Question:
Hello. I just (today) graduated from a 2 week driving school in Michigan. I've been "pre-approved" for employment from Werner & Stevens. I don't know which one to go with. Any advice/suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks.

Answer:
Flip a coin because there's not much difference. The exception is that Stevens will keep you out for 4-6 weeks at a time. The pay is close to the same and the conditions ae close to the same.
What did that 2 week school cost? Most are very exspensive. (Just curious)

Answer:
Thanks for the advice. My wife and I have been doing tons of research. I have a 3 year old daughter too, so home time is very important to me. The training was close to $4,000 but I was fortunate because Michigan Works paid for the whole thing.

Answer:
If home time is important to you, meaning you'd like to see your home more than once a month, you'd do well to check into the small, localized carriers in your area.

Answer:
Werner has three divisions, dry van, temp controlled (reefer), and flatbed. Stevens has one division, temp controlled. If you don't like reefer at Stevens and want to try someting else, you have to leave the company. Werner has two more choices before you may have to leave the company.
Stevens isn't big about hometime unless six to eight weeks out meets your definition.
Check the Stevens' posts at classadriver.com. BOL

Answer:
So far, Werner is looking better than Stevens. Thanks everyone for input. I have looked locally but am finding that most require some experience. I was pre-approved for Roehl, which I liked because of the 7/4-7/3 option.. but I found out (after receving my pre-approved employment letter) that they are not hiring out of my zip code.

Answer:
I drove for werner for a year and trained for 3 months. They do have regional and dedicated runs that will get you home every week however sometimes you dont get that much time at home. Sometime I would get home on Saturday afternoon and have to leave back out on Sunday afternoon, sometimes you would get the whole weekend.
Their training program is 270 hours driving time and usually takes about 8 weeks from the first day of orientation untill you get your own truck. You do have the option of taking a paid week off during training if you want including a bus ticket home or if you train strait you get a $500 bonus upon completion of the first load. You get paid about $300 a week during training. On the plus side you can choose a perdem option druing training. Your checks will gross about 295. I would stay away from the perdem after training even though it is a bit more attractive than some other carriers plans.
After training expect to run over the road for 1-2 months untill a dedicated or regional run open up. You might get a regional or dedicated just out of training however a new driver usually cant hack it on these accounts so I would recomend running otr untill you get the hang of things. During this time you will say out at least 3 weeks and get one day off for every week out. Expect to make $600-$800 gross a week otr and $500-700 a week regional or dedicated. You can make about 30K your first year including training if you work hard and dont take any extra time off.
Overall wener is not a bad company to get some experence starting out but i wouldn't recomend them for experenced drivers. They have some of the best tractors on the road. This caused one of my major gripes as they would give brand new 379 petes, classics, and w900s to students just out of training. They usually wouldn't make it more than 10000 miles before the bumpers were bent or the fairing dammaged. Drivers with no experence just dont need a long wheel base truck.
My other complaints were bad night and weekend dispatch, you will probably find this at any compay. The pay was kind of low but miles were ok and steady. Paperless logs can be good and bad. The good is you will never be pressured to run over hours, the bad is that it can be really stressful as a new driver finding parking when the clock is ticking.
If you have any questions feel free to pm me.

Answer:

Appearently not,or soon enough.
Answer:
[quote="Dirty Dan"]I drove for werner for a year and trained for 3 months. [/quote]
Wow, thanks for sharing your experience at Werner. I really appreciate the insight.

Answer:
[quote="RABELAM"][quote]My wife and I have been doing tons of research. I have a 3 year old daughter too, so home time is very important to me.[/quote]
Appearently not,or soon enough. [/quote]
Not soon enough is more like it. I didn't realize exactly how the system worked. I've been a machinist for many years and recently lost my job. I was getting so tired of factory work anyhow and wanted to try something new. But I'm trying to keep an open mind about this whole career change and I'm realizing that I will have to "do my time" first.

Answer:
A machinist for many years.
Now driving a truck.
You may have jumped into the fire.
Let me tell you, family life and driving OTR or even running dedicated does not mesh well.
Your about to become a part time dad and husband.

Answer:
There are good paying local jobs to be found. Go work for one of the big companies for a while and dont run into anything. After about 3 months experence start making phone calls everyday and eventually you will find something good. Most of the good local companies will not advertise, you have to contact them, and it can be done without a whole lot of experence.
Just whatever you do, don't run into anything when you are new. The vast majority of new drivers will have a preventable accident in their first year. Having an accident will kill your chances of a good local job with little experence. If you want a future without stinky truck stops make shure you Get Out And Look always.
Also since nobody else replied about stevens, from what I hear they are a good company if you dont like going home. Expect to stay out for 4-6 weeks min. Plus I wouldn't be able to stand going to grocery warehouses all the time pulling reefers.

Answer:
[quote="Dirty Dan"]There are good paying local jobs to be found. Go work for one of the big companies for a while and dont run into anything. After about 3 months experence start making phone calls everyday and eventually you will find something good. Most of the good local companies will not advertise, you have to contact them, and it can be done without a whole lot of experence.
[/quote]
Thanks so much for the info. I really appreciate it. I have a few more places to try locally and if they don't pan out, I will probably go to Werner for the experience. I was also approved at Covenant but haven't found any positive information about them, mostly negative.

Answer:
If you dont like your job get a new one, if you dont like trucking get out. everyjob has ups and downs some just more than others. If ya cant take the heat dont become a cook and get out of the kitchen.
Answer:
Good thing about going OTR is you will have a place to live and be able to pay child support. That is how I got into it.
Have fun!***Patience is the hardest thing to learn..