OTR DRIVERS: If YOU CURRENTLY Drive For One Of These Companies, Why Should I Work For/ Not Work For Them?

I'm graduating from my school fairly soon, I have hardly any ties to home so I plan on being gone at least 5-6 weeks at a time. I can haul anything, and drive canada(no record or restrictions). I am in this not only for the love of driving cross country, but for the money, security, and more importantly my financial future such as retirement. I have a high concern for safety, good critical thinking skills, I am respectful, and intelligent. More prehires are rolling in every day but for now the list below is who I have. IF YOU DRIVE FOR ANY OF THESE COMPANIES, WHY SHOULD I/ SHOULDNT I CONSIDER THEM FOR MY FIRST COMPANY? remember, availability of home time is not a concern for me. I'm looking for good pay/benefits, and quality equiptment.

-Conway -Covenant -J.R. Schugel -Millis -Prime -Roehl -Stevens -Trams Am -Swift -USA Truck -U.S. Express -Werner

Thanks for your time guys

I can be emailed directly at onlychasingsafety@gmail.com

Steven...ya missed a page in our how to choose a company to drive for manual....When you go with your first company, it isn't what that company can do for you...its all about what you can do for that company. Ya see...all those companies have a proven record....unlike you, as a newbie, fresh outta school, not sure I can read an Atlas, but I only grind the upper gears future truck driver. So lets look at these companies in a different light. You will need to stay with the company you choose for one year/365 days/12 months. So you should be asking a different set of questions. What company offers the longest trainer/trainee time, so you can garner the most education from your trainer. What company offers dry box, reefer , flatbed, etc...so you can decide what you wanna drag around for a year. What company offers the breed of truck you'd like to be driving for a year....What company doesn't bombard you with "Lease this truck and you'll get rich" Bovine Excrement. Now after reading this set of questions, I'd have to say, that Prime fits the best off this set of questions. We've seen alot of students go with Prime and have been very very happy. but also keep in mind that these top of the line companies have a fast paced school, and they expect alot out of you. That is one of the important reasons that you should work thru the High Road Training Program on this site. If you work thru it, you will be way ahead of everyone else in your class, so you won't be caught by surprise with anything they hand you in class.So I hope I didn't dash any hopes to the curb...I"m glad you found this site,tho...it will be the best source of information that you will ever find for free on the web. So sit back and get to know the site, and get ready to learn all there is about driving a semi truck, from the veteran truckers who offer their advice on this site.....WELCOME

Welcome aboard! Starcar makes some excellent points.

Interestingly enough, the best people to speak with about "why should I work for this company" are the company's recruiters. They're basically the salespeople for their company. Their job is to bring as many drivers through the door as possible. So they know all of the best features about the company. Their entire job is to tell you exactly why you should work there. Every company has its little perks and unique traits that they use to set them apart from the others. The recruiters will clue you in on those features so you have something to help you make your decision.

But we teach people that choosing a company isn't about finding a "good company" or avoiding a "bad company". It doesn't work that way. Every company can be a great place to work or a complete nightmare depending mainly upon how well they suit you and the quality of driver you are.

Every company has plenty of freight available to keep their best drivers rolling. Once you've been at a company for a few months and you've established a great reputation for yourself as a driver and a solid relationship with a decent dispatcher you can expect good miles and fair treatment wherever you're at. But I don't care where you work - if you're not a top-tier driver that's out there getting the job done safely day in and day out you're not going to get the miles and special favors the better drivers are getting.

So what you want to do when comparing companies is stick with the quantifiable features - equipment, home time, types of freight, number of opportunities to choose from (local, regional , dedicated, OTR), pay, benefits, areas of the country they run, etc. Figure out what you're looking for and find a group of companies that seem to suit you pretty well. At that point, the very best place to get reliable inside information on life at any particular company is to speak with several of their current drivers face to face. Go to a local truck stop and speak with several of the drivers as they're fueling up or walking into the truck stop. It's very common for drivers to ask each other how they like working at their company so nobody will think anything of it. In 3 minutes you can get a lot of information.

Definitely read through our group of articles on How To Choose A Trucking Company To Work For and read through our Trucker's Career Guide. You'll find mountains of valuable information on getting your trucking career off to a great start and help with choosing a company that suits you well.

Thanks a ton guys, I appreciate the response. I've been developing an in depth spread sheet and talking to recruiters absorbing as much info as i can from them. I was under the inpression hearing from someone about their specific experiences would give me what I needed to make a decision, but they aren't me. My class is visiting a truck stop in CT next week for several hours, maybe I can speak with someone face to face and ask the right questions. Its very difficult with a lot of the reviewers out there having a bias based on not being personally successful for whatever reason. Im not saying those reasons arent important, they are. but not ever really knowing what those reasons really are, if you dont know who you're talking to, makes all the difference. I've been trying to weed through the pros/cons posts and avoid the "THIS COMPANY SUCKS" posts. thanks again!

Ok, let me ask you this - why are you looking for "reviews" of companies from anonymous knuckleheads at places like TheTruckersReport? Let's take a company like Swift for example. They have 16,000 trucks and several hundred dispatchers. Because the turnover rate in the industry averages nearly 100%, that means Swift will go through nearly 16,000 drivers every year. They will probably go through a one or two hundred dispatchers.

So you go to TheTruckersReport and JimmyTrucker2107 says Swift is great, JohnnyBigRig243 says Swift treated him like crap, and BigBobMotherTrucker says avoid Swift at all costs. Now you have three anonymous "reviews" from people you've never met, you don't know if anything they say is true, and you'll never hear the other side of their story from Swift. Three reviews out of the 30,000 or so drivers who had 3 of the several hundred dispatchers that will work there this year alone.

What good does that do you? None.

The only people to talk to about life at a company is the company's current drivers face to face at a nearby truckstop. That way you know who you're talking to and you know you're talking to someone that's out there doing it successfully for that company right now. That will give you a much better idea of what life is like at Swift or any other company.

But I'm telling you - you're totally wasting your time fishing around for reviews. Compare the quantifiable qualities - types of freight, equipment, home time, pay, benefits, number of different divisions to choose from, and things like that.

Great drivers are happy drivers pretty much anywhere they go. Lousy drivers are miserable anywhere they go. These reviews you're getting are rarely any kind of reflection on the company at all. It's more of a reflection on the quality of the driver giving the review.

In 15 years I worked for about 5 different OTR companies:

2 were 48 states dry van with 5,000 and 6,000 trucks respectively

1 was 48 states dry van & refrigerated with 3,000 trucks

1 was Eastern 1/3 of U.S. dry van with 1,500 trucks

1 was 48 states tanker with 11 trucks (that's not a typo - 11)

At some of those companies I worked in different divisions like dedicated and regional , getting home on weekends.

So I've driven for all different companies hauling different types of freight in numerous different divisions over a 15 year period and I was happy everywhere I worked. Why? Because I was a kick a** driver who never got in an accident, wasn't late for an appointment more than once or twice a year, and ran as hard as I could. I'd take every last mile they would give me. I took good care of the companies I drove for and they took good care of me.

Every company in the U.S. has plenty of freight for their top drivers and they give the leftover scraps to the lousy ones. Every company will do small favors on a regular basis for their best drivers but the lousy ones get very little slack. So the ones doing the complaining are the ones who aren't getting the miles and treatment they expect. So you have to ask yourself, "Why is that???"

When I would sit at truck stops and a guy would start complaining about his company, my first question would be "What did you do?"

They would look at me puzzled for a minute and say "What do you mean?"

I would say "Why don't they want to give you good runs? You know they have plenty of great freight available so why aren't they giving any to you?"

95% of the time it was the driver that was the problem. The other 5% of the time it was either a lousy dispatcher , a slow economy, or some major change at the company like new load planning software or the loss of a major customer.

But it was never, ever, ever a "bad company". Even bumps in the road like software issues or the loss of a major customer is very short-lived. Life goes back to normal very quickly.

These trucking companies you're reviewing have been around successfully for decades. They know what they're doing. You, on the other hand, will have a lot to prove. People tend to get the order of things confused. They think the company has to prove itself before they'll give their all. Well if a company has been around for 50 years I'm pretty sure they've proven themselves. So go out there and show them you're an awesome driver and you'll be happy with the company.

Ok, let me ask you this - why are you looking for "reviews" of companies from anonymous knuckleheads at places like TheTruckersReport? Let's take a company like Swift for example. They have 16,000 trucks and several hundred dispatchers. Because the turnover rate in the industry averages nearly 100%, that means Swift will go through nearly 16,000 drivers every year. They will probably go through a one or two hundred dispatchers.

So you go to TheTruckersReport and JimmyTrucker2107 says Swift is great, JohnnyBigRig243 says Swift treated him like crap, and BigBobMotherTrucker says avoid Swift at all costs. Now you have three anonymous "reviews" from people you've never met, you don't know if anything they say is true, and you'll never hear the other side of their story from Swift. Three reviews out of the 30,000 or so drivers who had 3 of the several hundred dispatchers that will work there this year alone.

What good does that do you? None.

The only people to talk to about life at a company is the company's current drivers face to face at a nearby truckstop. That way you know who you're talking to and you know you're talking to someone that's out there doing it successfully for that company right now. That will give you a much better idea of what life is like at Swift or any other company.

But I'm telling you - you're totally wasting your time fishing around for reviews. Compare the quantifiable qualities - types of freight, equipment, home time, pay, benefits, number of different divisions to choose from, and things like that.

Great drivers are happy drivers pretty much anywhere they go. Lousy drivers are miserable anywhere they go. These reviews you're getting are rarely any kind of reflection on the company at all. It's more of a reflection on the quality of the driver giving the review.

In 15 years I worked for about 5 different OTR companies:

2 were 48 states dry van with 5,000 and 6,000 trucks respectively

1 was 48 states dry van & refrigerated with 3,000 trucks

1 was Eastern 1/3 of U.S. dry van with 1,500 trucks

1 was 48 states tanker with 11 trucks (that's not a typo - 11)

At some of those companies I worked in different divisions like dedicated and regional , getting home on weekends.

So I've driven for all different companies hauling different types of freight in numerous different divisions over a 15 year period and I was happy everywhere I worked. Why? Because I was a kick a** driver who never got in an accident, wasn't late for an appointment more than once or twice a year, and ran as hard as I could. I'd take every last mile they would give me. I took good care of the companies I drove for and they took good care of me.

Every company in the U.S. has plenty of freight for their top drivers and they give the leftover scraps to the lousy ones. Every company will do small favors on a regular basis for their best drivers but the lousy ones get very little slack. So the ones doing the complaining are the ones who aren't getting the miles and treatment they expect. So you have to ask yourself, "Why is that???"

When I would sit at truck stops and a guy would start complaining about his company, my first question would be "What did you do?"

They would look at me puzzled for a minute and say "What do you mean?"

I would say "Why don't they want to give you good runs? You know they have plenty of great freight available so why aren't they giving any to you?"

95% of the time it was the driver that was the problem. The other 5% of the time it was either a lousy dispatcher , a slow economy, or some major change at the company like new load planning software or the loss of a major customer.

But it was never, ever, ever a "bad company". Even bumps in the road like software issues or the loss of a major customer is very short-lived. Life goes back to normal very quickly.

These trucking companies you're reviewing have been around successfully for decades. They know what they're doing. You, on the other hand, will have a lot to prove. People tend to get the order of things confused. They think the company has to prove itself before they'll give their all. Well if a company has been around for 50 years I'm pretty sure they've proven themselves. So go out there and show them you're an awesome driver and you'll be happy with the company.

This kind of info is exactly why I like this site and I cant say it enough thanks to Brett and everyone involved on trucking truth for the work and the thought that goes into this site. I know the type of person I am I will be successful in trucking per the info on this site, but had I not found this site and only had the other sites to go by I would have avoided this industry like the plague strictly because of all the negative information out there. I appreciate the high road program and I will take advantage of the other learning tools you have on here. Also thanks to the regular posters and veteran drivers that are willing to share their knowledge with us that don't know anything yet. I truly believe it will give someone a leg up once they are in the industry and are putting miles behind them.

Though Brett has not said that I have seen but I know he has said that a few trucking schools actually use the High Road program as a training tool for their classes. That's awesome. To think that most drivers are not considered to be smart enough to pour water out of a boot but two truck drivers actually put together the High Road program and schools are using it. Freaking great!

We ,here at Trucking Truth ,figure that the more we help people out getting started in the right direction then you will be less stressed and able to learn more while in school and hopefully become a great driver. What better way to do that than share our hard learned experiences with new people getting into trucking. We were the rookies at one time and know how hard it was for us to get . Back then you either sank or swam.

So now with All Gore's invention of the internet we get to share things with new people coming into trucking.....

Seriously though the internet was founded by the military and......aliens.