Regional Home Weekends Trainee?

Hello conservative back at it again! I saw an ad for celadon that offered regional routes and home weekends. I was wondering if they or any other company offered that to new students after training and if that would guarantee my being off Sundays . Wanted to give this trucking thing one last shot. Thanks!

I drive for Swift. After several months OTR/ rookie, I got into their regional dedicated driving for Georgia Pacific (mostly paper).

The schedule was "home weekends". Once in a while I got home on Saturday afternoon, but I had every Sunday off. I believe this is a common assignment with the major carriers.

After several months OTR/ rookie, I got into their regional dedicated driving for Georgia Pacific

Conservative, what Errol is saying is key to your desires. You are wanting a trucking company to meet your needs (or your demands) right out of the gate. It just doesn't work that way.

If you want to be a professional driver then you are going to need to be a little more flexible at the get go. A successful career can be had in this industry that meets your needs, but you are going to have to be willing to go through a gestational time period where you prove that you are the type driver who is worth hanging onto.

This field of endeavor is not like any other "job" I know of. It takes a commitment and a desire to see it through to fruition. It is very competitive. Any driver who wants to be home every Sunday, does what it takes to get to that point. They don't just hand those jobs out to every silly rookie that shows up. There is a huge learning curve in this business, and you are going to have to make a few sacrifices along the way in order to get yourself to a level that can get you into that type of situation.

From your profile, I see you are in Indiana. West Side Transport absolutely gives home weekly gigs to new drivers.

West Side doesn't have a CDL school and they don't do tuition reimbursement, but they will hire an inexperienced driver that has completed a 160 hour training program/certificate and put them through 30 days of company training.

After that they go through rigorous testing and if they pass they're upgraded to being a solo driver.

Thanks! I kinda figured that's how it worked, but wanted to be sure.

Hello conservative back at it again! I saw an ad for celadon that offered regional routes and home weekends. I was wondering if they or any other company offered that to new students after training and if that would guarantee my being off Sundays . Wanted to give this trucking thing one last shot. Thanks!

Where are you located?

Here's another way to understand O.S.'s third paragraph:

OTR is a driver category that works for Swift only. Your DM sends you to Customer A for a load, and you take that to Costumer B. Just like you understand how trucking works.

Dedicated assignments mean the Swift company contacts to supply shipping services to another company, whether Georgia Pacific, Walmart, Home Depot, or what.

Think: if your were Swift, would you send a new, untested driver out to support a mulit-million dollar contract, or a just slightly more experienced driver who's shown they can handle "in-house" business?

I understand you have a reason for Sundays off, but your chances and benefits are better if you can stand to be away from home (Meaning not especially Sundays) for a few months. After your first few weeks of decent driving, let your DM know your preference.

Also, I talked with my DM right after I started my OTR about being home every other weekend. That happened until I moved to GP Dedicated.

Hello conservative back at it again! I saw an ad for celadon that offered regional routes and home weekends. I was wondering if they or any other company offered that to new students after training and if that would guarantee my being off Sundays . Wanted to give this trucking thing one last shot. Thanks!

Where are you located?

Ian now in Ohio an hour from Columbus.

My company has a terminal in Columbus, OH. They DO ask you your preference for days off. Saturday or Sunday. Mine is Sunday as well. They try to give us both and typically do. Normally I'm home sometime on Friday and only failed once since I've been there, due to unavoidable circumstances on my part. I'm pre-planned to leave out on Mondays.

In Columbus they have Flex (home a couple nights during the week and home weekends, Local home every night and off on weekends, or Regional home weekly. All available to brand new drivers.

I'm leaving tomorrow to go to Swift's orentation and then out with my trainer. Once I'm done I'm going into their dedicated division and I'll be home daily. So there are companies out there who will hire guys right out of school and put them in the type of situation you are looking for.