Profile For Dustyn A.

My school made us do the quiz on the DOT regulations manuAL and it has all the rules in it that they said every truck company is required to give to you and stay in the truck, as for fines they would vary by state

A friend of mine went through CR England in Texas and he said pay was horrible as well and I guess he was/is part of a lawsuit regarding not paying them there full pay checks or something like that so I was immediately struck them off my list.

I went with a local private company mostly because I received a grant that paid for the school tuition through the local workforce center (which I would look into), I'm currently at the school so I'll probably get a better picture of the school after I graduate but they do have very old equipment that isn't up to date and some have problems, some of the instructors aren't very friendly and the student ratio isn't very good (my class is 3 or 4 people per truck 11 total), so my experience so far hasn't been the greatest so far. I've heard better experiences with other schools however so I would make sure you ask about student ratio and see the trucks your learning on. I can't say much about company sponsored programs but I imagine there better funded with newer equipment and a few from what I read get you out with one on one instructors immediately. Good Luck!

I have pre offers from both companies and I'm going with Swift after school because there offering me a dedicated route with Dollar Tree staying in TX, CO, OK KS and NM paying 58000 a year or so. Swift also had a few other dedicated accounts they hire new drivers for and even will keep you in a comfort zone (regional), they have a lot of benefits for this being the largest trucking company in America so I personally would consider them for regional/dedicated. I talked to the Western Express recruiter and they said they no regional opportunities and no dedicated in my area so I struck them off my list. I would call them both up and talk to the recruiter you've been working with and see what opportunities they offer you for your area and ask them about pay and anything else important to you. Talking to recruiters (we had 5 different recruiters visit my school so far) is by far the best resource to find out what they have to offer.

I know some regional routes may pay more because as they said earlier there are fewer miles, but some pay more because they might have more work involved. When I'm done with school I'm going to Swift doing a dedicated/regional route with Dollar Tree that pays more then regional and OTR for newbies and I get paid 160 a stop to unload boxes into the store, Swift says my pay will be about 1100-1200 a week doing that. But thats not every regional route though.

My school does have a few different brands of trucks but only one type trailer to learn on sadly. I actually did float a few times when I successfully did it just not the other times. I kind of wish I had a single system to learn on as this is a huge learning curve for me. And when I master move on to other systems but I see the benefits of the different systems.

I got a ticket for doing an illegal u turn which was 3 points a few weeks ago and 4 days later received a letter that because I have a clean record they would reduce it to a 1 point defective headlamp charge If I plead guilty and pay the fine by the due date, since that was Florida and your ticket more serious not sure if they will do that for you though. From the research I did because of my careless driving ticket from over 3 years ago most of the big companies don't care if you flawless record otherwise, just apply and be up front about it. I told Werner about how recent that ticket and they did tell me I had to have it cleared before they could hire me though...

I feel ya. We had pretty old trucks at school but they were not bad. Problem was ours broke down and then we got into another truck that all different characteristics. And they were all 10spds. No i am in my trainers truck and its like shifting a civic. Lol. You will get through it. Just stick it out. Good luck

Where are you going to school at?

Thanks for the replies, I'm going to see if I can't get more practice before I go onto the road itself. I wish I could jam the gears or float them as I did a few times but they frown on it and say they will even dock you for it I guess. I'll just keep working on it and hope I master it.

*I meant the 100 mile rule* and that firefighters are exempt when driving related to firefighting duties.