Choosing A Company Is Like Choosing A Dishwasher

I don't just read the ones that say "this company is garbage, pay was crap, not enough miles" because that really doesn't tell me anything constructive, it just tells me you didn't like it a better review even if negative would be "this company committed acts of discrimination, not letting me do this because i was female or senior, the pay was only 10 cpm starting with raises once every 5 years, I was lucky if I averaged 800 miles a week"

Phox, I realize all that seems reasonable to you or else you wouldn't have bothered to point it out, but the problem really lies in not how the bad review is written or in what it says - the problem with these trucking company reviews is that this whole business is performance based. I'm sure if you are one of the people whom I call a producer - the back-bone of the company folks who make this economy move along and grow, then you realize there are just a lot of non-producers in the work force. These are the folks who make up those ridiculous sounding reviews.

Here's a real world example. I worked at Western Express for sixteen months, ran all the miles I could stand to do, and was always in among the top ten percent of top producers in the flat-bed division - runner up driver of the month one month. They treated me great and kept me moving all over this great country. I really liked my job there, the only reason I left was for a much more lucrative offer.

All of the things you mentioned as specific things that you might look for in a review like discrimination, low miles, low pay, etc., could be found abundantly in the company reviews of Western Express... In fact I would challenge you to do a little research of your own on that company and see what you find. I promise you it will be totally opposite of my experience there.

Any company that brings in new drivers is going to have a ton of terrible reviews simply because 98% of those people coming into the industry through that company had no idea what it was they were getting into, so to the internet they went with their frustrations. They do not realize their own shortcomings and lay all the blame on the company who was just trying it's best to find a way to bring in some more drivers.

Brett my fear of going with a bad company is that I'll get myself into a 1year contract and they'll do something that I don't like (I don't have an example right now so lets just leave it at "something I don't like") and my choice will be to deal with it for the remainder of my contract or cut my losses and have to pay back tuition.

Once I have my CDL and have that 1 year of experience, if I decide to switch companies and end up with a bad one it won't be such a big deal because I have the experience already and I have the cdl so I can just move onto something better it's just until up until that point that worries me.

my fear of going with a bad company is that I'll get myself into a 1 year contract and they'll do something that I don't like (I don't have an example right now so lets just leave it at "something I don't like") and my choice will be to deal with it for the remainder of my contract or cut my losses and have to pay back tuition.

Fair enough. Well when they say someone has a "fear of the unknown" you know what they mean, huh? I'm glad I'm not the only one that isn't sure what there is to be concerned about with "bad companies".

To me, that's the beauty of getting paid by the mile. When you're working extra hard and you're doing an awesome job for the company you both make great money together. If you're not turning the miles, nobody is making money. You're in it together. Their best interest it to keep those wheels turning and so are yours.

And really think about what Old School said. This industry is performance based. The people who are really ambitious and dedicated to turning miles and always arriving safe and on time are going to be rewarded with more miles and better runs over time. Now think about the society around you. What percentage of the people you've known throughout your life would you say are really hard workers, ambitious, and motivated? How many are really looking for an adventure, ready to take on seriously difficult new challenges every single day when they jump out of bed? Personally I know very few that are like that. But those people are the type that thrive in this industry. The rest of em? When they stumble unsuspectingly into the trucking industry and see what's it's really like, it ain't pretty!

I'm sure everyone has read their share of horror stories on other websites about life in the trucking industry. And believe me, for a lot of people trucking did turn out to be a nightmare. But it wasn't because of the company they worked for. It was because they weren't the type of person that belongs in trucking or they were completely unprepared for how gruelling and difficult it is out there that first year. Most people underestimate a career as a driver. They don't understand the difficulties of the erratic sleep schedules, super long days, and endless stream of life and death decisions you're making out there. They've never been away from their home and family for weeks or months at a time. The list is long and the challenges are unrelenting. A lot of people just aren't prepared to put in that type of effort and adjust to the demands of the lifestyle. It's overwhelming.

And of course most people really aren't the type to bow out gracefully, you know? They're not going to stand up and say, "Look, I know I told everyone I was gonna be this big, bad trucker but the reality is I got my *ss kicked out there. I couldn't stay awake. I couldn't navigate the cities. I didn't want to put in 18 hour days and drive through snowstorms, hold back 80,000 pounds going down mountains, or make life and death decisions every day. I want to be home and work a simple eight hour a day job and collect my money and go home. I just couldn't hack it."

Heck no. They're gonna blame the company for screwing them, the industry for letting them get screwed, their parents for a soft upbringing, and Republicans for letting corporations abuse people. Admitting defeat is embarrassing. So they find a scapegoat instead and the companies are the easiest one to blame.

If you intend to go out there and give it everything you've got with a great attitude then you don't have to worry about which company you work for. Just pick one that seems to have what you're looking for as far as types of freight, home time, pay, benefits, and running areas. Then go out there and show them how hard you're willing to work and what a great attitude you have toward it all. Great drivers will get their miles and home time anywhere they go. Lousy ones will be miserable anywhere they go.