Flatbed Company For Student Driver?

Hey everyone,

I apologize if this question has already been asked a million times.(I tried to read the forum as much as possible).

I'm looking for a company that has a flatbed division and possibly offer CDL training for people like me without it. I know Swift has a flatbed division, I have already applied to them and seems I have good chances with them.

My dream would be TMC....but from what I can learn by reading you guys, it seems to be a very selective company and that they have a lot of applications so is like winning the lottery, seems like.

Another one, Melton Truck Lines if I am correct takes new drivers but with already CDL. I am looking for a company the offers training from square one.

There are other companies out there with flatbed divisions that offers training for non-CDL students?

I haven't nothing against Swift, I just would prefer to start with a smaller company with a more "family" feeling.

P.S. I live in Michigan.

Thank you so much guys.

Prime Inc does cdl training and has a flatbed division you can go straight into, although it's a pretty far cry from "smaller company." We have something like 8,000 drivers. Most of those are in the reefer division though.

One caveat with Prime Inc is they require you to pay for your flatbedding equipment (chains, straps, tarps, etc), which is two to three grand if I remember correctly. These come out in weekly payments of like $50 a week. You are paid $700+ weekly while in training, after you have obtained your cdl (usually a week of orientation, a couple of weeks as a student driver, then six to ten weeks of team driving with a trainer where you begin getting paid).

There's a driver here Turtle that had a very successful first year in Primes flatbed division.

Check out Roehl Transport. They have a great school and are always looking for flatbedders

I haven't nothing against Swift, I just would prefer to start with a smaller company with a more "family" feeling.

Hello Paul. Hey, I want to point out something that often times confuses people when entering this field. For the most part, trucking is completely misunderstood by the folks who are just getting started in it, and that is understandable. There is soooo much misinformation online that it is really easy to get a little antsy about how we are going to be treated as new rookie drivers who are trying to make their way into the industry. It is super easy to find volumes of reports from drivers with grievances and complaints against the large trucking company they worked for. What is important to take away from all this nonsense (and that is what it is) is that the folks who are screaming the loudest came into this field with the completely wrong approach to success, and they had some really terrible misconceptions on how this whole thing works.

This is a job like no other you will ever experience. You will have very little interaction with other employees. In fact you may only have much interaction at all with maybe one or two other people in the company, and the single most important relationship you will have is with your dispatcher. You are out here alone in your truck doing your job. There is no "hanging around with the guys at work." The idea that there is going to be this "family feeling" is a bogus concept in the trucking industry. My first trucking job was a flat-bed job at Western Express. I met my dispatcher on the day I was issued my truck. From that point on I never even saw him for the next six months. I was on the road for weeks at a time, and I got my home time when I requested it. I seldom ever even talked to my dispatcher on the phone because it was much more efficient to communicate with him through messages on the Qualcomm (on board computer in your truck). This job is very much a solo act, but with a supporting cast back at the office, whom you will seldom have any physical contact with.

The other part of this is that the companies who will provide CDL training are companies that are large enough to "self insure" themselves, as no insurance companies in their right minds will insure rookie drivers with no experience. So, I would drop the whole idea of trying to find some needle in the haystack company with a special "feel" to it and get right on with one of the large carriers who is willing to train you.

Here's the funny thing about this job. It is the folks who excel at it who are treated really well. I work for Knight, which is now combined with Swift, creating one of the largest trucking companies in the nation. When I walk into a company terminal they know who I am. I get a lot of respect, and I am treated like a king. I was recently at our Gulfport, MS terminal just out taking a walk in the parking area and I heard someone call my name from across the way. I looked up and it was the terminal manager saying, "Hey it's good to see you Dale, when you get finished with what you are doing come in and see me." My simple point is if you think there is some kind of special "family feeling" you are going to get from your trucking employer, it will be based solely on how well you conduct yourself at this job. There are a lot of losers at trucking. The failure rate of new entry level drivers is staggering. It has nothing to do with the size of the company, or the way that smaller companies may treat their employees differently. It has everything to do with complete misconceptions of how to this career works. It is all about performance.

We get paid by the mile - that means we get performance based pay. It is very difficult for newcomers to trucking to lay hold of that concept. Most of us consider that time is money, and we are accustomed to being paid based on how much time we spend on the job. We are also accustomed to being around our fellow employees and having personal interactions with the people we work with. Both of those things get thrown out the window in this career, and we are on our own to succeed or fail. It is a very independent choice of career, and lifestyle. I would drop the idea of looking for that one special company that is going to treat me like family, and dig deep so that you can create your own atmosphere of success. That is what it takes in this business. A problem solving, dig in there and make it work approach will always pay off in this career. You will discover that you must be a stubbornly independent and very creative go-getter to survive that first year of trucking. Then you will discover that those characteristics are what will keep you on the path of success as a trucker.

Here's a link to an article on What Makes It So Tough To Get Started In Trucking. Take a look at that. Maybe it will help you understand a little better about what I'm talking about.

Paul I agree 100% with everything Old School wrote.

I trained with Swift and continue driving for them 5 years later.

The "family" feeling is highly overrated and like OS said, greatly misunderstood. Your professional relationships on the job are at the grass roots level, with planners and driver managers working as a team to maximize your efficiency, safety and performance.

The number of people in my circle of direct contact and influence is about 6. Add in another dozen of casual professional relationships and that about sums up my family within a company employing 20,000+ drivers.

Swift/Knight is a huge, monolithic enterprise. That said I can honestly say I have never felt like a number; have plenty of work, always been treated fairly and professionally. Zero regrets.

The large carriers are far better equipped to effectively train a rookie driver and far more tolerant of the myriad of mistakes that will occur. We have a saying here; good drivers can be successful with almost any company. Keep that in mind...

Good luck!

Wow guys..! Thank you so much for your replies. I rarely seen a more helpful and friendly community that this one.

Old School, thank you so much for taking your time to write that to me. I agree in everything you said and will be like a treasure to me that I will remember.

Thank you Matt, PJ and G Town. Feeling much better about Swift. Yeah there are a lot of screaming folks on the internet, in particular against the big names. I don't pay much attention to the "screamers", I am new so is easier for non-experience person to believe more about complaints etc since I haven't direct experience but I always remember myself that is the Internet... I am very glad I ended here and I can ask directly to people that knows what they are talking about and have direct, physical experience.

Thank you again guys. I appreciate it very much.

Paul I agree 100% with everything Old School wrote.

I trained with Swift and continue driving for them 5 years later.

The "family" feeling is highly overrated and like OS said, greatly misunderstood. Your professional relationships on the job are at the grass roots level, with planners and driver managers working as a team to maximize your efficiency, safety and performance.

The number of people in my circle of direct contact and influence is about 6. Add in another dozen of casual professional relationships and that about sums up my family within a company employing 20,000+ drivers.

Swift/Knight is a huge, monolithic enterprise. That said I can honestly say I have never felt like a number; have plenty of work, always been treated fairly and professionally. Zero regrets.

The large carriers are far better equipped to effectively train a rookie driver and far more tolerant of the myriad of mistakes that will occur. We have a saying here; good drivers can be successful with almost any company. Keep that in mind...

Good luck!

Just had another phone call with Joan I. from Swift. Things looks going very well. I asked about joining the flatbed division and she told me that because of where I live she wasn't sure if I could join or not, so she will make some calls and let me know. Hopefully everything goes well.

I'll keep you posted.

Got a call from Celadon. They seems to be super interested in my profile as well. Asked me when I can start. They don't have flatbed tho. The recruiter told me the first 6 months I have to drive dry van only and after 6 I can choose if I want, reefers.

Celadon seems to be a good starting company as well, if I am correct they had an intense 2017 but seems they are recovering. Still, no flatbed division..

Got an email from TMC, they don't hire in my area... :( I live 60 miles north of Detroit and apparently they don't hire north of Detroit.

@mods: If I am not allowed to post multiple replies in sequence, just let me know and I will stop immediately. I do apologize in advance if it is not allowed.

Paul Celadon is restructuring ro put it nicely. They had flatbeds, must have dropped them in all the restructuring. Personally I would not want to jump into a company that is known to be rebuilding, or whatever you wish to call it. They had some very severe public problems. Just something to consider

Hey Paul,

If Eugene welding is still there, look and see who is loading there. I used to load pallet racking there several times a year. Also, Roehl would be who I would go for in Michigan. Also, Celadon has had financial problems and recently filed bankruptcy. Roehl's school is supposed to be one of the best.