I need some help for my hubby!!

[clawsoncrew]

Hi all!!

I stumbled across this message board while looking for trucking schools for my hubby.

My husband is very interested in getting into the trucking field and has a pretty much prestine background (nothing criminal, he doesn't drink, no drugs, 1 ticket that was reduced to a parking ticket and a not at fault accident 2 yrs ago...the only bad thing we have is credit)

We live in Southern California and he's working security right now making $420 week (estimate) with NO benefits!

We have researched C.R. England, Swift, and Central Ref.

So far, Swift looks like it will be the best option but after seeing all the negative remarks on this message board I'm scared half to death.
I don't want to send him on some wild goose chase and have him stranded 1,500 miles from home.

Any, and all input would be wonderful. I know it's a long process and to start with a training company isn't always the best "deal" but the way I see it is it's a good way to get your foot in the door.

What the recruiter from Swift has told him is that on average (low ball) he'll make $750 week. Is that about right for a newbie?

THANKS SO MUCH FOR READING MY POST.

The Clawson Family
James and Jo

[kips41]

I would not go to any of the companies that you listed.

I know that Marten Transport takes students, but I don't know about what they have available for school. Or try KLLM, they have a third party that they use for school and they pay for it, but will have to drive a year for them. After training they pay .34 per mile and have a .03 bonus that is very obtainable. 2500 miles a week will give you $850.00 NOT counting the bonus. They both have terminals in the Fontana / Ontario area.

Both of these companies are refrigerated carriers, guys either love it or hate pulling reefer, but both of these companies have good customers, so it is not as much as a hassle as some folks make it out to be.

They both are reputable and have guys who have been with them 10,15,20 plus years.....that says alot about how they treat their employees....

Good Luck to you.

[Sentinel]

I sent you a PM!

[Fozzy]

Swift has a lot of local work in California (or they used to). Try and take about 90% of the Swift slammers with a grain of salt. Swift is the latest company that is the whippin boy of the industry. They give a lot of "marginal drivers the chance that they say that they want. When those that would have never made it for any company wash out, they make up every excuse from soup to nuts on why Swift "screwed them". I have a friend of mine who just got off the road to return to radio who was on one of the many dedicated runs that Swift has and he was making about 50k a year. This job is not for everyone and its really gotten the reputation as a meat grinder for pretty good reason. LOTS of people fail at this, its the job of OTR trucker primarily, its not always the company. Swift is just as good as most and better than some as a starter company. Once your hubby gets some experience in, the SoCal area there are plenty of local driving opportunities.

[Orangetxguy]

Here are a few company names, that might hire your hubby straight out of school.

Benito Bulk Transport
(562) 633-6555 ....... Tankers and Dry Van.....Hourly pay...local work.

Wiliams Tank Lines
(562) 984-7022 ......... Tankers...hourly pay.....local work.

Kings County Truck Lines
(909) 865-2070.............. Tankers...(milk)...mileage & % pay.

System Transport
(562) 988-7667.....Flatbed/Stepdeck/heavyhaul/boatmoving...% pay, OTR.

Interstate Distributor Co
(562) 426-7017 ...............Dry Van & Reefer......Local, Regional, OTR....Mileage OR % pay.

Bullet Freight Systems
(909) 937-9162 ......... dry van ...ltl freight...mileage & percentage pay, local & regional.

Gardner Trucking Inc
(909) 930-5606............Dry Van & Flatbed....% pay.... Local & Regional.

K B Transportation
(909) 923-5680........Reefer....Regional...Mileage or % pay.

Ryder Integrated Logistics Inc
(909) 947-2466 ........... Dry Van, Reefer & Flatbed....Hourly 4 local work, mileage + hourly.

Give them a try.

[NevadaJim]

A few things I noticed in your post. Your income isn't that great right now and you have credit issues. So, I'm assuming your looking for a way into this business as cheaply as possible. I'm not trying to belittle you, so please don't take offense. If I read into your post a little too much, I apologize now. I also noticed you live in California. I was recently told that Cali deemed these company training contracts illegal so you may be able to train contract-free with any of the training companies, if you train in California. Validate this on your own though, don't take my word for it. If, in fact it's true, go with one of them to get the CDL, get some miles under his belt, and bail scott free to a better gig in the future.

You will hear a mixed review on the starter companies. As someone else posted, disregard most of what you hear. Bad news always travels farther and faster than good news. There are many on these forums that seem to have nothing better to do with their time than bash companies. Disgruntled ex-employees sometimes just have a bit of trouble letting go and moving on with their lives. It happens in every industry, not just trucking. My only advice to you would be to go into this knowing that these companies pay low wages and don't really care about their drivers. If you're after medical dental vision etc, do you own comparison for what works for your needs. The positive side is that if your husband pays attention to what he's doing for the first year or so, he can bail out and look for a nicer gig.

As far as Swift's $750 a week, I'm sure you're being quoted a best case scenario. Based on what they pay rookies, it sounds like the recruiter is quoting you a 3000 mile a week number. I'm sure some of the drivers here, with a current or recent history with swift can tell you more realistic miles to expect.

[silvan]

One thing to be aware of, unfortunately, is that EVERYBODY checks your credit these days. I was just out of work, and I applied for a boatload of different jobs. Every job application made me sign an authorization to have my credit record pulled. I've heard lots of horror stories about people who got in a hole not being able to get a job because their credit sucked.

I'm not saying this to spell doom and gloom. I'm saying this as somebody whose credit sucked for a long time. I spent 10 long years digging out of that hole. It actually took me 10 years to finish paying off my tuition to trucking school, on top of all the other debts I had racked up that put me into the idea of doing this in the first place. I didn't go bankrupt, and it was damn hard.

This new trend for employment concerns me, because I know how easy it is to get messed up, and wind up in a bind. I don't want to discourage you from trying to bail yourself out with trucking, because I can tell you it can work. What I'm getting at is that if I were you, I'd discuss this issue up front with would-be employers, and make sure you don't waste a lot of time going through rigamarole only to get turned down at the last minute because your credit score is too low, or whatever.

Good luck!

[fatman]

What the recruiter from Swift has told him is that on average (low ball) he'll make $750 week. Is that about right for a newbie?

That is a flat out lie. $250-$550 is what you should expect your first 6 months. After that it will get better. But be prepared to weather a lean first year.
If you can afford it, pay for the school yourself. This will give you a great more number of options and enable much better pay. Swift should only be used if your broke and your credit is bad.
Best of luck to your family.

[jnk2001]

What the recruiter from Swift has told him is that on average (low ball) he'll make $750 week. Is that about right for a newbie?

That is a flat out lie. $250-$550 is what you should expect your first 6 months. After that it will get better. But be prepared to weather a lean first year.
If you can afford it, pay for the school yourself. This will give you a great more number of options and enable much better pay. Swift should only be used if your broke and your credit is bad.
Best of luck to your family.

I'm not sure what credit has to do with it, except maybe getting into a school. there are ppl on here who have filed bankruptcy and are working.

[fatman]

I'm not sure what credit has to do with it, except maybe getting into a school. there are ppl on here who have filed bankruptcy and are working.

It was in reference to paying for the school. Sorry for not being more clear.

[Fozzy]

What the recruiter from Swift has told him is that on average (low ball) he'll make $750 week. Is that about right for a newbie?

That is a flat out lie. $250-$550 is what you should expect your first 6 months. After that it will get better. But be prepared to weather a lean first year.
If you can afford it, pay for the school yourself. This will give you a great more number of options and enable much better pay. Swift should only be used if your broke and your credit is bad.
Best of luck to your family.

250? come on dude, that's just silly...

[fjkfta]

if at all posible pay for the school yourself....... that is my only advice.

[coastie]

250? come on dude, that's just silly...

That is Correct, he could make as low as 250.00 and I am sure there will be many weeks like that. A lot during training.

[fatman]

I can only speak from personal experience and the experience of those who stayed with Swift at the same time I did. If my experience is unusual then I easily stand corrected and will admit my mistake.
During training the pay was ok. Something along the lines of $350/week the first two weeks, then $450 the next two weeks, and $500 the final two weeks.
Went home for four days, got a $500 bonus for my first drop. That was nice.
After that it got pretty hard. 0.26/mile is not very much. But I knew that going in.
If the miles had been there, I could have survived. And the miles were there when I was running. They had a fair (imo) system of 'do a short run, then do a long run'. By short I mean less than 100, by long I mean 400 plus.
But when you're not rolling, you're not making any money. As I've stated before, my rig kept breaking down. Usually just for a day, but one time for 5 days.
I was supposed to get breakdown pay ($25.00/day I believe, or maybe it was $50). Never got it. Perhaps if I had been one of those guys who yelled and screamed at his DM I would have. I'm just not that type of guy. I ask politely, and you either have the honor to live up to your word or you don't. If you don't I ain't got much use for ya.
I will admit that Swift will give you a variety of driving experiences over all types of terrain. I think company drivers who stick with them past a year and O/O's who lease outside the company do ok or even really well. And if you're single and have no obligations, Swift would be a great company to work for IMO. But if you have mouths to feed and bills to pay, that first year is going to be incredibly difficult, especially if you're the sole bread winner in the house like I am.
I did indeed get paychecks of $250. Sometimes I got less. Sometimes I got more. If I had been on a dedicated account perhaps it would have been more steady. I was told that you had to be with Swift for 6 months and have a proven record of being an on-time driver before you were eligible for a dedicated account though (the only exception I heard of was one driver from a very small town who just happened to be the closest driver for a new account).
So all in all, if you are desperate and have to get your foot in the door by hook or crook, sure, go with Swift. You'll learn a lot and they stress safety.
If you can get in the industry by any other means, please do yourself a favor and do so.
Listen to the people on this board, not just me. Hell, ignore me completely. Read some of the other driver's stories. But do your research and call around if you have the luxury of options. And don't believe what a recruiter says, they are not your advocate. YOU are your advocate.

[fatman]

I'll just add something further. IMO, Swift is a company that has grown too fast. They simply lack the infrastructure, the support, to live up to their promises. There were two days in particular where I needed a trailer. One time was in Gary, IN. It was on the weekend and I needed a load, but couldn't get one without a trailer. I was finally told to go to one location, only to be told when I got there that they didn't allow empties to be taken out.
Same experience in their Atlanta terminal.
That's two days right there where I made little money. $15 I think for a trailer hunt.
To have to wait 24 hours for a load is a killer. To see all those brand new Volvos and wonder 'why didn't they also buy some new trailers?' is very discouraging.
I actually liked my DM on a personal level. I don't think Swift keeps you grounded out of malice, that makes no sense. But it's like the Phoenix terminal being out of snow chains (making me hunt all over for them myself), or being stuck for 5 days waiting on a part. Or allowing drivers to put their lock on empty trailers so you can't use them. Why do these things happen? The rules and competency level of the terminals varied from location to location. Some were very well run. The Edwardsville terminal was awesome. The Fontana one was so nasty I wouldn't let my dog sleep there.
Why is it so difficult to hire mechanics who speak English? Again, I'm sure they did the best they could with the tools given them. But when my Qualcomm breaks down and the guy who is supposed to repair it can't understand what the symptoms of the problem are, then there is a high likelyhood that the underlying catalyst won't be remedied. And so it wasn't.
Perhaps I just drew bad cards. I'm by no means an all-knowing font of information on Swift, and am not trying to pass myself off as such. I can only tell you what happened to me. If you go with them, make the best of it and good luck.

[jegzus]

When I worked for swift there were many weeks after I went solo that got 120-350 dollar paychecks not to mention it took WEEKS for them to reimburse me for my scale's showers and tolls. One of the main reasons I left there was because I simply could not afford to live in the truck any longer. And its not like I was eating at the truck stops either, I was buying stuff to make PB and J from wal-mart and that is all I ate because that is all I could afford, never mind being able to pay bills back home. My wife and I almost got divorced over all of this because I was actually spending more money than I was making for about a two month period.

I really don't want to bash Swift because I do know quite a few people that do extremely well there. But for me it was just a horrible expierence, but to be honest I always have had bad luck even when trying to go into things with a great attitude. BOL to you and your husband but like many others have said if you can get around going to Swift then I would do that.

[Fozzy]

When I worked for swift there were many weeks after I went solo that got 120-350 dollar paychecks not to mention it took WEEKS for them to reimburse me for my scale's showers and tolls. One of the main reasons I left there was because I simply could not afford to live in the truck any longer. And its not like I was eating at the truck stops either, I was buying stuff to make PB and J from wal-mart and that is all I ate because that is all I could afford, never mind being able to pay bills back home. My wife and I almost got divorced over all of this because I was actually spending more money than I was making for about a two month period.

I really don't want to bash Swift because I do know quite a few people that do extremely well there. But for me it was just a horrible expierence, but to be honest I always have had bad luck even when trying to go into things with a great attitude. BOL to you and your husband but like many others have said if you can get around going to Swift then I would do that.

That's my main point though, you could insert almost any of the training companies into the scenario and it would be 100% true. There are people who have rough starts in this business.

[merrick4]

When I worked for swift there were many weeks after I went solo that got 120-350 dollar paychecks not to mention it took WEEKS for them to reimburse me for my scale's showers and tolls. One of the main reasons I left there was because I simply could not afford to live in the truck any longer. And its not like I was eating at the truck stops either, I was buying stuff to make PB and J from wal-mart and that is all I ate because that is all I could afford, never mind being able to pay bills back home. My wife and I almost got divorced over all of this because I was actually spending more money than I was making for about a two month period.

.

Sounds like the past couple of weeks for me, well the income anyway. I manage my money so my bills are always paid.


I will add this, do any of you actually complain? I called the head of operations and told him what's going on. We are all numbers on paper but when you talk with a man on the phone and you tell him that you are making a couple of hundred and obvioulsy can't live like that, well obviously he can't disagree with that. Now be clear with your facts and be prepared that he is going to pull you up on the computer. I am a runner so they pull me up and they see that me sitting is bad for me and bad for the company. I tell them straight up, yes you can fill my seat with 30 more tomorrow but good help is hard to find.

You just have to be persistant. I told them I wanted my old dispatcher back who only does teams now. Told no by some supervisor, but I spoke with head of safety and he spoke with head of operations and I think that's what they are going to do. They don't want me to leave. But I complain, so everyone knows what's going on. You have to complian, that's all there is too it.

[larryh31]

Bottom line clawsoncrew and anyone else thinking about signing on to any of the mega-carriers (Swift, CR England, Prime, Stevens, etc) is that your first 6 months or so are going to be pretty lean. You'll have to endure 3 weeks of no pay while you are going to school, another 4 to 6 weeks of low pay while your out with a trainer ($300-$500 a week on average).

And once you get your own truck the money is not going to start pouring in. You'll move up to making a whole $350 to $800 a week.
Some weeks you will do good but others not so good, so your paychecks will be very incosistent. Most companies generally assign new drivers older trucks, so you will be more likely to break down while on the road . If you are single, making it through this time period will be difficult. But it can be done, if you SAVE some of your money from the good weeks to help carrying you through the bad weeks. If you are married and your family is depending on you to send money back home to pay the bills, it's going to be really tough on you. I know several drivers that have gotten themselves caught up in a vicious cycle by taking advances on thier paychecks, just trying to make it.

[jegzus]

When I worked for swift there were many weeks after I went solo that got 120-350 dollar paychecks not to mention it took WEEKS for them to reimburse me for my scale's showers and tolls. One of the main reasons I left there was because I simply could not afford to live in the truck any longer. And its not like I was eating at the truck stops either, I was buying stuff to make PB and J from wal-mart and that is all I ate because that is all I could afford, never mind being able to pay bills back home. My wife and I almost got divorced over all of this because I was actually spending more money than I was making for about a two month period.

.

Sounds like the past couple of weeks for me, well the income anyway. I manage my money so my bills are always paid.


I will add this, do any of you actually complain? I called the head of operations and told him what's going on. We are all numbers on paper but when you talk with a man on the phone and you tell him that you are making a couple of hundred and obvioulsy can't live like that, well obviously he can't disagree with that. Now be clear with your facts and be prepared that he is going to pull you up on the computer. I am a runner so they pull me up and they see that me sitting is bad for me and bad for the company. I tell them straight up, yes you can fill my seat with 30 more tomorrow but good help is hard to find.

You just have to be persistant. I told them I wanted my old dispatcher back who only does teams now. Told no by some supervisor, but I spoke with head of safety and he spoke with head of operations and I think that's what they are going to do. They don't want me to leave. But I complain, so everyone knows what's going on. You have to complian, that's all there is too it.

Trust me when I tell you that I complained a lot. I even had everything saved in my laptop so when I would go in to talk to my DM and the terminal manger I had my facts straight. They told me they would work it out but after another couple weeks of hardly any money my wife pretty much told me it's time to leave there before she left me. The other huge part to me departure from Swift was that when I was given good loads they had unrealistic time frames for me to run them in. My DM even told me that if I did not take a load because I didn't have the hours for it and make it ON TIME I would be fired. That combined with the low pay made me abandon ship. :sad: