Shelton Trucking.......... Any info would be great.

[Pony Express]

Looking for anyone that can give me some info on this company as soon as possible, I ship out for orientation next Monday. I searched the forums and basically could not find anything worth while. Is it a decent co. or should I be thinking of hanging it up for good?
Reason I say hang it up is because I am an experienced driver with 12 yrs OTR, and another 6 years local. I stopped driving in 06 to help my wife with our business and am now sick of it. The itch for the road has come back with a vengeance, problem is I have hit a brick wall.
TMC, Melton, Jim Palmer, Schaffer, Crete, (to name a few of the countless many) have all turned me down because of my (what seems to be unexcuseable reason) of coming home for a couple of years. Sorry for that, but I'm sure you can understand my frustration.
So, that being said, Shelton is my only hope to wake up in a different city every day.

Thanks for any info you can give me on this.

[vick]

was gonna go to them until they told me what the pay was its be awhile but I think it was 32/34 loaded and 29 empty it might be good for you if you have other income coming in just to get your feet wet again then move on

[Pony Express]

They offered me 35 cpm loaded/ 20 cpm empty.

[vick]

thats not too bad loaded but I do think that is top pay for them how many empty miles is what I was worried about what is the average miles most of there drivers are getting on loaded miles do they pay for tarping if you have other income with your buss that u have it wouldn't be bad to get you back into the seat again

[Pony Express]

Fortunately , this will be a supplimental income. Mainly going to be used to finally pay off those darn credit cards! The rest will be play money. I don't think it will be that bad, if it is then I only have to stick it out for a year before one of the better companies will give me a shot.
No idea about tarp pay (forgot to ask). They did tell me I would get home every other weekend and be able to take the truck home. Awesome!
Orientation starts Monday and I was told I would be on my first load on Wednesday routed to the house so I can get the rest of my stuff.
If anyone is interested, I will keep posting on my adventures with Shelton.

[vick]

sure kepp us posted on what its like there good luck

[Pony Express]

So, I'll be leaving for FL for orientation in a couple of hours. The bus ride is going to be interesting to say the least. I will jump on a bus in my hometown for a short 30 minute ride to Atlanta, there I will change buses for another hour and a half to Montgomery, AL only to jump into yet another bus for the final 3 hour ride to Marianna, FL. That will be folowed by a short company shuttle bus ride to the hotel by "Bart".
Total trip is expected to be over 8 hours for a 4 hour ride. Interesting............ Orientation starts Monday and I'll be back home by Wednesday with a load to pick up the rest of my things.
Wish me luck!

[whoopNride]

Good Luck Pony Express, Hope it works out for Ya.

Keep us posted... Maybe start the Shelton chroniciles. LOL

[Pony Express]

Ok, I discovered "Idleaire" so I am able to post here. So here's the scoop, orientation consisted of paperwork and movies. Despite my NOT wanting to do a lease purchase deal, I went ahead and did it. I had 2 choices, either drive a truck OTR with a 24 inch sleeper as a company driver or go with the 70 inch throught the lease purchase. No choice to mke as far as I was concerned. So, I am the proud leasee of a 1998 mack with 1 million, 174,849 miles on the odometer. (I know)............................ Here's the good news though, I can get out of the lease at any time without any penalties whatsoever. My payments are 359.84 a week and that covers base plate, bobtail, etc etc.
The truck is in good condition and runs well, top speed is 70 mph and pulls rather well. My first load was steel tubes from Altha, FL to Kansas City, MO.
It was a 934 mile trip and paid me 1800.00 with the fuel surcharge. Not bad, that's 1.92 a mile.
A short deadhead to Jefferson City, MO to pick up a load of electrical transformers going to Lancaster, TX. 565 miles with a payout of 851.46. Comes out to 1.50 a mile. Heck, I can't complain, it could have been worse given the lack of companies willing to hire me. Seems like I'll be able to make a little cash here so long as "Old Betsy" stays in one piece on me. Time will tell, but so far it's a pretty good gig.

I'll be back soon with new updates as the loads keep comming.

Later guy's.

[millersod215]

I was waiting to see a post back from you, i live up here in north florida, and run dedicated trash from tallahassee over to cambelton, Fl, so needles to say i see a ton of shelton trucks. When you had initially posted, i was kind of wondering how it would be, everytime i see one of their trucks, i wonder what it must be like running a week or two at a time in those little doghouse sleepers they've got, and then every once in a while i'd see a condo and wonder how that worked, didn't seem quite fair to me that the majority of guys are left slaving away in a dungeon, and some guys had all the luxury of home, now i understand, so next time i see a big condo sleeper, i can decipher that they are the lease operators, and the rest of the poor bastards with nothing more than a bed to lay on are company guys , looks like i learn something new everyday. Anyway, good luck with it all, if you're ever running across 10, and see a day cab Pritchett Truck that smells like hell, that's probably me, and by the way i shouldn't be hard to pass, 65 mph doesn't get you anywhere in a real hurry.

[Orangetxguy]

Ok, I discovered "Idleaire" so I am able to post here. So here's the scoop, orientation consisted of paperwork and movies. Despite my NOT wanting to do a lease purchase deal, I went ahead and did it. I had 2 choices, either drive a truck OTR with a 24 inch sleeper as a company driver or go with the 70 inch throught the lease purchase. No choice to mke as far as I was concerned. So, I am the proud leasee of a 1998 mack with 1 million, 174,849 miles on the odometer. (I know)............................ Here's the good news though, I can get out of the lease at any time without any penalties whatsoever. My payments are 359.84 a week and that covers base plate, bobtail, etc etc.
The truck is in good condition and runs well, top speed is 70 mph and pulls rather well. My first load was steel tubes from Altha, FL to Kansas City, MO.
It was a 934 mile trip and paid me 1800.00 with the fuel surcharge. Not bad, that's 1.92 a mile.
A short deadhead to Jefferson City, MO to pick up a load of electrical transformers going to Lancaster, TX. 565 miles with a payout of 851.46. Comes out to 1.50 a mile. Heck, I can't complain, it could have been worse given the lack of companies willing to hire me. Seems like I'll be able to make a little cash here so long as "Old Betsy" stays in one piece on me. Time will tell, but so far it's a pretty good gig.

I'll be back soon with new updates as the loads keep comming.

Later guy's.

Not to be critical on the L/P....but what would the purchase price of that truck have been, if you had chosen to go with outside financing?? $1439 a month on a truck with over a million miles is beyond ridiculous, it is outright theft.

FIXED!!!

[Kurbski]

Stan, You gotta reel in that rascal. I have a dinky lil monitor at work.

[Pony Express]

Ok, I discovered "Idleaire" so I am able to post here. So here's the scoop, orientation consisted of paperwork and movies. Despite my NOT wanting to do a lease purchase deal, I went ahead and did it. I had 2 choices, either drive a truck OTR with a 24 inch sleeper as a company driver or go with the 70 inch throught the lease purchase. No choice to mke as far as I was concerned. So, I am the proud leasee of a 1998 mack with 1 million, 174,849 miles on the odometer. (I know)............................ Here's the good news though, I can get out of the lease at any time without any penalties whatsoever. My payments are 359.84 a week and that covers base plate, bobtail, etc etc.
The truck is in good condition and runs well, top speed is 70 mph and pulls rather well. My first load was steel tubes from Altha, FL to Kansas City, MO.
It was a 934 mile trip and paid me 1800.00 with the fuel surcharge. Not bad, that's 1.92 a mile.
A short deadhead to Jefferson City, MO to pick up a load of electrical transformers going to Lancaster, TX. 565 miles with a payout of 851.46. Comes out to 1.50 a mile. Heck, I can't complain, it could have been worse given the lack of companies willing to hire me. Seems like I'll be able to make a little cash here so long as "Old Betsy" stays in one piece on me. Time will tell, but so far it's a pretty good gig.

I'll be back soon with new updates as the loads keep comming.

Later guy's.

Not to be critical on the L/P....but what would the purchase price of that truck have been, if you had chosen to go with outside financing?? $1439 a month on a truck with over a million miles is beyond ridiculous, it is outright theft.

Look at these truck prices and compare.. http://www.truckpaper.com/listings/f...nsearch=Search

Even with bad credit...you could get financed on one of them.

I totally agree with your statement, by the time the truck would get paid for, the purchase price would be over $73,000 for a 12 year old truck. It is theft! I will not purchase it, I am more or less renting it while I save my money. So long as nothing happens to the truck, I can bank around $4000 a month, so it shouldn't take me a very long to come up with a serious down payment or a cash purchase.
Being this company is my only option for a year, I have to stay optimistic and just go with the flow. At this point, I'm happy to be back out again.
I have heard that my miles will decrease here if I turn "Their" truck back in and bring my own in, so I need to be prepared and be in the position to get hired elsewhere before making my purchase.

So far, so good. I'm getting home on a regular basis and they are treating me good.

[Pony Express]

Here's another update:

If you are interested in this company, don't walk away..............RUN LIKE CRAZY!!!!!!!!!!
After 3 months of saving, I was not able to stomach them any longer.
I saved enough to put a nice down payment on a 2001 Pete and leased on with Mercer Transportation.
The Lease/Purchase is in my opinion is the worst and a total rip off!!!!
$76000.00 for a 98 Mack with over a million miles?
18% interest on the loan?
They tend to like to keep you in the hole by feeding you some B.S on how you can make good money, but yet they will deadhead you till the cows come home.
I am really not into bashing companies, but folks I'm trying very hard to help anyone that is thinking of working for these people. It will be one of the biggest mistakes you will ever make.

[Sealord]

"Jefferson City, MO to pick up a load of electrical transformers" Been there, done that. Were the trailers pre-loaded? BOL

[Pony Express]

"Jefferson City, MO to pick up a load of electrical transformers" Been there, done that. Were the trailers pre-loaded? BOL

Lol, Yeah I hauled those too!!! I had to load mine though.

[ratface]

equipment looks raggy and never spoke with anyone driving for them that seemed happy.