Can't speak for TMC, send Fred a PM to ask him. For Maverick, you would be outside of their hiring area according to the map on their website. However, you may give them a call to see if you would qualify for their Longhaul Division. You most likely won't get home every weekend. Most guys I knew in that division got home every other weekend or so.

 

Hi again guys. Thanks so much for all the post, opinions, suggestion and advice. My fiancee is supportive of me as long as I got with a TMC or Maverick type company where I can get home most weekends. My future stepdaughter is about to be 8 so it's not like she's a baby. Heck, she loves trucks. SHe wanted me to take her to the TTT truck stop here in Tucson so I did and I got several pics of her with the trucks..ha! Of course, I enjoyed it as much as she did because it gave me an opportunity to talk with the drivers. 2 of the 3 guys seemed to be pretty much straight shooters. My passion lies within trucks. Heck, as a kid, instead of toy cars all I had was toy trucks. Even to this day I'm constantly checking out the rigs on the road. I'm familiar with the makes, models, trailer types and a few specs. Now, I'm guessing that when/if I start driving reality will be much different that my ideas. I do understand that it's hard work, there are pricks out there and crap to deal with. Then again, I do that now. I'm a shipping manager for a large company. I currently pull in $70K a year. I work long hour sometimes and every other weekend. I have been in the industry for about 10 years so my salary has climbed plus I'm a go getter. But, I just don't enjoy. Too much white collar for me. There is just something in me that I can't suppress that says give trucking a try. Not neccessarily OTR where I'm gone for 3 weeks but a weekly gig to start such as Mav or TMC. I do have some issues with taking a pay cut. My fiancee and I can handle the cut but my question for myself is whether I want to or not. Potential Happiness (trucking) vs. Excellent Money and no job satisfaction (current job). From what I gather, at Mav or TMC I'd make around $45K MAYBE $50K my first year. Not this isn't bad money but it is quite a cut for me. So, I still have some thinking to do. Also, when/if I decide to pursue the career, I'll have to decide if I want to fork out $3K for a community college to teach me the basics/CDL or if I want to go through a company program. So many decisons but the good thing is that I have plenty of time since I"m employed.

 

Hey Anthony, sounds like you have the passion for trucking so why not give it a whirl? If you don't it will bug you until you find the answer if it's all that you thought it would be.

Business types excel at owner/ops and who knows where it can lead. Learn from the positive people you meet and disregard the negative ones, like any industry there is the haves and the have nots. Learn from the haves and you can make an awesome income and have fun doing it.

Nothing beats grabbing the keys and hitting the road for a spin with the tunes (Sirius sat!) at full wail and leaving all the worries behind on a nice day. Former business owner and still dabble in rental buildings and other real estate holdings, all sorts of characters are into this, go for it!

 

Thanks driverboy. I'm still thinking about what I want to do. I know an ultimate goal would be to become an owner operator with actually 3-6 trucks. I know that seems to be a goal of everyone but with my business background and edcation, perhaps I can pull it off. But, I unfortuantly do know that I need to be a company driver first. I want to learn the industry on someone elses dime and piece of equipment. Heck, I may get into it and realize it's not what I want to do. Any other suggestions on companies that get me home weekly, make $40-50K first year out and hire newbies besides TMC or Maverick. These seem to be few and far between.

Thanks.

AA

 

As has been stated, it's mostly flatbed companies that will give you that kind of dough and the weekends home.

Check out Boyd Bros. in Clayton, AL also. Another one that you might look at, I never thought I would say this because this company used to scare the hell outta me when I would see them on the road, is BTC (Builders Transportation) out of Memphis. The only reason why I say that they may be getting better is because they stole their Safety Director away from Maverick. Clay Merches, good guy, knows his stuff and he will totally turn around that company eventually. Good thing too, because if any company needed to work on securement practices and safety it was BTC...

Good luck.

 

Making that coin is easy if you are okay with being on the road, no promise on the weekly at home time though. Check my thread of Example earnings for a newbie. Nobody believes it but this industry is plagued with newbies of even those with years that think the only way to making any money is to drive a big orange truck for 300/week and then work your way up to 500/week. That is an option for those that want to ease into the transition of running a big truck on there own.

For those that are comfortable behind the wheel and have a positive outlook and professional demeanor can make good money from day 1. As with most jobs who you know is as important as what you know!