Any Other Suggestions For Choosing A Trucking Company...

Buster's Buddy said,

my (3rd) recruiter emailed me to say that there was an item on my application from December 3rd that disqualified me from Knight.

What's the hangup? Since three recruiters checked it out (they are not the final say, anyway), is it something you could explain with more information? You should be able to talk to Knight's Safety people.

Not something I wish to discuss in detail on a public forum. I did speak with Safety, it's just company policy. Not a big deal, but no exceptions. That's why it's on the initial application. It will fall off in a few years. I received a few apologies that the recruiters all missed it, and at least one implication that I was liar and unethical person. I did point out that I WROTE IT ON MY ORIGINAL (and subsequent) APPLICATION, and if I had actually lied I wouldn't have been sent home.

It's just a bummer to get that invested and then sent home because you should never have got that close. Not to mention the whole lack of income and lack of place to live aspects. C'est la vie.

Check out Watkins & Shepard

Well, that was educational. Did you know there is a Watkins & Shepard, a Watkins Trucking, and a Watkins Refrigerated? As far as I can tell they are unrelated. Unfortunately none of them offer schooling. Thanks for the suggestion. I keep looking, at least until I talk to a different Prime recruiter on Monday.

Http://www.hiringdriversnow.com/company-index/celadon-trucking/

Says here celadon hires from arizona, also they hired me from California and sent me to Texas for orientation. Might want to double check that.

Http://www.hiringdriversnow.com/company-index/celadon-trucking/

Says here celadon hires from arizona, also they hired me from California and sent me to Texas for orientation. Might want to double check that.

That list contradicts Celadon's hiring map on the bottom of this page on the Celadon website:Solo | Dry Van . I'll give them a call, there is no telling which site is more likely to be up to date. California is listed on their hiring map, along with about 1/3 of Colorado oddly enough.

I do appreciate a direct link to solid information. Thanks!

Who did you speak with at Prime? I believe you got some false infomation. I currently drive for them.

Who did you speak with at Prime? I believe you got some false infomation. I currently drive for them.

As tempting as it is I don't believe it is in anyone's best interest to name individual names. I believe that one of the purposes of this site is to help those of us who are starting a career in trucking. With that in mind I happy perfectly willing to share my experiences with individual companies, and discuss their written policies and the real world implementation of those policies. In my opinion recruiters are almost expected to lie. They are sales men. The great ones will be totally straight with you, the horrid ones will say whatever they think you need to hear. The vast majority are in between these extremes. If a specific company tends to encourage shady recruiters then that is useful information for this site. Same goes for companies that are generally honest.

I won't mention the names of the 3 Knight recruiters who all missed vital information on my application. I did speak with someone at Knight about it, since I honestly believe that the company is interested in making sure that sort of thing doesn't happen again. Knight wasted time and money on an unqualified applicant. I don't know why my Prime recruiter told me what he did. Did he lie? Was it a misunderstanding on my part? Was it a case of "rush through this because it's almost closing time on Friday"? I don't know. What I do know thanks to TT is that my understanding of the information he provided does not seem to be indicative of Prime's actual operations, and I now know who to call to get a second opinion. I cannot stress how helpful both of the facts are to me. Thank you all.

If I knew he had blatantly and maliciously lied I would provide his name as a warning to others. I would also be happy to share the name of a recruiter I believed to be honest and straightforward to help others. At least for now I think this is a grey enough area not to want to besmirch a man's name based on my bad experience with him.

Http://www.hiringdriversnow.com/company-index/celadon-trucking/

Says here celadon hires from arizona, also they hired me from California and sent me to Texas for orientation. Might want to double check that.

That list contradicts Celadon's hiring map on the bottom of this page on the Celadon website:Solo | Dry Van . I'll give them a call, there is no telling which site is more likely to be up to date. California is listed on their hiring map, along with about 1/3 of Colorado oddly enough.

I do appreciate a direct link to solid information. Thanks!

Yep no problem I would definitely give them a call tomorrow just to make sure. Good luck.

Try May Trucking Company. They have a western 11 division and a great pet policy. They are my number one pick as long as they have a trainer available when I'm done with school.

Dont be surprised if whatever it was you wont say that disqualified you from Knight, disqualifies you from other companies as well, they all have very similar policies. Some other companies are MVT, Melton, Conway, JB Hunt, Schneider .

Phil

You missed US Xpress

I don't have any particularly good to say about them right now as I have been waiting to be assigned a trainer since last thursday.

However this is mostly due to their new and improved training program student drivers (student meaning fresh outa cdl school) have to go through. Sadly they can only upgrade about 2-3 drivers a day per terminal because of the extra extensive proccess. this makes less trainers available more often. I'm hoping for good news tomorrow since as of thursday last week she said only 1 person ahead of me (first come first serve)

Anyways Us xpress does have a pet policy, 1 cat or dog, $500 deposit that they can take in something like $50 a week from check.

Idle policy is kinda strict, can only idle 5 min before engine will shut off unless it's above 70º or below 23º. but they do have bunk heaters so not a big deal if you can't idle in the colder temps I would imagine. 70º isn't all that bad on the warmer side... open a window and or plug in a fan. No APUs but they will install an inverter up to 1700 watts if you have one. Company store sells em too but I heard they're over priced compared to pilot.

As for school only thing I know is you need to of grad recently. they will reimburse tuition at $150 per month up to $7,000 or they'll pay that towards loans if you had a loan pay for tuition. Student drivers will have to go out with a trainer, the amount of hours required varies on multiple factors but I have to do it for 175 hours.

Also because I don't live within 100 miles of terminal I have to team drive for 8 weeks after I upgrade, then if I choose I can go solo at that time. Team pay is pretty decent though, newish program called team max, pay is like 55 cpm split. my solo pay would start at 31cpm for first 3 months, then 33, then 36 after 6 months up to 39 after a year. so 55 split isn't too bad when teams usually do 2x as many miles as solo. I don't want to team... at...all though so I'm gonna see if one of my friends in the dfw area will let me use their address as home of record. I gotta get more info on requirements for that from HR first.

The new training for us xpress so far is ok but it sounds like they don't trust the cdl schools because they teach you almost the same stuff you had to learn in cdl school and a lot of the same stuff you needed to do to pass driving test to get cdl... they may as well start their own cdl school at this point.

CDL:

Commercial Driver's License (CDL)

A CDL is required to drive any of the following vehicles:

• Any combination of vehicles with a gross combined weight rating (GCWR) of 26,001 or more pounds, providing the gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) of the vehicle being towed is in excess of 10,000 pounds.
• Any single vehicle with a GVWR of 26,001 or more pounds, or any such vehicle towing another not in excess of 10,000 pounds.
• Any vehicle, regardless of size, designed to transport 16 or more persons, including the driver.
• Any vehicle required by federal regulations to be placarded while transporting hazardous materials.

Terminal:

A facility where trucking companies operate out of, or their "home base" if you will. A lot of major companies have multiple terminals around the country which usually consist of the main office building, a drop lot for trailers, and sometimes a repair shop and wash facilities.

CPM:

Cents Per Mile

Drivers are often paid by the mile and it's given in cents per mile, or cpm.

OOS:

When a violation by either a driver or company is confirmed, an out-of-service order removes either the driver or the vehicle from the roadway until the violation is corrected.

APU:

Auxiliary Power Unit

On tractor trailers, and APU is a small diesel engine that powers a heat and air conditioning unit while charging the truck's main batteries at the same time. This allows the driver to remain comfortable in the cab and have access to electric power without running the main truck engine.

Having an APU helps save money in fuel costs and saves wear and tear on the main engine, though they tend to be expensive to install and maintain. Therefore only a very small percentage of the trucks on the road today come equipped with an APU.

APUs:

Auxiliary Power Unit

On tractor trailers, and APU is a small diesel engine that powers a heat and air conditioning unit while charging the truck's main batteries at the same time. This allows the driver to remain comfortable in the cab and have access to electric power without running the main truck engine.

Having an APU helps save money in fuel costs and saves wear and tear on the main engine, though they tend to be expensive to install and maintain. Therefore only a very small percentage of the trucks on the road today come equipped with an APU.