Narrowing the list down

[devildice]

Well as my research continues on which companies I want to apply to I have managed to narrow the list down. I am leaning heavy towards dry vans but have not ruled out refers or skateboards.

My list started out with aprox. 62 companies and to date have eliminated a total of 25 and am still researching 28. So below is what I have so far and welcome any feedback on them.

Dry Vans:
Crete
CFI
NDI
Roehl

Refer
Shaffer
TransAm
SRT

Flatbed
Hunt
Passmore
Maverick
TMC

The above list is just what I have to date. As i stated I am still researching others and will update at a later date.

Many of the companies that I was interested in either do not hire in my area or do not hire student grads

[Smooth]

TransAm is Reefers but they are lousy as is NDI .
Best earnings potential is probably Maverick , TMC , Crete/Shaffer or CFI
Best hometime OPTIONS are Roehl , TMC and Maverick will get you home on weekends .

[devildice]

opps.....I put TransAm in the wrong place but have corrected it.

What is wrong with NDI? All my research has been positive, only thing I did ot care for was that they pay McNalley.

[Colin]

I heard good things about NDI as well. Indiana's not THAT bad of a place to live... :P

[arky]

Go with Maverick!

Get started with a good company built on honesty, driver respect and safety. It also doesn't hurt that their pay scale is .05/mile better than most of the training companies I looked at. Their orientation and training pay is $200/week better than their closest competitior.

Maverick will treat you right, start to finish.

Arky

[fireman932003]

I heard good things about NDI as well. Indiana's not THAT bad of a place to live... :P

Well, that all depends on where you live at in Indiana! I live in the very southern part of Indiana and there isn't anything for trucking jobs here! There are a few here and there but nothing that I would call GOOD. Now if you get up around Indy or Gary then it gets alot better!

[devildice]

Just did some more checking and it turns out that Maverick does not hire in my area :sad:

[arky]

Sorry to hear that devildice. I know there was a guy in orientation with me from around Houston, but I guess they don't go as far west as San Antonio.

Later, Arky

[mudflap276]

TMC has a tx dedicated and you could get home on weekends and perhaps some during the week. pay is % or cpm. tx dedicated is cpm only. i was with them for a little over a year and got home nearly every weekend while on linehaul. passmore runs out of a lot of the same places that TMC runs. hometime is supposed to be every weekend from what i hear. maverick, from what i read, is pretty good. havent really talked to their drivers much. i usually see hunt on I35 and in alcoa but havent talked to them much either.

[devildice]

Haven't looked into Hunt that much, I'll have to check them out. I do like TMC and Passmore (aside from Maverick of course) and both hire/run through San Antonio

[mikey4069]

Marten is a good refer co to work for . They run 48 but they have thier problems like most co out there.

[devildice]

I have not had the chance to run across any drivers to talk to so I do not know too much about them except what threads I have read and their website.

Everytime I call to talk to a recruiter I get a voice mail and leave a message which no one ever returns.

I email them, and still no response.

I have been attempting to contact them for a little over 2 weeks with no luck......so they are now at the bottom of my list.

[devildice]

WOW, what a trip....no sooner than I posted that last thread I checked my email and in the "bulk" section guess what I find? Yep, an email response from Marten......dated October 20th.....LOL go figure huh?

Anyways, their training pay is decent but their starting cpm sucks.....0.28cpm Mcnally :sad:

[mikey4069]

Not sure about those other co but at you will get all the mile you want. as long as you do your job and get no service falures

[devildice]

Thats good to know, but 0.28 Mcnally is not that great......CFI, Crete, and many others are paying a higher starting cpm and practical miles

[-FlyByNight-]

The very fact that you have an Acklie company at the top of all three of your lists should tell you something. :wink: Ok, sure, I'm partial to Crete, Shaffer and Hunt since I drive for Crete. However, I almost went to work for CFI before I went to Marten and believe them to be a great company. I've heard good things about Maverick and mixed about TMC. A friend of mine has a cousin who worked for NDI for over a year, but recently left and went to Interstate Distributors. He said they got tons of miles and were happy there, but something happened when they tried to buy a used truck from NDI when it broke down on them, so they left. Hope this helped and good luck deciding. CRETE! :wink:

[Soladad]

I drive for Roehl as does Ken_o. We both seem to be happy with the company. One piece of advice...there are lots of good companies out there. If you want to look for the bad side of a company there will be lots of drivers that will tell you their story. But there is a lot of good in companies too that often is not spoken. If there wasn't good then the company would not have drivers and be in business. It has been said before on this site... finding the right company is like a marriage, Can you put up with their BS and can they put up with your BS. Your first choice may look good to start but there just may be things that turn up later that you can't deal with. Don't get discouraged but keep trying. The main object when you first come out of school is to get experience. Get 2 years under you (even with all the BS) and then you can make more decisions. The first 2 years are like boot camp in the miltary. If you want to have some questions answered about Roehl, I am happy to entertain questions and I am sure Ken_o will answer too.

Soladad

[devildice]

Thanks to EVERYONE that has posted their advise and experiences.

It has not been easy trying to narrow down the list as there are many great companies out there. I remember reading a thread on here where the poster made the statement that finding a good company is like mining for gold in that you have to break a lot of rock to find a small shiny nugget. How true that is.

Anyways, I am 99.9999% sure I will be going with CFI as they seem to be the best fit for me.

Thanks again to all that replied.

[-FlyByNight-]

Anyways, I am 99.9999% sure I will be going with CFI as they seem to be the best fit for me.

I think you hit the nail on the head. There are some basic things that all the good companies have, like benefits, pay, home time, equipment, respect for drivers etc, but what it really comes down to after that is what company fits you the best. I also wanted to mention two things I'd heard from CFI drivers that I didn't really like and played a small part in why I chose Marten over them at the time. I heard you can get caught in that Joplin, MO to Laredo, TX loop and sit at the border waiting on loads and I heard about the driver unload tire loads. Other than that, I've heard mostly good things and I wish you the best of luck with CFI if you go there and hope to hear how you like it.

[Skywalker]

I also wanted to mention two things I'd heard from CFI drivers that I didn't really like and played a small part in why I chose Marten over them at the time. I heard you can get caught in that Joplin, MO to Laredo, TX loop and sit at the border waiting on loads and I heard about the driver unload tire loads. Other than that, I've heard mostly good things and I wish you the best of luck with CFI if you go there and hope to hear how you like it.

As a driver with 7 years at CFI, prior to my "hiatus".... and I started my hiatus 3 weeks ago.... I can tell you that CFI has less border freight than before, so getting "caught" in a Joplin/Laredo loop is highly unlikely. In the past couple of years I was in Laredo maybe 8 times, and even then I rarely even spent the night down there. Most of the time I just took the trailer to the terminal, dropped it and left within 2 hours or so.

Tire loads....haven't had one of them in over 2 years. That contract went by the wayside when the company raised the stop pay to $75 for the 3rd and subsequent stops.... the contract went to a "cheaper" company. The only tire loads that we pulled after that went from SC to Detroit and were unloaded by members of the UAW....not us.

Folks... CFI is, "simply put", an EXCELLENT COMPANY!! Were it not for my particular situation, one out of my control..... I would still be there driving for them and enjoying it and the paycheck that I made with them, driving some of the finest equipment on the road, excellent benefits, superior management, great fleet managers, etc.

If you do not consider CFI as an employer....you are making a mistake. In my "humble opinion" even if they are not the "greatest", they sure as heck are ahead of whoever else is in second place.

Don't take my word for it.....just do yourself a favor and go to http://www/cfidrivers.com and register...read the feedback from drivers there and especially the "newbies" who have signed on....see what they have to say....then make your decisions.