OTR drivers: Are there good or great companies to work for?

Hi folks:

I"m starting my CDL training on the 17th of this month and may seek employment right after school if I can"t find things to do in my normal areas of expertise. I"ve wanted my CDL since I was a teenager - and decided now is the time to do it since I don"t have a solid "Plan B" in the event my "Plan A" job no longer has enough work for me to keep employed.

OTR driving would be a big adjustment being away from home - but you gotta do what you gotta do to keep the woman and the water and the lights and the phone turned on. (or however that song goes...)

I understand that the starting pay until I get at least 12 months of OTR experience under my belt will be relatively low.

Would any of you do anything different - if so, what would you change about how you approached your professional driving career?

For my first gig - should I work for a BIG company or a smaller one? Are there any tangible benefits for working for either type?

I"d like to avoid some of the obvious pitfalls and companies with bad reputations out there. Thanks for your input!

Many thanks,

Matt

I forgot to mention - I live in central WI...closest metro area would be Madison...but I'm closest to Portage.

I'm not sure if this matters, but I have room to park a tractor/semi trailer in the yard...but would have to widen the driveway by the road to swing it in + maybe trim some trees.

Swift has a good school and is pretty good to work for starting out. You will start out low, but they will let you run all you want. It costs them less in the long run that way. After 1 year you should be making the same as an experienced driver and will have the experience to do other types of driving jobs. I hauled concrete for 12 years and I am now driving OTR pulling a flatbed. It is a good experience is you keep an open mind. Dont let anybody push you into doing something you do not think is right and always remember it is just a job.

Hi Jeff - thanks for your input.

I have some folks telling me to avoid Swift - so just like everything else...some people swear by them while others swear at them.

I plan on getting all of the endorsements if possible before starting school - it can't hurt!

Thanks,

Matt

Well this is the wrong time of year to start driving unless you can get good runs to the south and stay down there a while.Also you want to run for a small company if you can.You need to go to the same places for about 6 months so you get an idea of what driving is like.A big company will treat you like a number,make you mad,and run you into the ground,then try not to pay you right.Most people quit before they have 2 years experience for some of the reasons I mentioned or they run over somebody and kill them,or something happens that scares them real bad and then they wont drive a big truck any more.Some people wreck trucks and run into everything and stay with it.
At a small place,especially one that has the same loads every week,you might like it better.Some are good,some arent.Actually,until you get your own truck or a company you really like,its not a very good job to be honest about it.By the time you figure your expenses,and how long you are away from home,and the damage from the nasty food and no sleep,you would be far better off to get a job almost anywhere else.Even McDonalds or Wal Mart,and you will live longer.If you just have to drive a truck,OTR,go for it.Make sure you know to look for mountains on the routes they send you,and for sure ask how to go up and down them.Most people will be happy to help you,but nobody can read your mind so you have to ask.CB works or a truck stop close to the mountain.Do not get on the mountain and get your brakes in flames,because the only thing you can ask for then is people to get out of your way and hope you make it.Plus if the bears see you they can write you some tickets for that,if you live.Look at the weather channel every day.Remember where the snow storms and hurricanes are and go away from them.If you get in one while you dont know what you are doing,you can cause a huge wreck.It happens all the time,especially the first 2 weeks it snows.That gets lots of rookies off the road,sometimes for good.You do not want to wreck,especially in your first 6 months of driving,because it can make it hard to get another job driving again.Definitely dont go to New York City,Los Angeles,downtown Chicago,until you can handle traffic.That could be years.Dispatchers dont usually know anything about driving a truck and they will send you anywhere and tell you its a piece of cake.Yeah well,the dispatcher is going home every night,dealing with a few minutes of traffic,and driving a car.What looks like an inch in an atlas has taken all day for me to get through before.Sometimes you just cant get there from here,especially if there is a hurricane between you and where you are supposed to deliver.Im a country boy and it took a while before I would even go to a big city.Also I always ran mostly in the Midwest.The East coast is no place for a midwesterner usually.You may be different,but I dont like going East of the Mississippi river anywhere North of Kentucky and East of Kentucky can get on my nerves too.I dont like Florida either because its mostly orange juice out of there,so usually means wait.It is nice in the winter though to run across the bottom of the US to Lousiana.Texas can be bad.For as big as it is,it has little big truck parking.They have some big shot attitude in some places like truck drivers are scum and they want to abuse them.Some places are alright.Arizona,New Mexico,Colorado,stay on the Interstate.Stay out of Wyoming in a snow storm,just stay out until you get experience because the weather can change real quick and you have that blowing snow and high gusty winds that really mess up guys with no experience.So from Wisconsin you can run in these states,Minnesota,Michigan,Iowa,Kansas,Illinois,Indiana,Kentucky,Tennessee,Pennsylvania,Ohio,West Virginia,Virginia,New York state,North and South Carolina.There are mountains that can kill you in a lot of those states,so take notice.Georgia,Alabama,Mississippi,Louisiana,Missouri,Oklahoma,Texas,North and South Dakota.Arkansas has dangerous roads going north and south,not so much east and west,stay on the interstate.
Now you can handle anything you have to handle.If you get a route on your first run that goes over Sandstone mountain in West Virginia Or maybe Virginia,you can handle it,if you as truckers how to do it.You stop at the top,theres a place to pull off.Look at your brakes and adjust them up if they need it.You dont want any higher gear than what your truck will run about 45 or 50 MPH in 5th or 6th maybe.You want your jake brake on high,you start off and up shift to your 5th or 6th gear quick,flip the Jake on,when you get to 50,hit the brakes,drop your speed to 40,up to 50,drop to 40,all the way down.Do not under any circumstances take it out of gear on the grade to shift or you might not get it back in,and almost instantly will be going too fast.Best thing to do is go to the side and stop if you can if you get scared.You can go down lots of mountains too slow,but you only go one time too fast.The closer you can come to what I just told you in a company,the better you will be.Others will tell you more.If you dont like a company,quit,go somewhere else.Driving a truck is hard enough.They are not going to consider you at all,especially a big company.If you are going to run and take years off of your life for them,dont be miserable doing it.Half of doing a job is working for people you like.Every day you drive is more experience for you.That doesnt mean you need to go to New York city or Los Angeles,or even Chicago the first month.Stay out of those places as much as you can and you will be way happier and drive lots more years.Ive seen lots of guys go to New York city come home and quit driving a truck.Chicago is not bad if you go to the suburbs,but its still bad if you have to go through it most of the time.Its the traffic.Its bad.If you arent used to the traffic like that it can really get on your nerves.

I forgot to say,leave a lot of distance between you and the car or truck in front of you.7 car lengths and more if its raining and half a 1/4 mile if its ice and that can be too close.Following too close in a big truck can and does kill people.Its alright to close the gap and pass,but dont set for hours one car length off the guy in front of you or you will be running over him and wondering what just happened.I have pulled up on a car with a conventional and the car disappeared because of the hood,had to stop for road construction and forgot he was there and nearly run over one,more than once.Dont let anybody push you.If you need sleep,sleep.Running without sleep kills more drivers than about anything else.I dont take being chewed out very well,usually not at all because I chew back.If you work usually it doesnt matter.However if It takes me 4 hours later than the appointment time to get somewhere,you dont chew on me because I took a nap.You have to get that stuff stopped before it gets started.I usually worked harder than most truck drivers so I didnt have trouble with that,but I have seen guys get all shook up because they need to be 1200 miles away in the morning.The way I handled that was once I got loaded I called and told them where I probably would be in the morning.A legal distance,not 1200 miles.That dispatcher is not going to pay your logbook fine,probably wont go to your funeral if you die because you went to sleep at the wheel.Dont bite off more than you can chew,dont take no crap off of them,but work hard and they will like you.If you dont get it there as soon as they want it they should have put it on a jet plane instead of a truck.Ive told them and told them that my truck doesnt have wings and only goes where the road does.If they have some creative way to figure how many miles it is,like as the crow flies,then you need to add at least 100 miles to it and that might not be enough.Also there is the 10% of miles that they take off of trips when they tell you,so always add more time when they ask how long it will take you.6 hours by their miles,at least 8 hours.Bad weather,10 hours.Big city,12 hours.If they say a driver logged it last week in 10 hours,12 hours.Log books have very little to do with the truth.

A friend of mine became a OTR driver after a one month school that cost him $5k---Yeouch!

He first went to Stevens transport, for real Cheep---like $8/hour or something. Then he went to JB hunt and was there for over a year then he went to a company in Port Huron Mich. and was making $50k per year After starting out at $8/hour at Stevens transport.
My buddy hated it......he was away from home all the time, he didnt see his wife for weeks at a time, he has no kids.

My friend told me this---If you are a beginner driver and you have a wreck your career will be hampered greatly of being a driver.
My friend said he got to almost all of the USA, except Alaska. He drove to N. Carolina a lot, West Va., In the Northeast and he drove and made pickups and deliveried to many Gm and Ford Plants in the Midwest He drove to Chicago a lot from Michigan. (fro JB hunt mostly)
Good luck, be careful and according to my buddy--always have a set of clothes to wear (extra) and always have Lysol disenfectant to spray on those public toilets.
I have never been a driver by the way.

www.classadrivers.com/forum/

Most places won't hire someone without 2 to 5 years experience.A lot of driving school graduates can't drive,do paperwork or show up on time.They find out it's not the fun job they thought.A friend of mine has 250 trucks on the road.I hear a lot of driver stories.

God help you, and I mean that most earnestly!

I commend you for trying to earn an honest living, but I also want to encourage you to try every other avenue of employment first.

A good friend of mine has driven all his adult years and the man has no personal life. He has been at it too long to quit now, but if I were him....I"d go on relief before doing what he does! He works for Averitt.

I worked as a railroad engineer for 27 years and lived a similar life.....always gone, all hours of the day and night, all weather conditions, little rest and for a thankless company with the attitude that their employees were little more than prostitutes, paid for their services and beyond that, worthy of no further consideration.

If a person wanted to get into some vocation that seems to pay well and works year round......I"d suggest Heating and Air. You usually get to sleep at home every night and have a couple days a week, off.

I was thinking about getting my CDL about 10 years ago. Rode along with a friend of mine for about 4 months until I got back to work. Not a bad gig. I can see where there"s a lot of hair pulling & a lot of enjoyment. Plenty of countryside to see & neat towns along the way. You meet quite a few nice people, too. The diversity of jobs/hauls always keeps things interesting, even if you have the same routes. There"s always construction & closures to foul things up & those non-truck routes you have to tiptoe around (or through, shhhhh!). Another doldrum-breaker is the supposed no-touch load that get"s delivered to Ma 'n' Pa Kettle's carpet store in the middle of BFN, Mn., for example. No forklift, no dock, no help. Dispatch told us if we didn"t have a dock, we didn"t have to drop. My friend told disp. we were two able bodied men who would have no qualms about unloading the trailer for them. That & our next pickup was in Eau Claire, late the next morning. I should have re-read the manifest. They had the whole rotten trailer load of carpet insulation. He & his BIG mouth! On the other hand, I wasn't going to leave Ma 'n' Pa high & dry. We spent 3 hrs. of our "off" time unloading that trailer. Yeesh! That"s ok, though, karma works wonders! The next day was my first trip to Nestles in Franklin Park, Il. They heard I was a newbie & made sure I left with a grocery bag FULL of candy after a tour. My sweet tooth still hurts thinking about it. I guess to sum it up with out more blabbering, it's about a diverse a job as you can get, chock full of responsibility. For your first job, I'd reccomend staying intra' instead of interstate, at least for the winter. You may even want to start with a straight truck with air or a quad axle dump or a milk route. Shoot, a job plowing snow for Colombia Co. wouldn't be bad & it would keep you in a familiar area, too. As for companies, I rode along in Kreilkamp trucks & liked them (Kreilkamp) quite a bit. Good family atmosphere. N-M was a good company at the time, too. Stay away from JB Hunt. They hire anyone & it shows. Schnider, IIRC, leaves you at the bottom of the pay scale for a good while & you'd better go to church if you work for English's. Oh, one more thing, four-wheeler takes on a whole new definition, with a lot of cussin' in that definition. I'm a firm believer in letting people ride in 18 wheelers before they get their license. Maybe they'd be a little more mindful of Li'l Brother Trucker & stay out of your brother truckin' way! Well, that's my $.02. Best of luck & don't be discouraged, it's a great job I wish I had followed up on. Couln't pass a physical, anymore, no matter how much I study. - Mike

Everybody has an opinion. I went to their school only because I had never drove OTR. I already had my license. It cost me $150. The school is $3900 and they take $75 a week out of your check for 13 months to pay for the school. They give you back $37.50 a week for 26 months. So, after 26 months all it costs you is the $150 you pay at the school. I have no problem with swift. Hauling freight is not for everybody. After 6 months of doing that I went to a flatbed and love it. When I went to work for swift I had not been in an 18 wheeler in 12 years. The first 6 months was slow but after that everything started to pick up and I am happy with what I am getting money wise and benefits. My opinion would be to start out running teams with someone for at least 6 months until you get some experience and an idea of what you are doing and if you want to continue. After 6 months run team or solo, pull a tanker, flatbed, haul cars, etc. After 6 months to a year is when you will have more choice in what you want to do. Like everybody else says, be careful in what you do and if you are not sure ask. There is plenty of guys out there that will help you any way you need, and plenty to stay away from. If you have never drove OTR you will need to go to a school, most descent companies will not hire someone without at 1 year or a good school. Just remember, dispatcher and recruiters biggest job is to lie to everyone they talk to.

Mark's post reminded me of one more thing. Stay out of the rail yards! Biggest p.i.t.a. there is, in some of the worst neighborhoods there are. The trailer jockeys won't pay you no mind & you usually don't ever want to leave your cab. Some guys will add, "even if it's on fire". May want to carry a big stick or thumper, in that scenario. Bums & hoods galore! - Mike

Pick and choose careful the bigger fleets are parking trucks and laying off drivers ,and warner is hosing newbies by leaving them sit .You may try rouel or how ever you spell it thay are close to you ,but no matter what it's going to be a hard first year and don't let them scare you the east coast coast is no big deal as long as you use your head.

My brother has been driving close to thirty years now. He started on dump trucks and then went to a flatbed hauling Aluminum rolls from northern NY to Ga. and then granite curbing back.He then went to work for a "farmer"(read commodities trader)hauling beans or fertilizer all over the Northeast and Eastern Canada,now he pulls a tanker with soybean oil for the same guy.
The only problem is the same anyone has working for an indivual, no scheduled raises, personality conflicts and so on. However as senior driver he gets the new equipment and the pick of the runs.
I ran the scales at an Army base and would hear horror stories about some companies that would keep drivers on the road by making them chase their paychecks. They would say the check is at such and such a truckstop and when the guy gets there he would be handed a note telling him he needed to grab a load and the check would be at destination b and then at c and so on.
Dispathcers are notorious liars, I can"t tell you how many drivers would show up at the base claiming to have an unload time. We did"nt make appointments, it was first come first serves or load priority that we worked on. Many times they would show up with the wrong equipment for the load we had and the company would make them cool their heels till we had one that was a fit, sometimes a couple of days.

In my early teens, my mother told me that I would have 3 weakness's(sp) in life...trucks, tractors & girls. I didnt believe it at the time, but it turns out that more true words were never spoken. I've been in trucking in one form or another since 1976 and it has been very good to me. I've never had to look for a job, they have always come and found me. Like anything else, it's what you make of it. It surely isnt a job for everyone and it has it's share of drawbacks, but isnt nearly as bad as 20 years ago. You live in a good area....lots of good companies fairly close. Roehl in Marshfield has a good reputation. Bottom line...each to his own. Even if you try it and cant stand it, the experience will be invaluable.

There are many good and great trucking companies to work for. Some even offer home every night.
I do not feel you will get one of these jobs just out of driving school but you never know to you try.

So start at the bottom like everyone else did.
Keep your nose clean so problems do not show up on your DAC report.
Then in about 2 or 3 years start looking for a real driving job.
I would suggest any of the LTL companies or a local gas hauling job myself.

PS
Stay out the truck stop parking lots and do not believe everything you hear.
That guy that just needs $5 in gas money to bring his pregnant wife to the doctor is in the truck stop daily with the same story. But you would not know this because you are not in the same truck stop every night.

Crazy Red,

Hehe.......the stories that used to circulate concerning Barr Yard in Chicago were nothing short of scary.

No, I never had to go there and don't think I would have. The rail yards over around Baltimore have a nice reputation too.

It was sedate where I worked, yet we always carried a pipe wrench as insurance if we had to walk deep down a track in the wee hours of the morning.

I'll never forget one time, back in the late 70's. I was walking along side a train one winter morning and it was blue cold. I heard this 'hey buddy, you got a light?' I looked around and didn't see a soul, then I heard it again. I looked at the end of a grain car, and there in a little cubby hole in the bulkhead were two hobo's and they had to be half froze to death! I smoked back then and gave them my Bic lighter. They seemed mighty grateful and I told them where a yard shanty was with a coal stove....to go get warm. No....they were afraid they'd 'miss their train' hehe! I told them the cars they were in might not move for days. I showed them where to go to catch a train and went on my way. Another time, about the same era, I mounted a train in the winter and the crew I was relieving told me I had a 'passenger back on the third unit (engine) and would I show him where to get on a northbound freight. I went back and encountered the biggest black man I had ever seen....he looked like Rosey Greer's grandfather! Here sat this gentleman in a huge overcoat, with a 2 gallon water jug and a small suitcase. He had a rimmed hat on and glasses. He was a gentleman and asked where he might catch a train to Cleveland. I told him he was a long way from Cleveland (he was in Russell, Ky.) and if he stayed where he was, he'd go west to Cincinnati. "Whal, whar's do I go to get to Cleveland?" I pointed to the outbound yard where the trains bound for Columbus pulled from and told him I would take him there. Oh no, he'd walk he said. I told him it was too cold, but he hopped off and went on his way.

He had been to Baltimore to visit his daughter and grandkids for Christmas. I have often wondered if they knew what that old man had gone through to get to spend the holidays with them. I have a hunch that wasn't the first hobo trip he had made, but for man close to 70 and in the winter....that took some balls!

Holy smokes - looks like I started a good topic.

Where do I start...OK - how about I thank all of you for providing invaluable input - THANKS!

Here's a little about me: I'm still a young pup in the overall scheme of things (30), married over 3 years, no kids, college education - lot a good that did me, etc. I turned wrenches on diesels since I was able to hold one and did that all through college to pay the bills. I've had regular 9-5 jobs since college and I'm really bored - not to mention, these types of software related jobs have dried up and I'm on borrowed time on the contract I'm on now.

I'm getting my CDL more than anything as a lifetime achievement I've always wanted (I love trucks, tractors and women too...ha!), but also as a possible means of employment. On occasion, it might be nice to be self sufficient and able to bring home a big piece of equipment on my own instead of paying someone else to do it.

The East Coast doesn't bother me much - I'm used to that whole scene...it's pure madness in some areas - hence the reason I live in WI now. Living out in the middle of corn (deer) country is where I like to be most.

Your comments about companies taking advantage of inexperienced drivers is eye opening - and I do agree to a certain extent that we're all being pimp'd out by our employers to a certain extent. If you own your own business - you're the pimp and the prostitute...but at least you'd only be jerking your own chain in that case.

Chasing a paycheck around should not happen to anyone - that's very wrong.

The comments about safe driving were very good too. In fact, some of them were better suggestions than what is written in these WI DOT manuals I've had my nose in.

This topic has given me a lot to think about - heck some of the comments would be enough to scare even the bravest of souls away - but I'm still considering this and I'm definitely going forward with at least the licensing portion. The classes aren't cheap...but I can do it on the weekend and work during the week while I still have a job.

The school has recruiters show up during class - I'm going to have to be pretty careful about anything I say to those guys. Those slick operators might try to lure me in with inflated numbers and glossy brochures.

In the meantime - I'm more excited about the prospect of learning how to drive a class-8 truck than anything else that has happened to me in the last couple of years. Maybe this is the change I need - if it isn't, at least I gave it a go.

Thanks a again folks - this has been a tremendous help so far.

Matt in sunny Wisconsin