“Starter Companies”

Why is there so much hate on other sites about “starter companies” companies that hire inexperienced drivers? Of course there are gonna be more accidents because people are new but in looking around at the companies that require years of experience, it doesn’t seem that they have much more to offer. Sometimes a lot less? Example “Required 4-5 years otr , clean record, 41. Cpm solo, 45. Cpm teams. Be willing to stay otr 4-5 weeks, the professional company you have been looking for.”

Am I missing something here? Some of this stuff sounds like less opportunity than “starter companies.” At this point I will take anything that will give me a chance to learn and keep food in my families mouth.

You’re RIGHT!

I started with Schneider and only left for better home time, same pay. Great company as are many of the other biggies.

Am I missing something here?

No, you're not. The whole "starter company" thing drives us crazy. That idea has been around since long before I started driving in '93. There's this ongoing misconception amongst a vocal minority of drivers who feel for reasons we can't understand that the largest, most successful companies in the nation are not great places to work long term. They're only for getting your career underway. Then you're supposed to leave those carriers and go work for smaller, less successful mom-n-pop carriers who will supposedly treat you like family and pay big money.

It makes no logical or business sense at all. I've been scratching my head over that for over 26 years. It's so common I did a podcast about it:

Episode 9: Are Major Carriers Nothing More Than Starter Companies?

Have a listen to that.

I’ve saw posts that make no sense “@@@@@ company will control your miles and if you start to earn to much they will cut your miles so your paycheck doesn’t get to high” Why on earth would a company that relies on freight moving do something to mess with you that is also taking money out of their own pockets? Sounds ridiculous. On a lighter note I start cdl training on January 13th with Troops into transportation . I’m excited to learn something new and put it to use.

My second run for SNBC is 1367 miles 🙄

Congrats bro, Schneider is a really good place to start and retire from. They have been good to me.

They aren't starter companies, if they were they wouldn't have 2 and 3 million mile drivers. Not a lot of small companies can say the same at least I don't think they can.

That said, a lot of drivers looking into some form of specialized freight will "use" the larger companies to attain the necessary experience to be trained on whatever specialized freight they wish to haul i.e. OS/OW, car hauling, tanker, etc... or for jobs like Walmart.

I had worked for a "starter company" and when I was first with them, and otr , I was making starter pay. I then got onto a dedicated account and I was making an average of 63cpm, and got all the miles I wanted, and I was home every weekend. its all about what you make of it. While I was at a few of the different terminals, I had the chance to meet several multi-million mile drivers, including a 5 million miler who was at the terminal to order his 5 million mile truck....

Dang, 5 million miles. That’s alot of seat time.