Question:
For the past 12 months I have been reading magazines, making calls to companies, schools, lending compines and using this board. I will retire in a few months from the Army to begin my sceond career as a Professional Driver for a while then step it up as a Professional Owner Operator. I will haul eather Flats or Dry Van. I'm leaning towards Flats because I would like to expand my hauling style to heavy equipment (OD) loads with my own trailer after I Buy not lease my own Truck.
Thanks to everyone on this board who has help me with my questions in the past. I'm sure I will have more later. Again Thanks.
The following is subject to change at any time.
The following I subscribe to, ordered, or picked up at truck stops:
***= a good read
-J.J. Keller-Fleet Safety Compliance Manuel***
-J.J. Keller-Drivers Qualifications Manuel***
-Truck Market News
-Newports Roadstar
-Fleet Owner***
-On The Road
-Landstar's (Road to Success)***
-Volvo's Partners in Business***
-NATSO Truckers News
-Overdrive***
-Commercial Vehicle Saftey Alliance***
-Alliance Resources for Independent Trucking Professionals***
-Driver's ABC's Surviving the First Year Guidebook***
-The Trucker Newspaper
-Took a Business Planning Workshop from the SBA and the University of Georgia (Great Info)
-Lots of the small Mag's at the truck stops
I have contacted 120 companys. I put then on a spreed sheet on the left side and put all my questions across the top, (over 75 questions).I'm only listing the ones that take students, have their own school and wanted to take my numerous calls.
Yes=I would work for them
No=No I would not work for them. It could be pay, Refer haulers or some other reason I have.
Inhouse=They have their own school.
Inhouse-Roehl-Yes-Own School or Graduate of other school
Inhouse-Schneider-Yes-Own School or Graduate of other school, but you will still have to attend their 11 day class
Inhouse-FFE-No-They have a school they will sent you to
Inhouse-Prime-No-Yes they have a school and no I would not touch their program
Inhouse-Swift-No-Yes they have a school and no I would not touch their program
Inhouse-US Express-No-All Auto's and low starting pay
USA Truck-No-Starting pay to low
Inhouse-SRT-No-Rude People
Inhouse-Stevens Trans-No-Starting pay to low
Inhouse-PAM-No-Starting pat to low
Arrow-Yes-You must attend a school with 160hrs
TMC-Yes-You must attend a school with 140hrs
KTL-Yes-You must attend a school with 140hrs
SMX-No-Rude and low starting pay
Davis Transport-Yes-You have to attend a school with 140hrs
KLLM-No-You must attend a school with 120hrs
DeBoer INC-No-You must attend a school with 200hrs and low starting pay
CRETE-Yes-I would work for this company but they told me I would have to attend a school with 320hrs or 8 to 10 weeks full time
Covenant-No-Super low starting pay
Gainey-No-low starting pay
Inhouse-Millis-Yes-But I would have to live east of the Mississippi River and attend their school, so No.
USF Glen Moore-Yes-I'm still talking with them
TransAM-No-They have good starting pay but some thing don't feel right with this company
Lisa Motor Lines-No-told me they might be able to get me a CDL without attending a school. This tells me I don't want to work for them, to sneeky.
USA Truck-No-Starting pay to low
So what it comes down to is who will give me the highest quality of training at the lowest cost to me with the highest starting pay.
If I attend a school through the Work Force Investment Act or pay for it out of my pocket I will go with one of the following Compines.
Roehl-Will only hire me to drive van based on where I will be living.
USF Glen Moore
KTL-Flatbed
TMC-Flatbed
Arrow-Flatbed
If I end up attending a company school it will be eather Roehl or Schneider.
This Info posted is not very indepth and is again subject to change according to the compines at any time.
Hope this helps someone.

Answer:
Could you send me that spreadsheet? You can zip it if you would like.
Thanks.
chetjester@yahoo.com

Answer:
Good post,Im thinking of going to Roadmaster school,get my CDL in 3 weeks then they help u get on with a good company that will have tuition reimbusement.

Answer:
Try this site too, to get web site address' of almost every company out there.
JUST CLICK ON THIS LINK
_________________________
Cover Your Cans People!!!It's apparent this place is never going to change....then again; why should it? It gets the clientel it deserves.
Bette Midler

Answer:
I like this site since it has live links to the companies so that I don't have to type the URL in my address bar.
It probably isn't as complete as some of the other places, but I have a lot of fun going into it and checking out names as I come accross them.
I'm not trying to advertise another site; just thought it could be a fun place.
http://balder.prohosting.com/crlowder/truckco.htm

Answer:
You don't necessarily have to have a live link.
You can cut and paste the address to your web site address window.
Just left click the address from the page and run your cursor across it until the entire web address is shaded purple (only shade the adress itself), then right clik on it and choose "cut", then move your cursor to the address window and right click and choose "paste"---the adress will fall into the window, and the just click "go", as if you typed it in.
Wha-lah!
_________________________
Cover Your Cans People!!!It's apparent this place is never going to change....then again; why should it? It gets the clientel it deserves.
Bette Midler

Answer:
You know what? I just went to the link I gave and tryed to cut and paste---and it don't work on that site for some reason.
So disregaurd my last reply---you will have to type the address.
I know it's a lot of work
_________________________
Cover Your Cans People!!!It's apparent this place is never going to change....then again; why should it? It gets the clientel it deserves.
Bette Midler

Answer:
Sheets sent to ya.

Answer:
The training they give you before they give you your own truck is excellent. It took forever but at least I felt ready to be on my own. You wont be wondering if you secured your load properly or not, they teach you to over secure everything. You will freeze your arse off flatbedding though, bring plenty of warm clothing.
Be good and you will be lonesome.~M Twain~

Answer:
Inhouse-US Express-No-All Auto's and low starting pay
FWIW, I wouldn't be too quick to dismiss US Xpress. I'm a newbie driver working for them a little over 3 months; I'm already making .35/mile doing all drop and hook, and home 2 nights a week.
Autoshifts are a good thing.
Oink! Oink! Oink! Grunt! Grunt!
Answer:
Thanks for sending me the info. I've worked on an Access table doing similar things, but yours is much more detailed. I added a field with that contains a hyperlink to the company's URL for the training page and the home page. It helps when I want to look at my table and check out the company again. I'll be adding new fields thanks to all your hard research. 'Preciate ya!!!
It isn't "Cut and Paste". It's copy and paste. Cutting removes the data from where it was and puts it into the clipboard to be pasted in another location.

Answer:
Your organization and research is very impresive. Too bad more folks don't do this. In addition to getting answers to your specific questions, you're also pcking-up a lot of unintended input and getting a feel for the culture of the industry, etc...etc...etc... good job.
BUT!
Your analysis has a major flaw:
...with the highest starting pay.
You aren't really finding out which company will "pay" you the most, just which pays the most per mile (including extra payments for stops etc, I assume)
Be aware: A job that pays 4cpm more than another, may give you 20% fewer miles. The paycheck "pay" would be about the same.
I'd suggest adding another component: "anticipated monthly mileage"
Then be ready to learn how dishonest and unscrupulous the industry is when you find out they were lying through their teeth and you're actually making less than the company you passed over beause their cpm was lower.
It varies from company to company, and I can't help you determine where you'd get the most miles. Most companys (most ) distort this figure a bit to get you signed-on, hopng you'll stick around rather than go through the hassle of quitting when you figure out you're not actually making as much as they led you to believe. But generally -- the companys that pay the most cpm wil give you the fewest miles. Higher cpm jobs are more selective in what they haul. It's cheaper for them to let you sit and idle than pay you a higher wage to pull something that doesnt pay them very much.
I know that sounds like it doesn't make much business sense. Why wouldn't they want you to pull as much as possible even if it has a slim profit margin to the company? Welcome to the logical world of trucking! The reality will make your head spin.....

Answer:
I would also like to get a copy of your spread sheet. Thank you.
Charles Mitchell
cmitchca@earthlink.net
cmitch

Answer:
I too would also like a copy of the spread sheet either the original from mandrtrucking or the new one from chetjester Thanks a lot
My E-Mail is alokkair@comcast.net

Answer:
You don't need to drive a truck, it seems youd do ok selling your research spreadsheet.
ike
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Albert Einstein