Best Company To Work For Home Time Starting Out

I'm going to be starting out in trucking soon and I was wondering what companies in Colorado that hire new drivers out of school have the best home times? And do local companies like Pepsi and Frito Lay hire with no very little experience?

First of welcome dustyn. As far as home time i believe Roehl has the best. 7 out 7 home. Problem with this is you'll never make any money. And as far as local yes you can find someone who well take you on. Igot a local job right out of school. In fact i had three offers. Your best bet will be food service companies, dairys, etc. It's definitely going to be more physically demanding then hauling a dry van from door to door. When You get your license apply to every single place you can even if they are asking for experience. And make phone calls. You just never know until you try.

Good advice Heavy C. I would also add to check out earth moving and construction companies. This is where I ended up getting my first break.

Phil

A little more detail in what your looking for would be helpful. What do you consider to be good home time? I came out of school and started with Knight transportation because of the home time they offered. I was originally going to do the 7/3 7/4 but decided against it before I went solo. For one I didn't feel I could make enough money. For two with this type of position you will be slip seating, meaning other people drive the truck when your home. I have no problem slip seating, it is what I do now. But I drive day cabs now and sleep in hotels, I did not want to slip seat in a sleeper cab and have to share a mattress with someone that may not take a shower the entire time they are out.

I ended up on a program that was out for 10 to 14 and then home 3-4. It worked pretty well for me but I tried to stay closer to the 10. One thing you need to know is even though you start a plan like this many of the companies will push you to see if you make them stick to the plan. Yes there may be times they have trouble getting you home due to freight but some times they may intentionally test the waters to see if you complain. I held them to the plan and they got me home regularly. Two of the new drivers I knew from school did not push like I did and was usually out 3 to 5 weeks at a time.

You may also want to look into LTL companies. With the current driver shortages some companies are hiring straight out of school that would normally require at least one to two years experience. I'm talking about companies like Old Dominion, YRC, Conway, just to name a few. You will typically get home much more often and it typically pays more.

Welcome to the forum.

Woody

Thanks for the responses! I'm going to try to apply to as many places as possible.

A little more detail in what your looking for would be helpful. What do you consider to be good home time? I came out of school and started with Knight transportation because of the home time they offered. I was originally going to do the 7/3 7/4 but decided against it before I went solo. For one I didn't feel I could make enough money. For two with this type of position you will be slip seating, meaning other people drive the truck when your home. I have no problem slip seating, it is what I do now. But I drive day cabs now and sleep in hotels, I did not want to slip seat in a sleeper cab and have to share a mattress with someone that may not take a shower the entire time they are out.

I ended up on a program that was out for 10 to 14 and then home 3-4. It worked pretty well for me but I tried to stay closer to the 10. One thing you need to know is even though you start a plan like this many of the companies will push you to see if you make them stick to the plan. Yes there may be times they have trouble getting you home due to freight but some times they may intentionally test the waters to see if you complain. I held them to the plan and they got me home regularly. Two of the new drivers I knew from school did not push like I did and was usually out 3 to 5 weeks at a time.

You may also want to look into LTL companies. With the current driver shortages some companies are hiring straight out of school that would normally require at least one to two years experience. I'm talking about companies like Old Dominion, YRC, Conway, just to name a few. You will typically get home much more often and it typically pays more.

Welcome to the forum.

Woody

Thanks for the info on Knight! They are my top choice for companies that are not local when I graduate. Do they offer they they 7/3 right away for new drivers? The recruiter I talked to only told me the 10-14 and 3-4 part. I'm not really looking to make a lot of money as home time is very important to me, just enough to have a comfortable living. Also you said you drive day cabs and sleep in hotels, do they pay for the hotel for you and do they offer that for newbies as well? Do you have any other advice or knowledge on Knight, are they a good company to work for? I live in Colorado and one of the top reasons I'm considering them is because they have a center out of Denver so I'm hoping they do a lot of freight in and around Colorado.

Thanks!

I would check with Werner, they have terminal near Denver, and have dedicated routes available to new drivers.

I'm in the Minneapolis/ St Paul area and have been offered a Walmart dedicated route starting at .35cpm, with a $5000 sign on bonus, tuition reimbursement and home every 5 days!

Thanks for the info on Knight! They are my top choice for companies that are not local when I graduate. Do they offer they they 7/3 right away for new drivers? The recruiter I talked to only told me the 10-14 and 3-4 part. I'm not really looking to make a lot of money as home time is very important to me, just enough to have a comfortable living. Also you said you drive day cabs and sleep in hotels, do they pay for the hotel for you and do they offer that for newbies as well? Do you have any other advice or knowledge on Knight, are they a good company to work for? I live in Colorado and one of the top reasons I'm considering them is because they have a center out of Denver so I'm hoping they do a lot of freight in and around Colorado.

Thanks!

Working 7/3 with most of the companies as a new driver and making a comfortable living is going to totally depend on your definition of comfortable living. I should clarify that it is not even an option with most companies. Knight offered this type of set up right out of the gate but I didn't press the issue. I would assume they have to have enough drivers in the program to rotate the truck and keep it moving so that could be a factor on availability.

I no longer work for Knight, I have switched to an LTL company driving linehaul. Yes my company pays for the hotels, as I'm pretty sure all LTL companies do for linehaul drivers.

You have to know what you want out of being a driver. I went linehaul for the pay/benefits and to be able to be home more often. I am currently home every other day and if I go to the extra board I will not be out more than 3 days at a time. I also make about twice as much as I did before. That being said, it is more like a job than going OTR and there are things that I seriously miss about driving over the road.

Woody

Schneider has a 14 / 7 plan as well. They use a setup called a "Pod" where three drivers from an area share 1 truck. This could magnify some problems mentioned by a previous poster.

I went with Roehl because of the 14 / 7 plan that will be coming on line at the completion of the Nashville terminal. I am going OTR my first six months, mainly because there is not much to do on the farm in the winter and this will give me the most down time to practice things and stay fairly well rested. I will not be in a hurry during my rookie year keeping safety and rest forefront. The more I think about OTR the more excited I get. I have always wanted to see the country and when is better time than when learning the ropes of a trucker !

LTL line haul is my ultimate career destination but I didn't want to jump into that fast paced gig just yet. I will get 1 year under my belt and choose the company I want.

With line haul, you will need to be within reasonable commuting distance. 50 miles seems to be the gauge there.

Great thread ... we need to keep this going. Besides money, this is a new truckers main concern, I would think ....

I went to Sygma Network straight out of school. I live in Portland but they have have terminals all over. If you don't mind working hard, you will unload the whole trailer by hand truck out a side door down a ramp.

I had two full days off at home and one layover at home every week. When your out on route they put you up in hotels. Great money to start. My experiences are with the Clackamas Oregon location, but I would think the others are similar.

Thanks for all the great replies!! I actually called Werner and they say have dedicated routes out of school in Colorado so they are a top choice besides Knight. I'm also going to look into other truck when I get closer to graduation.