Sooo... I hope I am making the right choice - CFI or other

[Popeye]

I was set up to go with Transport America on Monday but now I have gotten a pre-hire with CFI. I decided to go with CFI and told Trans. America that I was not going with them. I know I have heard good things about CFI on this board but I just wanted some input as to whether the masses thought this was the right choice :?

[greg3564]

CFI is the better of the two.

[worldisnotenough]

Popeye,

I wouldn't Go to CFI just because you got a pre hire. I would do some more searching. I am at CFI as is my wife. We are a team and I have been here a little over a year. Right now I think they have some major problems. They are gonna govern all trucks at 65 mph so that advantage over other companies is out the window. Also we are all getting a 1 cent raise but not if you have a pet. So that advantage is out the window too. Plus we may be switching to Freightliners, so if you thought you would get a KW that also may be an advantage out the window. I think the advantage that it has is that if they partial pay for your school, you don't have to sign a contract. But everything else is just like or maybe less than the other companies excepting first year students. Not that CFI is horrible but just want you to know everything you are hearing from a recruiter may not be accurate. Oh and did I say that pay is only going up 1 cent?

[Popeye]

Thanks for the input World'. My biggest thing is that I just don't know where to look. There are so many choices and of course when you talk to the recuriters they are all the best ones. I did do some more research into Transport America and they did not seem like the right choice. They just seemed like they would answer questions in a manner that would equate to driving around the block instead of going in a straight line. Like I said in the beginning I have no idea where to go. I know that I am not going to start at the dream job as a student fresh out of school but I would like to end up with a decent, honest company. (If that exists :wink: )

[worldisnotenough]

I know what you mean Popeye!

When I started I did just like you are, asking questions and such. Checking out web pages and forums. I thought CFI was that magic company. At the time they might have been slightly better regarding first year pay than some of the others excluding skateboard companies.. But since that time a lot of things have happened and other companies have stepped up a notch. The best thing to do is go to a truck stop and buy a bunch of different drivers coffee and ask them. I don't drink coffee so I am automatically excluding myself from this. Don't ask anyone who gets out of a truck with the words trainer or driver recruiter. Just focus on what you hear compiled with other research and see where you can spend 1 year of your life. No matter what, it's just one year. After that you can go a lot more places. Plan on making around $40,000 and spending a quarter of that just barely surviving. plan on looking at pay checks as an average as some will be bigger than others and smaller than others. Think big picture of a year. Swift, CFI, Crete, JB, TMC, Maverick, England (no, maybe not), Stevens, Arrow, Schneider, are some of the ones I chose to look at closely. Don't plan to lease. There are others that take first year but off the top of my head those are the ones I know of. Personally I think Crete is at the top of my list at this point if I were to do it again but if you like to skateboard then TMC is on that list too! Good luck and ask away.

[apache34]

Popeye,

I wouldn't Go to CFI just because you got a pre hire. I would do some more searching. I am at CFI as is my wife. We are a team and I have been here a little over a year. Right now I think they have some major problems. They are gonna govern all trucks at 65 mph so that advantage over other companies is out the window. Also we are all getting a 1 cent raise but not if you have a pet. So that advantage is out the window too. Plus we may be switching to Freightliners, so if you thought you would get a KW that also may be an advantage out the window. I think the advantage that it has is that if they partial pay for your school, you don't have to sign a contract. But everything else is just like or maybe less than the other companies excepting first year students. Not that CFI is horrible but just want you to know everything you are hearing from a recruiter may not be accurate. Oh and did I say that pay is only going up 1 cent?

I'm starting CFI Monday. I like the way the recruiters handle question over the phone. But you say there going with Freightliners I cant see buying them, since they are ordering KW's I do hate work for these bid carriers but I've been out the truck about 2.5 yrs crete would not even hire me. But that ok.
As for 65 miles truck about all big company got them close too that.

[greg3564]

Popeye,

I wouldn't Go to CFI just because you got a pre hire. I would do some more searching. I am at CFI as is my wife. We are a team and I have been here a little over a year. Right now I think they have some major problems. They are gonna govern all trucks at 65 mph so that advantage over other companies is out the window. Also we are all getting a 1 cent raise but not if you have a pet. So that advantage is out the window too. Plus we may be switching to Freightliners, so if you thought you would get a KW that also may be an advantage out the window. I think the advantage that it has is that if they partial pay for your school, you don't have to sign a contract. But everything else is just like or maybe less than the other companies excepting first year students. Not that CFI is horrible but just want you to know everything you are hearing from a recruiter may not be accurate. Oh and did I say that pay is only going up 1 cent?

I'm starting CFI Monday. I like the way the recruiters handle question over the phone. But you say there going with Freightliners I cant see buying them, since they are ordering KW's I do hate work for these bid carriers but I've been out the truck about 2.5 yrs crete would not even hire me. But that ok.
As for 65 miles truck about all big company got them close too that.

Keep in mind CFI is no longer. They are indeed Con-Way and things will change. From what I've read and heard they might be going with the new Freightliner, Cascadia. That wouldn't be half bad. But, the bottom line is, while there is still a lot of CFI feel, things will change for better or worse depending on how you look at it. Personally I think Con-Way will bring better pay, retirement and benefits than CFI has offered prior to the takeover.

[Popeye]

I'm starting CFI Monday. I like the way the recruiters handle question over the phone. But you say there going with Freightliners I cant see buying them, since they are ordering KW's I do hate work for these bid carriers but I've been out the truck about 2.5 yrs crete would not even hire me. But that ok.
As for 65 miles truck about all big company got them close too that.

Thats cool apache, maybe I will see you there on Monday. I don't know how many people attend these orientations but I will try to find you.


Keep in mind CFI is no longer. They are indeed Con-Way and things will change. From what I've read and heard they might be going with the new Freightliner, Cascadia. That wouldn't be half bad. But, the bottom line is, while there is still a lot of CFI feel, things will change for better or worse depending on how you look at it. Personally I think Con-Way will bring better pay, retirement and benefits than CFI has offered prior to the takeover.

Thats what I feel Greg, change is bound to happen anywhere. As I said before I don't expect the perfect job fresh out of school but I would like to be with a decent company :? . As far as equiptment goes, as long as a company has reliable, safe, well maintained trucks that don't leave me sitting at repair shops constantly I am not that particular as to what the brand is. Of course if I could drive something better than another I would take it, but it is not a major factor in my choice. If I get that picky I need to buy own :wink: .

[harleypiper]

Hey Popeye,
Have you rated the companies on the home page of this site. I'm kind in the same boat you are but I'm getting ready to start my CDL training. I got a prehire already from TMC. I was also looking at Swift. Swift has a great rating along with Maverick in equipment. Just a thought. BOL

[Roadie]

I too was planning on CFI and going the route thru Central Tech (one of their contracted schools).
However, thru talking with others and research lately, CFI is just not what they were a few months ago. Greg hit it, they are Conway now, and in bit of turmoil. They were not prepared for the overnite growth they had. It will take awhile for them to get a handle on things, get more planners, fm's, and get everybody on the same page.
CFI has a good reputation, that is why Con-way bought them, and folded part of their company into CFI to keep operating the CFI way. After things settle down, hopefully they will be back on top again, but for the next year or so............
We changed and started Sage here in Salt Lake, and at the moment plan on trying to go to Interstate dist. after grad. Mite take a look at them.
BOL!

[Popeye]

I had seen some about Interstate but aren't they pretty strongly team oriented. I don't know if teaming is something I want to get into.

[VitoCorleone99]

Turmoil is a bit of an overstatement. You're putting a little too much stock in the exchanges of bitter people over the internet. CFI has, as I would venture to guess most companies have, a handful of incompetent people in the office. When an issue comes up, some of those folks like to pass the buck and the drivers get all worked up.

Anyone looking into companies would be wise to observe that the loudest people are the ones with an axe to grind. The ConWay drivers who were folded in to CFI are pretty pissed because they hired on at ConWay for a terminal-to-terminal job that no longer exists. Bummer man, but not my problem. Against that background, what do you think they would have to say about the merger? Probably nothing good.

The second loudest are the ones trying to recruit. I imagine you've all heard that schtick as well. It can get pretty tiring, but people love those recruiting bonuses. If you find a company where nobody has anything bad to say, dig deep and dig quickly because it's a line of BS.

I don't really care where people go to work. Hell, less people at CFI means less competition for good runs as far as I'm concerned. But my job at CFI hasn't changed a bit since the merger. (Edited to add - actually my health insurance did go up to $28.50 twice a month. I like it better when it was $19.50.) All of the 'CFI is ConWay' talk is, at the very least, quite premature. There have been no operational changes at all, other than dispatching the CWTL trucks from Joplin. I just keep to myself, make my appointments on time, and don't run into many issues. The same jagoffs in Joplin that couldn't do their jobs before, can't do their jobs now. The same ones who did a good job before, do a good job now. I think we as drivers, myself included, tend to take whatever single incident is happening on a given day and project it onto a company as a whole. Counterproductive.

Anyhow, good luck with whatever works for you.

[nickbtubas]

i agree. i would wait until the merger dust settles and than go to work for them... i cant see them governing down thier trucks to 65 since all conway tl trucks go about 80mph past me...

[worldisnotenough]

For the most part I agree with Vito. The same people who can't get the job down now are the same people who couldn't do it before the merger. They are supervised by the same people who didn't care about problems drivers had 6 years ago. And, they think that they are doing a great job! Some drivers agree. Others don't. But they have every excuse in the world and now they have a new one. It's the merger thing. All in all the best thing CFI has going for it, I believe is the fact that they don't have a year contract. Other than that I would say they are just like everyone else. Merger changes? yeah, they are coming. Yeah I don't like them. Some do. But I don't own a trucking company yet, so I don't have much say in it.