Question:
Why do Newbies (Well most of them) only search out the BIGGEST companies to work for?
Most have very bad experiences with the biggest of the big, yet that's the only name they will try!
I noticed today reading over some old post. Where drivers got screwed at BIGGEST BIG company A, so they went over to BIGGEST BIG company B, then there are those that are working on BIGGEST BIG, C, D, E, F, G, and some almost to Z!
With all the info that Newbies have been giving each other here on TruckNet. Why do they keep doing this ??
I guess this why Americans keep voting in the same politicians every year. They only go for the name not the record!!
************************************
Indiana RoadRunner
A legend in his own mind! Ike

Answer:
They get board during their layover, dock visit etc. and pick up those little recruiting mags and start dailing and are swept away by the recruiters BS.
They are sooooo mad that anything has to be better than what they are doing now. Then they find out that trucking is trucking....stick the bigguns in a bag and shake them up and the only difference is the color of the truck.
Peacekeeper
Culture, Borders, langauge!
www.newblackcity.com
Onion Horten the reverse racist radio show

Answer:
Could it be that only the large companies can offer the level of insurance coverage, 401k, pay, that many will work for. All of the smaller companies I have researched pay alot less in all areas and although having a closeness too the owners would be nice that does not pay my bills only makes me more comfortable.

Answer:
How many smaller companies accept newbies?
When I started, I looked. Couln't find any. With a full year of OTR experience, some optional doors open. With 2 years experience and a good record, most doors are open.
Help us out. Name names. Tell us about those small companies that pay well, have good bennies, good home time and take newbies...

Answer:
I would rather start for a smaller company but most that I have approached are looking for at least 1 year experience, seems that a newbie is stuck driving for one of the big mills until they can prove they are safe and reliable. Having been in the military being a number is something I can deal with for another year or so if need be. I hope to be able to geta local/regional job as soon as possible myself, so i have narrowed my company search to those that have regional available in the neck of the woods I will live in. But if anyone knows of companies that hire newbies, who already have school cdl let us know, thanks Big Dan -->

Answer:
smaller companies can't afford to throw lots of money away for ads in every paper. And from the old timers at gordon, seems you used to not get hired unless someone at the copmpany knew you....you didn't apply, you didn't call, you got it through the grapevine. Myself I prefer the smaller companies, about 800 or so trucks is as big a company i want to work for, any bigger and you never seem to be able to know what's goin on. Things like who your dispatcher is, being able to just walk into the office and talk to people.
If at first you don't suceed, get a bigger hammer

Answer:
because like it has been said they are the only ones that will hire new drivers. And in this part of the woods they want 3 years experience to drive "local". And why do drivers switch. Here is one story. My driver was hired out of college by a large company as a team driver. Once he and his friend got into the truck, it became a nightmare with my driver having to sleep on the top bunk while the truck was in motion. And then his friend decided to run teams with the trainer, which left my driver odd man out. So as it turned out I had to drive in the winter out of state to pick my driver up because the trainer had decided to go home for an undetermined amount of time. And to top it all off, the company didn't want to pay my driver for the time he was in the truck until I raised a BIG stink.

Answer:
Why big companies????
Several reasons, but most have been touched on already. Start with the companies that will hire a newbie and then look at the benefit package.
Best way to consider the situation is a right of passage, an initiation, even paying your dues.
There are several small companies (100 - 600 trucks) that have even smaller training fleets that will hire newbies, but they are difficult to find, especially on the internet. I had to go back to the old fashioned way of finding a company. Pound the pavement and ask questions.
A good place to start is the membership roles of each state's trucking association. Sometimes these are available on the internet, but you can always check the phone book and make a trip to the office.
You only find what you look for.
As Mr Canuck has pointed out small companies must offer superior service to get the rates needed to cover their higher costs for trucks,fuel,ect.
There is less room for error in service compared to large carriers with many large customers.The large carriers can give the unproven new driver non customer sensitive loads.
Big differance when some new driver gets lost with one of the 5 daily loads of rice cakes that Quaker Oats ships everyday to the same warehouse,than when some driver gets lost with something important.98% on time is good enough for Quaker Oats,hey trucks break down ect.
Now some sensitive small customer is going to sniff out a newbie as soon as they pull into make the pickup and say wait,if we wanted this we would call SWIFT and then when the newbie blows it,they will say,might as well call SWIFT instead of paying top dollar for the same service.
I'm sure some small carriers will hire the perfect driving school grad and send the newbie out with another driver to make sure they have their act togetter,many people that go to drivng school,are not perfect.
Out of the 12 people I went to driving school with,there was only two guys that had good heads on their shoulders,one worked dump trucks and was just getting a Class A while laid off and the other one was 19 years old and somebody was going to give him a garbage route if he got a license,so since he had to go to school,he went for the Class A.
the rest of them where cowboys,dummies,loosers and one young guy that watched Smoky&The Bandit to many times.
Yes people that have a good work record and are stable people should knock on doors not open to most newbies.Someone that can show they had a career at something and are just making a career change,would have a chance.Most people that go to driving school are just making another one of countless job changes.They have never had a career at anything.
Wyle E. Coyote
Supergenius!

Answer:
Well, they send recruiters to the schools with nice, shiny trucks and offers of further training in those important OTR skills (how to drive forward at night, leave the backing to the "trainer") - and if you survive this ordeal (many don't), you will be able to haul *** around the country-probably won't back worth s*** but shoot, you can just pick that up (after you run into that chicken-coop, etc.).

Answer:
When I was in training I'd watch trailers for ads for drivers and mainly phone numbers. Then I'd call and find out their story.
Also checked out equipment, but more importantly I talked with serious drivers about their companies. Figured if a co. could keep a good driver...,
My story is real simular to Zigs. But half my class quit when I spelt out what OTR was really like to pop their pipe dreams!
I got lucky on the trainer issue. He came to our school with a student to do a little recruiting on the side.(He lived in the area)
When I talked with him about his company I realized this was one serious individual!
Vietnam military police Vet, among other lead dog past indeavors!
When I decided on that company (after visiting about a dozen and sending apps to 30+) the deal was that cat was to be my trainer. I knew some punk kid or cowboy would be a waste of my time.
I've skippered fish boats and ran my own companies so I needed someone who had my respect AND attention.
A 6'5" monster with a tat on his foot of a tag that read, "place toe tag here" achieved that.
Just keep your eyes open and sharpen up your verbal resume skills and you'll do fine.
Luck to you, TC

Answer:
It is strange that new people keep going to the same companies one after another. Then they quit one after another. Why is a good question. If they know the reputation and history they must think they'll be different than all the rest?
Big to me means big. Swift, Werner, Schneider and a long list of others are big. They may have better benefits but if you can't pay your bills at home because of their lousy compensation who cares about benefits. It does require some work to find a smaller company. Most newbies are to busy looking at Internet adds with pretty trucks to pound the pavement and look for something better.
I took a different route after trying some big ones. I started driving TT dumps and did that for a year. All the time looking for a better paying job where I could get OTR experience. I found one. But it wasn't easy. I knocked on lots of doors for a year and made lots of phone calls. I figured making less for a while until I found something better made a lot more sense than going to big companies and quitting over and over until I no longer would be hired.
The job I have now is good. Far easier than most big outfits. But it's not the end. I still look for even better work. Indiana Roadrunner is a good example of working your way up. Although I don't know his story or how he got to the point he is now. I do know he didn't, as no one else does, start at the top pay scale. He even pointed out that he could make more money but it would require more sacrifices.
An older driver I was talking with last week made a good comment. Another driver moaned about working for a big company for a while. He said, "we all have to step on something to get a little higher". New drivers have choices. Go with big companies with good looking benefits and most likely quit or go to a smaller company with less benefits and better working conditions and move up from there.
As far as finding places to work it will take some work but their out there. G&A Trucking in TN. has 4 peterbilts. Two have been sitting and their getting desperate. Small companies need drivers sometimes more than the big ones. Owning 4 trucks with 2 sitting can make a company very desperate. The place I work has a Peterbilt that has been sitting for a year. They do some local stuff with it but not what it was bought to do. I even mentioned it here once that they were hiring. I put it in the newbies and said they took trainees. With several people inquiring about Florida jobs at the time not even one person emailed me about them. Heck you would even train with me, hehehe. They did try one newbie a while back. After that fun experience it would take some convincing, but not impossible. There are several 2-3 TT end dump owners around here that would take newbies including my boss who has 2 of them sitting also. I've met O/O's who have two or three trucks and can't find good drivers. They can get drivers but most are slobs and have poor job performance and work ethics. They said they would take the right newbie. A new person would have to convince them they are the right person. It might take some effort.
Jobs are out there but it will take some unconventional effort to find them. You may have to shut off the computer and pull out the yellow pages then start making calls or better yet go see them. Whatever you do it will take experience to move up into better paying and better enviroment jobs. Make your first choice the best it can be and stick with it for at-least a year before moving on.
"Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of all who threaten it"
_________________
RC Universe


Answer:
Originally posted by JSG:
Does OFS styline hire newbies IRR?
As it gets harder and harder to find drivers that'll keep appointments, get their asses out of bed in the morning, have the maturity to do time management, get over the ideal that you can’t be number one on the board at week two, realize that trucking sucks as for as home time. And you’ll more then likely have to leave on Sundays and you name it. They keep lowering their standards! And our trailers show what that the New breed of truck driver doesn’t give a rip if he hits anything or not!
The safety guy is now on the hot seat because of all the damaged trailers and backing accidents! He thinks he’s hiring good guys because they blow smoke up his butt! Actually, Mr. Ex-DOT is a book person, but doesn’t know a damn thing about finding drivers and pre-qualifying them!!
The board at our parent company is up in arms because we have trucks sitting. It seems it takes more then a promise of between $45,000 and $65,000 a year to get good drivers. Most new hires only last less then a month. The ones that make it past that point seem to stay for a long time! I have pointed out why they aren’t getting what they are looking for as a driver is concerned. But, Mr. (I am a fish to a good story) Safety will have to go first! He’s pointing the fingers to everyone but himself!
Trainers: Everybody that hires on goes at least a week with a trainer.
The ideal is to show them the paperwork, how LTL stops work and make sure they can actually drive a truck! Thing is the trainer do fail some guys, but Mr. Safety will work them any way!
Road Test: One of our locals does the road test.
He fails a lot of them! If they can’t drive a daycab in a small town, hook up a trailer with a tractor that has a window in the back, or get out of the parking lot with cleaning out the ditch. He fails them! Mr. Safety as of a week ago, will not let him do road test because he fails to many drivers! Now we have an ex-driver that works in the warehouse doing them!
This week Mr, Safety is threatening the trainers for not screening out bad drivers! What a crock!
Now he’s thinking of hiring truck school drivers and putting them with trainers for 8 weeks. No one will do it because they’re scared to sleep or ride with a guy who just walked out of a school.
Also, for insurance purposes the board doesn’t want it either!
They can’t figure out why they can’t find more drivers that are qualified!
They have no idea that the kind of driver they want, is happy with the job he’s at now. They closer their ears to the idea that you have to pay more then the other furniture hauling outfits to steal them away!
In addition, actually hire enough office personal in the office to handle all the problems that happen when you do LTL stops on a close schedule!
Lately, there are too many drivers that are having to fix problems themselves. Instead of being focused on their first job, and that is SAFETY!
They run a lean company, so now they are paying out the savings with parked trucks and damaged trailers!
Our new Boss starts the first of the year. I hope he will take the bull by the horns a fix things! However, like our safety guy, he has no experience in managing drivers and running a trucking company!
I said all that to say this!
We’re going to be around for along time.
If there are Newbies that are more then, what I see these days. There’s money to be made in this industry if you are an organized person and have your $hit together!
We hire drivers now with 1 year experience and some less!
If you want to put up with the bull of furniture hauling, there are jobs to be had.
Ours pays as low as $45,000 for those that pud around, to as high as $65,000 (And higher) for those that don’t care when a where they run!
Weekends at home!
Nice trucks!
And you’ll know everybody in the office.
The president of our parent company goes to all the safety meeting, so you’ll get to know the biggest of the big dogs too!
As for as fresh truck school guys. I (and the other drivers) are going to keep on fighting them on that one. Because we see to many drivers, driving trucks who just are not truck drivers!!
Let someone else, pay for their mistakes! I like our trucks in one piece!
I think we have it made, compared to how trucking was years ago. But, trucking has turned in to a sissy industry!
Now day’s, drivers don’t have the capability to be multifaceted, they must be centered only on safety! Being centered on safety is the most important part of being a driver!!
However, 120 truck fleets such as ours, are going to have to learn, when you lower you standards. You don’t get multifaceted drivers.
Therefore, they’re going to do what they can, to keep drivers minds on driving and not doing what some office person should be doing!
************************************
Indiana RoadRunner
A legend in his own mind!
[This message was edited by Indiana Roadrunner on November 23, 2002 at 10:30.]

Answer:
Darn, that doesn't sound bad IRR. I like my job but better pay equals more happiness. Do they hire out of Florida?
Put me in the old truck with a beat up trailer and give me $45k a year to start and I'll be happy. Besides I wouldn't be in the ugly truck long. (I'm sure it would be more than 2 weeks.) That's ok though my work ethic would move me right along. -->
"Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of all who threaten it"
_________________
RC Universe