hauls the kind of freight that YOU want to haul. Then DO YOUR YEAR.....and if your not happy, step it on down the road, to a company that will consider you an asset....thats what its all about........

Just thought I'd mention that at PTL you will be forced to team for 30k miles as part of your training. You are paid 15 cpm for that period and all miles The truck runs count toward your 30k and both drivers are getting the 15 cpm. Although I too have zero interest in team driving, It's only 30k miles and I didn't see anywhere that was offering the potential to make 1/2 decent money while still in training.

Also, since tuition costs seem to be a big factor you're looking at, PTL Does not Offer tuition reimbursement like most other medium to large carriers.

Are you now in phase of your training as a team??

So far the folks at PTL have been wonderful. When u upgrade here the pay is 33 cpm. There's not a truck in the fleet older than a 2011. The one international prostar I've driven drove real sweet. Granted that was with no load though. One more thing is that PTL is 100% employee owned. Now that's not gonna mean squat to anyone that doesn't stay for quite a long time but ESOP is about the closest thing you're gonna find to a pension in this industry.

When you say upgrade, do you mean go solo??