Its Been A While...

SO.... after a few weeks of some wild trucking **** that i didnt agree with... i finally went company... OLD SKOOL U WERE RIGHT... i chose averitt and so far so good... i had my first trainer.. we didnt mesh well.. so they gave me a new one.. see how that goes... but i do love it so far... and the company is awsome.

Congratulations. Best of luck. Are you doing OTR , line haul , P&D or flatbed with them? Keep us posted.

OLD SKOOL U WERE RIGHT

Awww now, you didn't have to say that, but I am thrilled to hear that you're getting a good start. Averitt will be able to help you lay a good foundation for a successful career. Congratulations! Please, keep us posted.

You're gonna be a lot better off starting like this. This career can be really tough when it comes to making a decent start. Hang in there, and be extra careful.

!Nk, it's super cool that you came back with an update, and sorry to hear things got off to a rocky start. It sounds like you're in a much better position now.

My advice at this point would be to do your best to get along with everyone. One of the key factors to the happiness and success of any driver is their ability to get along well with the personnel they work with. It's funny, because you think of truckers being alone in that truck and you wouldn't think that people skills should matter. But they matter in a big, big way.

Your going to find that dispatchers and load planners and the other office personnel will make or break your career. They can pile the miles on you or they can hold you back. Every dispatcher has drivers on their board making $70k per year, and drivers making $40k per year. You could wind up being either one and it all comes down to your performance and your attitude. If you can handle the big miles and you're the type of person they want to take great care of then you're going to have it made in this industry.

In your travels out there you're going to meet a ton of miserable drivers. If you listen to their story you're going to find that they all complain about how they're treated by their company. What you probably won't hear is the way they talk to those people. If they talked to you the way they talked to their dispatcher you'd probably smack em in the mouth. They don't understand why things never go their way and why they're not treated as well as the top tier drivers, but the top tier drivers and their dispatchers certainly understand why.

So be mellow, and go with the flow. There are a lot of tough people to deal with in this industry, but most of them are drivers. The office personnel will normally be a reflection of you. If you're cool with them, they're cool with you. If you make life hard for them, they're going to make it worse for you.

People skills are huge in trucking. I learned that the hard way early in my career when I was 21 and a little too salty. I learned quickly that if I didn't talk to people the right way I was going nowhere fast.

Keep us updated! You've found a great home at Averitt. Now you just have to figure out how your company works and how this industry works. You'll get there.

That’s good to hear.

Great update Ink.

I totally agree with Brett’s point on people skills. The miserable and nasty drivers are almost always ignored by the DLs and planners I work with. Professional conduct and respectful demeanor are always positively rewarded.

Best wishes for continued success. Safe travels.

Thank you everyone... i love my place here at averitt and i am what they call dedicated flex... last week was a 6 day week and i racked in 3294 miles.. oh.. i was movin alright.. i love it and my sleep to driving ratio is what i love about this company.. they sure do make sure i sleep and i make sure they get every bit of driving time out of me.. so far i love it!!!!!