Taking The Plunge, Starting Trucker School

ChickieMonster does sound correcting:

Errol I think the only reason is was talking to someone different every time is because I was getting directed to night/weekend dispatch.

Good point. At Swift, there's an evening person dedicated to "dedicated", so during the day it's my DM Donna, and evenings it's almost always Robin. I guess I'm spoiled.

ChickieMonster asks: But can the smaller company offer the miles and freight that a big company can. The miles depend on what business the company can drum up, just like any company. The Ma-Pa idea is great, like you imagine. But a small company must also deal with owning, operating and maintaining complicated and expensive machinery. They may need to depend on diesel mechanic shops for maintenance, not their own shops, and there's limited resources for major maintenance. Finally, you'll probably be visiting every open scale station in the country, Pre-pass or no. C.M., yes, at Big Truck Freight Company you are a number - your truck number. But your DM might know you by name, and know how you work. I believe something's not right if you are talking to a "different person every time". From a driver's point of view, you and your DM are a team, both working to get a job done.

Errol I think the only reason is was talking to someone different every time is because I was getting directed to night/weekend dispatch. During the week I have just one DM who is especially for new drivers and has a much smaller fleet to handle.

Thanks C.M., Errol and G-Town. ChickieMonster, in response to your question on miles, this company only has about 24 trucks. But I think they are as busy as they have drivers for their runs. They guarantee home on weekends, which was important for me. I had also considered the scales thing. I don't know, I'm still checking out other options. I have one more week of school, then go for the test. I have been contacted by Schneider, TransAm and others. But one thing about this small company that I appreciated; the owner came to our school to recruit, and he met me at his terminal to interview me. He said that this is the most important decision a new driver will make, where to start out. He said he hoped I'd work there, but said if I wasn't sure that this is where I'd be happy, that he would rather I find somewhere else to go. I really appreciated that. I'm sure that these larger companies would probably have a similar business plan, although they just can't afford to send their president, or owner out to schools to find that one driver that is a good fit. Well, it looks like someone actually is reading my posts. Thanks for the advice. I'll let you know how the test goes, I'm sort of nervous (probably one of my biggest understatements in awhile).