Profile For Jeff C.

While everyone's experience is always different I have to say that my experience was not a good one. I went through orientation on 1/27/15, i came packed and preparex so I was able to leave the same afternoon. I called my trainer and he s a id to meet him at 3pm because we were headed to Denver. He called me back a few minutes later and said meet him at 2pm. We met up, loaded my stuff in the truck and he decided to take me on a tour of the yard and meet dispatchers, etc.. we finally took off and headed up 287 northbound. We stopped in Rhome where he let me take over driving since he had been driving all day. I started driving and he said he would take back over in Boise City, OK. So he takes back over and gets a call from a dispatcher wanting him to help a driver that is driving overweight get around the scales. So we take a bunch of back roads and by doing that it made us late for our delivery time. We ended up taking our delivery to a different place and were dispatched to another load and moved on. During my trip I found this trainer to be a very sad and miserable person that I could not stand to be around. In the 5 days I was on the road I was not given any chance to take a shower (i realize that being on the road you can't take a shower every day but 5 days?, come on). In the days i was with him all he did was stay on his phone all day and night and never really answered any of my questions. On 2/1, we had a delivery in San Antonio at a tight location, and was a backup i never had seen so i asked if i could observe him only to be yelled at "you dont watch me, i watch you". At this time i decided i was never going to learn anything with this trainer and told him i wanted to go back to fort worth. On 2/3, i went in to talk to my recruiter and his boss, i shared with them the things i observed with this trainer including HOS log issues and they seemed like they could care less. I am not sure if the owners are aware or if they care. I did manage to drive about 2000 miles in the short time, managed to accurately maintain my logs and use the qualcom accurately, sadlythe only this trainer taught me was how to use his gps.

My son used to work for Watkins Shepard and loved it. He came fresh out of TDS and the only reason he left was because he movec outside of their freight lanes. They always kept him busy

Is there anyone on here that knows anything about Magnum logistics in Fargo North Dakota? Is there anyone out here that either works for them or has worked for them in the past?

Lets see, Tyson starts out at .39 a mile but tops out at .42. they tell me $60k is realistic but doing the math I'd have to drive about 3000+ a week Crete starts at .35 but jumps up after 6 months. they have excellent benefits, good choices for different divisions so home time may be better Prime starts at .38 plus .05 if I want a small truck in reefer division and .45 for tankers. I have heard tankers is not exactly the best place for a new driver to start. I am not really interested in flat bed otherwise I would have gone with Maverick who really wanted me in their glass division. I have had a lot more interest in me due to only having 3 jobs my entire life, no criminal history and nothing on my license for over 20 years. My biggest thing is I want to get out there and bust my butt and make good money while still being able to see my family every so often. I do thank each of you so far for your input.

Yesterday I graduated from truck driving school and have 3 job offers on the table. They are Crete carriers, Prime and Tyson foods. I live near Fort Worth. Drivers, which would you choose and why?

I am currently attending truck driving school in Dallas and have began driving on the range. The instructor tells me that it is coming to me naturally. I have a couple of job offers already but my only concern is my weight, i have already made changes to my lifestyle to begin to lose weight and plan to continue once driving. I hear being overweight it is assumed that you have sleep apnea. As far as i know i do not have it but i am sure i will be required to be tested. Can anyone tell me what all is typically done during an orientation such as physicals, agility testing and such? I have offers from prime as well as crete.

I went to the school in Fort Worth for 1 day. They had me come in on Thursday since i had taken and passed all 5 written tests for cdl. I get there before 7am, i go to the classroom and sit down. The instructor introduced himself to me and tells me to sit tight. There was 15 in there including me. 11 had to go to dps to take their tests and the rest were to head to the range. So after 15 minutes of being there i am headed to the range. So out on the range there is 4 instructors. So they pairthe students up 2 in a truck while the other 2 instructors sat and smoked. So my instructor takes us to our truck and starts showing us exactly how we should have the seat adjusted and how far the steering wheel should be. So i am first, i get the seat adjusted and as i am adjusting the steering wheel, my foot slips off the pedal. Then this instructor gets right in my face and tells me "dont break my damned truck" i told her i wasnt gonna do a ray rice on it just my foot slipped. So we start going forward and backward. Apparently at one point i was pushing too hard on the brakes so she starts giving me more crap and telling me how she has driven 2 million miles so i tell her thats nice but i haven't and that is why i am trying to learn. Through the morning i kept a sense of humor. We go to lunch and i am sitting in my car and the instructors pass by talking about how only 3 of the 11 passed their tests at dps. At that point i felt it was in my best interest to go ahead and leave. I figured if, with their instruction, only 27% can pass what i did on my own, it was a crappy operation. I have since decided to pay for my schooling myself and have been going to Continental in Dallas. Even though i have had to sit through everything that i have already tested for i have managed to learn even more plusthis week my class goes to the range. By the way, everyone in this class passed all their dps written tests first time through so just goes to show you get what you pay for.