Who to Choose?

[tblake]

So before I began driving classes to get my class A CDL, I filled out numeruos applications and was prehired to everyone I filled out an application for.

-TMC
-Swift
-Roehl
-Werner

To name a few of the major ones.

My school recently had a recruiter from Werner come in, he seemed like a good guy, but also seemed like he was blowing smoke. In fact, I tend to not believe a lot of what recruiters tell me, that goes for any company. Which is why I seek your advice. You guys have been there and done that.

Which companies (if any) are going to give the best benefits, pay (cents per mile), and home time?

I live in the midwest, so if there are any that I missed, please fill me in.

The fact that I was prehired at all the companies I applied to leads me to believe either they are desperate, or I am over qualified. Which I'm thinking they are desperate.

Thanks in advance for any info.

[chain binder]

Just because you are pre hired doesn't mean you have a job.A pre hire just means that you meet the companies basic qualifications.Once you get to Orientation,then they will do more investigation into your past.You aren't officially hired until after Orientation.The companies bring in a certain number of students each week to Orientation because a percentage of them will be sent home.Failed drug tests, failing DOT Physical,or not bringing required paperwork will get you sent home real quick.If you can't follow rules at Orientation,then how will it be when you are on the road all alone.Good luck on your new adventure.I personally prefer flatbeds.That is what I drove.TMC is a good company.Might check out Maverick also.They are out of Little Rock.They offer several different divisions.

[Mr. Ford95]

Recruiters are all the same, niceties/lies to get you on the hook and reel you in. I've only talked to 1 who was legit with me and he was a driver for that company. I've talked to recruiters that were complete airheads and complete aZZzz. What do you believe the Werner guy was blowing smoke about?

As a newbie pay will be low to start but, pay per mile is slightly higher with flatbeds like TMC or Maverick than vans starting out. Home time for TMC is normally out a week, home for the weekends unless YOU choose to run longer than that. I have heard of them purposely leaving newbie's out a weekend early on just to see how they react. Maverick was 2 weeks out 2 days home which is pretty much the standard for most companies in the trucking world unless you can get a regional run with any of them, then it COULD be home every night or every other night.

Companies aren't desperate and your not over qualified to drive a truck. There are people out on the road who have very good college degree's driving so there's no such thing as over qualified in this business. As Chain said, pre-hire means nothing. It's the same as simply being offered a job, doesn't mean you have it so don't get too large a head over the fact they all pre-hired you.

[tblake]

Thanks guys, I realize "pre-hired" means nothing really. I read that in the letters that additional info must be gathered... and so on. Werner has now called my cell phone 3 times and TMC once asking how classes were going and if I am still considering their companies. Before i commit I thought I would ask for advice from the masses. Seems even the people who I talked to on the phone don't know much about driving, or even the company for that matter. So I was a little apprehensive.

I'd rather go with TMC just cause I think I'd like hauling flat-beds. They seem more of a physical job, and I could lose a few, and bulk up a bit. Only thing is I think TMS is more down south than me.

To answer your question Mr. Ford, the werner recruiter, he was good, did a great job. The one thing I remember that I knew he was blowing smoke about was werners per diem program. If I remember right, he mentioned that werner has nothing to gain from paying per diem. Yeah right. He said that (just using random numbers, I dont remember the exact figured), he said werner pays 25 cpm to start with no per diem, OR 20cpm to start and 47.00 a day per diem. And how the company doesn't benefit from per diem. So, let me get this straight, they pay less per mile, (benefit), which in tern they have to pay less to a 401k (benefit), and not to mention the federal government re-imburses them per diem, so if the re-imbursement is 52.00 a day, and werner only pays 47.00 a day per diem to their drivers, they are benefiting 5.00. Again don't quote me with the numbers, its not about them, its just an idea of how I understood it.

There was something else he mentioned that I knew was BS, I cant remember it now. But I'm sure all recruiters are going to be about the same. Telling us their companies are the best.

Keep the comments coming gentlemen!

[Luzon]

tblake, do us all a favor please. Go into your profile page and put in your general location (city & state). Knowing where you're located is inportant on giving potential advice.

Thanks

[Mr. Ford95]

TMC is based is Des Moines, Iowa. Maverick is out of Little Rock, Arkansas. Roehl is out of Marshfield, Wisconsin. You don't have to worry about their home bases, just the area's they run in. Your area may not be included in where they run/hire, for example, I WAS within Maverick's but not anymore so they won't hire me and I've hardly seen their trucks in this area.

[VPIDarkAngel]

Did the Werner recruiter tell you which division you'd be in (van-48, regional, dedicated, flatbed, reefer)? Those things will determine your pay and hometime. I've been pulling Dollar General dedicated for them out of South Boston, VA for a couple years, but if you have any oddball questions about the company, just shoot me a PM. Let us know how things go.

[VitoCorleone99]

Your summation of the per diem issue isn't entirely accurate, but that's a discussion for another day. Some people think it's a total scam and others (like me) think you have to run the numbers for your own personal circumstance and do your own math. To give you somewhere to start your analysis though - 80% of $52 is $39. 100% of $47 is $47. $47>$39. The exact spread on the cpm becomes pretty important when you do the calculation on your take-home pay. It's a lot more complex than this once all other factors are considered, but that's just to get you started. You've already noted the 401(k) angle. There's also the Social Security angle (which cuts both ways - employee payroll taxes and employer payroll taxes). There are also other angles like child support or lawsuits or other such things that would work in favor of lower gross earnings. What I'm saying is that there's no one-size-fits-all summary answer. Per diem pay is a complicated topic. Anyone who tells you that the company doesn't benefit is a liar though. That much is certain.

In terms of companies to consider, you'll never really know until you pick one. I'm not trying to sound like a smartass or anything. It's just that Company A might pay a few more cents per mile but Company B might provde a few more miles per week. Company C might provide a little more work but pay HHG miles, while Company D might pay practical miles on a little less work. Company E might have a nice accessorial (layover/detention/etc.) pay package but Company F might provide better benefits.

The first step is to ignore all recruiters, no matter how good an impression they may make. And I don't mean 'consider.' I mean 'ignore.' Recruiters are salesmen. You wouldn't buy a '79 Pinto because the guy on the used car lot told you it gets great gas mileage. Don't treat your career any differently. The second step is to compile a list of variables that matter to you. Many folks here are certainly more versed than I am (I only worked for one OTR company), but here's a starter list for you:

Cents per mile
Miles per week
Home time policy (amount, timing, flexibility, etc.)
Accessorial pay
Benefits - including employee cost and employer contribution
Terminal locations
Equipment used
Forced routing or not
Forced fueling or not
MPG/idling policy
Rider policy
Pet policy
Dispatch style (fleet-based, region-based, home-based, etc.)
Typical running lanes
Typical customer base (grocery warehouses, Wal Mart DCs, steel mills, etc.)
Driver input on bad weather/safety/chaining/schedules/etc.
Paperwork requirements
Reimbursement procedures (showers, tolls, truck maintenance, etc.)
Training (time, procedure, pay, etc.)
Holiday pay and scheduling

This list could get a lot longer or a lot shorter, depending on which items matter to a given individual. Personally, I wanted a few things when I started out. I wanted to learn to do the job without a trainer who was sleeping in the bunk. I wanted a terminal that was close to home. I wanted to earn more than a few hundred bucks a week while I was starting out. I wanted a decent truck. And, most importantly, I wanted to be left alone to do my job. Ask 100 other people and you'll get 100 other thoughts about what is important. None of us can tell you where to prioritize.

While I won't even try to figure out what company might be best for you, because nobody could do so, I'll share an anecdotal observation. My thoughts on a given trucking company tended to be based on what I thought of its drivers while I was on the road. Of the companies that you've listed, I never encountered enough Roehl drivers to form an impression. I did cross paths with drivers from the other companies plenty of times. With the exception of a single Swift driver at a truck stop in Texas on one hot summer day, I was unimpressed. With all due apologies to VPIDarkAngel (since generalizations are never fair), the Werner drivers whom I encountered seemed to be idiots. TMC - ditto. Swift - ditto. Was this a scientific study? Nope. Just my gut instinct. To me it seemed that a company with a bunch of morons driving its trucks might not be a very good company.

On that note, here's a thought. You may want to take a day and drive to the truck stop nearest your home. Midwest is pretty vague, as Luzon has pointed out, but you can figure out where to go if you want to. Just hang around for a while and strike up conversations with people. Truck drivers are a lonely bunch for the most part, so you'll probably find plenty of people who will talk to you. At a Pilot or a T/A you'll see plenty of folks from your list of companies fueling their trucks. Form an impression for yourself, based on what matters to you, then come back here and ask some more specific questions. I suspect that you'll get a lot more useful input.

Take that for what it's worth.

[One]

Chain Binder: You have kinda limited your options to companies that do not have the best reputations if you only applied to those you listed, there are many more. I would not limit myself to only big otr companies, also look at ltl carriers and local companies. I know R+L many still take student drivers and imho offers great opportunities. Someone mentioned Maverick...idk about going to flatbed right out of the box, but they do have a much better rep. that werner, roehl and swift.

GL One