Who To Hire On With After Graduation
 

So this coming Friday I'll graduate from Houston Community College Commercial Driving Accademy. I've put in maybe a dozen applications and have been contacted back by most. Here is my list of top ten with Pros and Cons - One of these companies I hope to working for in the next couple of weeks.

I'm looking for more info or rebuttles to my comments. Any more infor, pro or con would be appreciated.

01) Crete (Pro: .33cpm after training, Practical miles paid, Load selection, Good Equipment, Good Miles, Drivers that I've spoken to seem happy, Not many negative comments on the trucking message boards, seem strict on logbook violations; Con: Training $350 for 4+ wks.)
02) CFI (Pro: .26cpm during training of 7500+ miles, Good equipment, Good miles, Drivers that I've spoken to seem happy, Not many negative comments on the trucking message boards, seem strict on logbook violations; Con: CPM seems low for the first year)
03) Arrow Trucking (Pro: .34cpm after training, Good equipment, Good miles, Drivers that I've spoken to seem happy, Not many negative comments on the trucking message boards, Additioanl training provided; Con: Additional training needed, tarping and chaining/straping, 4+ wks w/trainer @ $300/wk)
04) TMC (Pro: CPM or Load Percentage after training, Good equipment, Good miles, Drivers that I've spoken to seem happy, Not many negative comments on the trucking message boards, Additioanl training provided; Con: Additional training needed, tarping and chaining/straping, 4+ wks w/trainer @ $300-350/wk)
05) SRT (Did not find a lot of info on them, the one driver I spoke to had been with them 5 years, was trained by them and was happy.)
06) KLLM (Did not find much info on them, could not catch a driver at a TS but I did get e message from one that said it was a good company.)
07) PGT (Just seems like a low rent company, their recruiter was a jerk. Pays 23.5 Percent of load after training. Training is I think 4 wks at $7.00/hr)
08 ) Mavrick (People speak good about them, but it's a pretty large company and I kinda want to shy away from some of the larger companies, tho I have other compaies of the same or larger right up at the top of my list.)
09) Tidewater Transit (Small regional company with a Terminal near the school, no recruiters, the school touts them as being a reputable company to hire with. HAZMAT.)
10) CTL Distribution (Small regional company with a Terminal near the school, no recruiters. HAZMAT.)
11) US Express (Pro: Good equipment, decent pay - mileage based sliding scale between .28cpm and .35cpm, good training, happy drivers; Con: HUGE company, Auto shift, some admistrative issues I've heard.)

That's my top 10. Tho I don't know why I put SRT and KLLM to the top of the list above other maybe more well known companies, other than I felt good about them.

THANX!

I went with Crete and during my training period pay was 500.00 a week :D

I actually wound up with $700 the first week with Maverick. They pay $500 for orientation, which ran sunday thru thursday for me, then they started us on securement training...paid @ $100/day. Orientation paid $500 plus $100 each for Fri and Sat.

This $100/day continued through until the day I went out with a trainer. At that point, I went to the $550/ week training pay. All totaled, you could easily wind up with an extra $1,000 in your pocket by the time your in your own truck compared to some of the other companies.

Maverick has somewhere around 1500 trucks total, so yes, I think your con on that part might need a second look. I know TMC has close to twice that many trucks. I'm not sure about Arrow. Most of the companies you have listed are at least as large as Maverick and most are quite a bit larger.

From my own research and from what I've seen in the short time I've been out here, you should take a hard look at Maverick as a starter company. You will find that they do what they say and from what I gather that's not the norm with these starter companies.

Shoot me a pm if I can be of help. Just keep in mind it may be next weekend before I have internet access again. I'm headed for Dallas in a little while.

Good Luck!

Arky

Re: Who To Hire On With After Graduation
 

The logbook violations are no big deal unless you plan on being a super-trucker. I'll share a lil secret with you though. It's better to be paid more cents per mile then slightly lower CPM and more miles. I'd rather run 3000 miles a week at .41 CPM and make $1230 then run 4000 miles (illegally) at .31 CPM and make the same. Work smarter not harder. Let the guys brag about how many miles they run and how many logbooks they have. I'll be happy making $55,000 a year and taking 5-6 days off per month.

I've never driven for CFI but from what I hear... plan on doing alot of NE. Of course I heard the same thing about Crete before I came over here and it's not true.

EDIT:

here you can look at a CFI drivers trail. You be the judge. Doesn't look too bad.

http://www.angelandcroc.com/regs/trail/croc_trail.html

CFI
 

CFI would definately be my decision over Crete

And also at Crete you have to have hazmat. CFI you dont.

Just be aware that at CFI that your health insurance the first year is pretty poor. After that you get a couple choices. Something to consider if you have children. Good luck

Yes, and CFI is pretty darn big in my book; just over 2500 trucks. Check out http://safer.fmcsa.dot.gov/CompanySnapshot.aspx
and you can look up different companies for various safety violations. If you drive for a poor company, you'll spend alot of time getting inspected by all the drive-by DOT people, I've heard. It also tells you how many trucks the company has.

I've talked with so many companies I may have got my notes mixed up. I'll check back with Crete. Thanx!