Profile For Aram KURD

You know what my other comment might not post. This will be my last one, So I'll leave yall with this, I appreciate everything God bless wish all of you the best of luck in trucking and in life!! Yall be safe out there and keep tricking along!! Take care ✌

Thank you, Rainy! I understand what you mean but honestly some of these guys made it seem like my career was over before it began lol. One guy even said I feel entitled because I have a CDL, smh. I agree i could've and should've done more research before heading to Stevens, but i had just got my CDL everything was fresh in my head, muscle memory, so I wanted to be in a truck quick. In my head I thought I had done enough research. But I swear my decision to leave Stevens was purely for my future and not some chump change referral bonus like these guys claim. The day before I was to meet my trainer I learned about those trailers coming across from Mexico. Sergeant majors (instructor at Steven's) words were "you better inspect that trailer good because a mile down the road you'll go through an xray machine and if there's drugs it's on you" now I don't know about you but I'm not willing to risk anything. I've got too many people depending on me. And I've already explained the bonus pay and videos so I won't go into that again. But most importantly I love it here at Total, I feel right at home. Great small company that's getting me good miles. My trainer calls me daily to check upon me. My dispatcher and terminal manager are on a first name basis with me which makes you feel like you belong. Just yesterday I got dispatched a load that was late and they offered me an extra $100 bucks if i could deliver it that day. I can't say enough good things about them. I plan on staying for a good while.

Great Aram!!! im happy for you.

I think what you failed to see is what we saw in your posts. Go back and re read what we saw...which is only what you told us. only you know what is in your head or going on, we only know what you told us. you were gung ho about one company, then what seemed like whiplash, you said you left there because they lied about pay, they made you watch videos, and you did not trust trailers coming across the border. it sounded like a rash decision and future companies can look negatively about that. we were concerned for you.

for us, those all sounded like BS excuses. The pay was "up to $50k" as stated on the site, videos are required by almost every company and are often a DOT or USDA requirement, and the trailers are already inspected by customs with dogs and x rays.

Now had you come one with something that we dont all go through regularly, maybe it would have gotten a different response.

i wish you luck and am glad you have found a home. please give it a full year there and learn to manage that clock. that is how you will make that money honey lol

I really don't understand what's the problem here? I've landed a great gig, I'm happy, my dispatcher is awesome and so far this week I've got 2500 miles, our payweek ends on Wednesday so I'm about to add another 288 to that. All but one of my loads this week were drop and hook. What's the problem? Why did I make such a big mistake? Where did I make such a big mistake? I'm happy, I'm loving life out here. Total has been extremely good to me, I even got a courtesy call from the owner. He calls every new recruit while they're solo on their first week, which is a great gesture. And Brett, dude relax, the only reason I was saying we kept moving cuz he was an owner op is because the company driver trainers at Total are salary. They can run 500 miles a week and still get 70k per year. I'm a company driver and plan on staying company.

Oh and forgot to mention 93% of the loads at total were drop and hook...the only live loads were paper from new Jersey and Pepsi in Pennsylvania. Can't beat that...also no reefer is a plus!!

Wow, buncha conspiracy theorists in here huh. Let me break it down for you negative Nancy's, at Steven's I was gonna make .33 cpm, at prime, in a lightweight truck you'd make .42? In a normal truck .40cpm...not to sure though, I'm sure rainy could shed some light on that. At total I'm starting out at .38cpm, in 90 days I'll be at .43 cpm in a condo truck...so how exactly did I take less money?...also my buddy got his referral, all of it. His name is rashaun wormely, if you're that eager to know if he got the whole thing or not shoot me a PM I'll give you his number and you can text him. He'll send you a pic of his check. But anyway I got nothing to prove to ya'll, yall dont pay my Bill's or help in any way. If anything past month yall have been the biggest downers I've ever seen in my life lol, plain ol ridiculous. And Brett, it sounds fishy to you cuz I wanted to take my car? Huh, wtf dude you're just looking for **** to stir up, good God you sound so ridiculous. Gtown, there's absolutely nothing on my dac report so your scare tactics s are also ridiculous. Anyways all the negative bull**** aside, my training with total was nothing short of amazing. My trainer was/is one of the best human beings I've ever met, he gave me so much knowledge as he got so much experience. He even took me to his house on 2 occasions to meet his family, eat some real food and get some great rest. He was an owner op so we were always moving, always on the go. The first day he told me, "as long as you wanna drive I won't pull you out of the seat." And he was true to his word. My first day I could only manage 6 hours, but after getting some rest, I did 10 hour days almost all the time depending on the load. Everything he said, I wrote down and I mean everything, I got a notebook with 5 pages of his advice. I upgraded today. I had to do a 20 min road test, a 45 at a truck stop and a 90. Did both of them successfully and got my own truck today. 2017 freightliner. Out of 14 students I was the first one out today, the guy behind me has 12 hours left to go. My trainer and I got pulled into an orientation class to speak to the new students and I took full advantage of it by saying everything I could to these guys to get them ready. I'm at a hotel now resting up but tomorrow i get to take my load back to virginia and get 5 days hometime after being away for 40 days now. If ya'll gonna be a bunch of negative Nancy's consider not even replying cuz you're negativity is really not worth my time. To all you student drivers, trust me it won't be the end of the world if you switch companys and you feel they're not right for you, trust your gut. I had 4 other students that had left and came to total and they're all doing fine. Peace out yall!!

"Nothing I say will convince you otherwise." ok cool man.

Aram...dude you just informed us you left Stevens for two of the silliest reasons I can imagine.

Training pay. Amounts to peanuts. Plus do the math, 11 hours of driving plus a 30 minute pre trip and your hourly rate is less than $8.00. Does Total pay you the full $90 of sitting for 8 hours waiting to be unloaded or taking a 34? Might want to ask that...

Regardless please help me and others understand the remarkable difference between Total and Stevens training pay. In the big picture this amounts to noise, head-trash.

But it gets better, "your words", the primary reason for your jump to Total; loads coming in from Mexico. In addition to what Rainy said; if you do a thorough pretrip, and you find something suspicious; report it. You are only responsible if you don't report it and drive off with a "bag" wedged up inside your tandems. Customs already checked your trailer. Brilliant!

Four days of orientation with Stevens, poof, gone. If they gave you a driver number your hasty departure might be reported on your DAC. You went from "excited to meet your trainer", then you quit. You'll need to go through orientation all over again...have fun watching the same videos.

All these friends you mentioned, if they were friends and had a half-a-brain between their ears; they would have emphatically suggested to stick it out at Stevens.

Here is what I think happened...

Your "friend" got a referral for you and offered to split it with you... nothing you say will convince me otherwise. JV move,...totally JV.

Good luck...you are going to need it.

Yeah I'll stay on and blog my experiences. Except now I'll be prepared to be bombarded by ya'll if ya'll consider I've made a wrong move or think me otherwise 😁. Anyway ya'll have a good one, and God bless.

I've got several friends in the trucking industry, one drives for prime inc. One drives for DM Bowman, one for Swift, the one for total and one for Maverick. I've been picking their brains just like I have with yall. Once I decided that Steven's wasn't for me I talked to all of them, I was actually considering going with my original first choice which was Prime Inc. But having talked to all of them Total seemed like the best choice, and this guy and me go back to elementary school so I know he wouldn't lie to me. Look man I'm not sitting here lying to you or saying I know everything or that anyone owes me anything, if that was the case I wouldn't even be on this forum. I'm not trying to say how tough I am, and I really don't care what you think of me. I was simply answering because all of you just figured out I'm a quitter, the world owes me because I've got a CDL, and I want things handed to me on a silver platter in a matter of a post. I mean jesus christ I just decided that company wasn't for me and decided to go with one that seems like a better fit. Why stay somewhere where I'll be miserable? I understand yall wanna give advice but saying you're never gonna succeed, or you feel the world owes you, you're entitled, deflating someone's confidence or whatever simply for switching from one company to another that's not encouraging to someone trying to make something of themselves. I understand if I had driven for them for a month or a week and then quitting. That would be an idiot move, but I prevented that from happening. But anyway I'm done man, I wish yall and yalls forum nothing but the best, i appreciate it all, thank you and yall have a good one, wish you all nothing but the best. God bless!

Read what I wrote, I said if I would've gotten in the truck and driven with them I would've toughed it out and stayed with them. Trust me man I've had tough jobs over the years, from Turkey and chicken processing plants to being a plumper and having to unload trucks for 10 hours a day. I don't mind staying at a job to avoid red flags on my resume that says I can't persevere. But I left before doing that. I really don't mind being given advice, because you're never too old for advice, ever! But what I don't like is being personally attacked simply because I left to a different company. I mean for goodness sake I just changed from one company to another for a better opportunity at pay and a better career. I'm not packing it up and throwing away my cdl and going back to my factory job. As I stated I'm not just switching blindly, my friend has been here for 7 to 8 months, he and I talked for hours before I made the decision to switch companys. That and factoring in the other reasons I already mentioned. Also he's been telling me Total treats him VERY good, they have a family like atmosphere that he hasn't felt anywhere else. This guy has been driving for 4 and a half years now. So why wouldn't I take his advice and move to a company that a guy with that experience recommends? But Somebody questioning my work ethic, someone saying I'll never succeed in this business another saying I'm a brat who wants things handed to me...huh? They just figured me out inside and out in one post without even knowing me personally, the factors that went into my decision or anything. Just attack after attack....lol jesus! And here I thought it was different here.

So I'm quitting trucking and packing it up and going home? Then what am I doing at total? I really don't care how big of a company they are, what's wrong with gathering info on them first hand and making a decision that's best for me? Dude you're just trying to find things to criticize I have no idea what your problem is.