Question:
I unload trucks and am about to make the transition to driving them. I need a straight forward answer from you guys. I need to know what is the best training company to go with in terms of pay, training, time at home, employee/family friendly, how much useful information you take away, pleasant. I only want unbiased info about the major national carriers such as Swift, CR England, Knight, Gordon, JB Hunt, Schneider, US Xpress, CRST, Prime, Werner. I'm sure there are ones I have missed but you get the point I know you guys won't let me down thank you very much.

Answer:
Of the carriers you listed, Schneider gives the best training overall. Schneider's layover pay and other things like OC's, are better than a lot
Schools? The school in Drumwright, OK. has been getting high kudos for years. There are others, the moderator will have the best recomendations.
The rest of the stuff nobody can tell you for certain, but in general newbies don't make squat for a couple three months during and after training. in general, they don't make drivers concerns a priority, they make freight a priority, and that boils down to the luck of the draw in your driver manager and their attitudes.
It is all uncertain as to hometime, how much you'll make, how good or pleasant your dispatcher will be, and nobody here will be able to give you definite answers on any of those, but they will pretend they can anyway. Just visit as many of them as you can and hang out to see if you can get some kind of feel for them. Driver talk doesn't count for much.
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Humans are amazing creatures. "With all the things you can train them to do, I've been considering getting one."-Stoney Jay Gould
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Answer:
Originally posted by StagnantVirus:
I unload trucks and am about to make the transition to driving them. I need a straight forward answer from you guys. I need to know what is the best training company to go with in terms of pay, training, time at home, employee/family friendly, how much useful information you take away, pleasant. I only want unbiased info about the major national carriers such as Swift, CR England, Knight, Gordon, JB Hunt, Schneider, US Xpress, CRST, Prime, Werner. I'm sure there are ones I have missed but you get the point I know you guys won't let me down thank you very much.
Knight, JB Hunt do not hire new drivers.
CRST is a team freight company. No solo positions.
Convenant: While they hire solo drivers they are much more team driver oriented.
CR England: Low pay, very bad rep in the industry.
Swift: Pay not that good. Probably the second worst rep in the industry just ahead of CR England, though west coast based drivers do seem to fair better on miles than the east cost based.
Werner: Ok if you can handle the computer telling when to run.
US Xpress: Ok. Big drawback is that they train and se only auto shift transmissions which could cause you problems down the road if you switch to a carrier that uses manuals.
Schnieder: Will definately pay your dues bouncing around in an old cab over for the first 6 months or so.
Prime: Run far far away from them. Their lease program is geared for failure.
What you need to do is this:
Find companies that will hire new drivers in your area. Carefully research those companies by talking to recruiters, current drivers, past drivers, internet research etc. Find the companies that you are most interested in working for. Ask lots of questions. The more you know the better you will be able to find the company that is right for you.
Opinions vary greatly about various companies. What is right for one person may be totally worng for another. Figure out exactly what you want, what you need, and find the company that comes closest to meeting those needs. Do not wait until you are in school to start researching companies. Ideally you should have an idea of two or three companies you would be willing to go to work for before you start school (if you go through an independant school), and then you should have applied to those companies before the first week of school is out, and keep researching and applying the entire time you are in school. That way by the time you graduate you should have several companies offering you jobs and you can get started with minimum delay.
As far as schools go. Same deal. Carefully research them. Find out their exact course curriculum. Ask lots of questions. For a list of things to look for go to truckschoolsusa.com. Look for schools that at least meet the min requirements there, and if at all possible exceed them. The three most important things when looking for a school is: Quality of instruction, time spent behind the wheel in real life situations (actual on the road driving), how many companies will hire from that school.
I will always be a mutter trucker at heart.
Answer:
Stagnant, you'll need to ask drivers from each of those companies the questions you want answers to, and get the brochures and pay schedules, all that stuff from their websites and/or recruiters. Don't base your decisions on what you read on the internet.
Schnieder: Will definately pay your dues bouncing around in an old cab over for the first 6 months or so.
Like I said, some are going to pretend they can give you specific answers when they only know driver talk they've heard about companies they've never driven for.
He also doesn't know which company you'll make the best pay at, since he can't tell you how many miles you'll get at any particular company, but he and others will pretend they can.
___________________________
Humans are amazing creatures. "With all the things you can train them to do, I've been considering getting one."-Stoney Jay Gould
__________________________
This post coming to you live, from Jesus Land !!!

Answer:
Originally posted by Dominoes:
Stagnant, you'll need to ask drivers from each of those companies the questions you want answers to, and get the brochures and pay schedules, all that stuff from their websites and/or recruiters. Don't base your decisions on what you read on the internet.
Schnieder: Will definately pay your dues bouncing around in an old cab over for the first 6 months or so.
Like I said, some are going to pretend they can give you specific answers when they only know driver talk they've heard about companies they've never driven for.
He also doesn't know which company you'll make the best pay at, since he can't tell you how many miles you'll get at any particular company, but he and others will pretend they can.
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Humans are amazing creatures. "With all the things you can train them to do, I've been considering getting one."-Stoney
You have taken one sentence out of context. If you had read everything I said I went on to say and reccomend exactly what you just said. He needs to research companies and fnd the one that is right for him.
As far as my comment in regards to SNI it is true. For the first 6 months that is what they stick new drivers in. A cab over. The only reason I put that in there is for some people getting stuck in a cabover even for a day is such a turnoff they won't even consider it.
I really do not know what your problem is, but hey, if it makes you happy to nit pick everything, take things out of context all the time, go ahead and knock yourself out.
I will always be a mutter trucker at heart.
Answer:
how much you make /hour or / year now?
how much are you home or handing with your buddies?
FORGET it all, i'd rather be milking cows for a living if the pay was better.
I would say you do better than 90% of the driver you have contact with.
Non-union and proud

Answer:
As far as my comment in regards to SNI it is true. For the first 6 months that is what they stick new drivers in. A cab over.
Update your mythology. Newbies aren't definitely assigned to COE's there. What is your problem about being corrected? Does it tarnish The Legend Of Uturn and affect the sale of the movie rights or something?
___________________________
Humans are amazing creatures. "With all the things you can train them to do, I've been considering getting one."-Stoney Jay Gould
__________________________
This post coming to you live, from Jesus Land !!!

Answer:
SNI is fast increasing their conventional-to-COE ratio.
Oink! Oink! Oink! Grunt! Grunt!
Answer:
True cabovers are dissappearing fast but generally their trucks aren that great.Just my .02!

Answer:
Unless they have changed their policy since I was there, Werner does not have a training school. They will hire you if you graduate from a school on their approved list. I had no real problems with them. They are an OK company.
Call Werner to find a school in your area that's on their list.
I've always been crazy, but it's kept me from going insane.
Waylon Jennings

Answer:
*falls over dead*
Dominoes answered the question straight up. That must be a sure sign of the apolocalypse!
It was a good answer too... I'll give him credit instead of just repeating what he said.

Answer:
The COE fleet has dwindled dramatically - most of SNI's cabovers are assigned to dedicated accounts now.
At any rate, new folks - don't be scared of COE's. No, they don't ride as smooth as conventionals do, but they are easier to maneuver, offer better visibility, and are excellent for honing your skills with.
It wouldn't surprise me to see a sharp increase in Argosys and Pete 362's in the near future either - 57' trailers are already starting to filter in, and there's always going to be a push for more. Here's where that short little COE wheelbase starts coming into play again.

Answer:
"I need to know what is the best training company to go with in terms of pay, training, time at home, employee/family friendly"
uturn
"Werner: Ok if you can handle the computer telling when to run"
flyboy
"They are an OK company"
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In my opinion werner sucks for pay,training(they have some bad ones)time at home,friendly,ROFLMAO.
It's not impossable to get a decent dispatcher and trainer,regular home time and a regular run that requires very little effort,like 100% preloaded trailers and dropping them at the receivers and grabbing an empty.It is highly unlikely though.
You might like werner,shuffler says he drives for them and likes them,he may be a person in the recruiting department making pro werner posts for all anyone knows.It's the internet,you can be anything you want to be.
You can find people on the web that will tell you how great prime is and others that will say run.
Swift may have a regular run for you that is almost 100% driving,so you will be getting paid for almost all your time,even if it's a a low rate.It still maybe better than another job that pays a high rate per mile,but requires lots of unpaid non driving time doing other tasks.
I spent 7 years at Crete and meet drivers that seemed to drive for a different company,we didn't run the same at all.I was asked by a dispatcher how I got 10,000 miles one January,almost everyone else was way below that number.
So nobody can say go to this company and this will happen.
You can use the net to narrow down the posabilities,but will never come up with something in concrete,it will still be a gamble with any company weather it will work for you.Without knowing what your priorites are on the above list of wants,nobody can say go here or there.
Great training won't matter in 2 months if you where really looking to be home weekly but are being kept out for 3 plus weeks.Great money won't matter if nobody told you nothing and your turning it all over in fines.
Utopia don't exsist,my wild guess from the other side of the country would be Gorden an I-5 carrier.
http://realdrivers.com/scgi-bin/reports.cgi?category=:CR&super=true
click on the above and you will get lots of opinions on companies,mad people are way more likely to post than happy people,keep that in mind and take their posts with a grain of salt,they are going to twist facts and leave stuff out that their problems where self inflicted in many cases.
Alexandria, VA, June 8, 2003 - Robert Hirsch, president of the Truckload Carriers Association (TCA) today expressed disappointment that the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) rejected a pilot program aimed at the trucking industry's critical and growing driver shortage.
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Answer:
Spoke to recruiter at SNI. I was told they put newbies in a COE for six months before assigning a conventional. I don't expect to get better equipment and the good runs as a rookie. If turnover is as I read on these meesage boards then I know I can expect to get the crap until I can prove myself to be able to handle the job. Anywhere you go whether it's driving, constuction snivel service, law enforcement, whatever, you're not part of the crew, team, boys, girls,squad until you can show you can do the job.
LIfe will give you whatever you're willing to fight for!

Answer:
They say that to see if you still want to stay there. I just was talking to a driver who parks his tractor at Walmart during home time a couple of week ago at Ryan's. He and half his class were issued condos. The COE's are being sold to Mexican companies, or increasingly used on dedicated accounts, while those in their system freight operations are being phased out and replaced by condo snorkers. Personally I like the flat floor models and 185" wheelbases.
___________________________
Humans are amazing creatures. "With all the things you can train them to do, I've been considering getting one."-Stoney Jay Gould
__________________________
This post coming to you live, from Jesus Land !!!