I cant believe im asking this. Because some of my favorite companies to hire for are some of the companies a lot of people hate. And face it, there isnt a trucking company out there, where you cant find at least a few drivers will say "ITS THE WORST EVER". However, here goes....

Ok, looks like Im going to add a few of the Comcar companies to the list of companies I hire for. Starting with Willis Shaw. I dont know a lot about them other than their office is right down the road from me. And Im not meeting with their execs until thursday. So I thought I would get a head start. I do know they are a training company. So lets hear it, the good the bad and whatever. Im more interested in their pay, equiptment and training. Honestly, I dont need to know that your aunts neighbors father drove for them 15 years ago and he says they are a bunch of a-holes.
Also spare me the Coolie company crap. You all dont matter.

 

Im always willing to help a brother out , you know that sheepdancer . WSE was my first trucking job from March 2003 to October 2003 . After 6 weeks of traning , Pay at the time was .25 cpm hhg plus .2 cpm bonus for all miles over 10k monthly . Yes , pathetic I know . The equipment was rough , mostly macks and volvos , now they have lots of freightliners that are old Heartland Express trucks . The miles were always good as was the length of haul . I avregaed about 1400 miles per dispatch with a lot of west coast freight and very northeast . Hometime was one day for every 6 days out . Management stayed away from you and you were encouraged to use the qualcomm instead of ever calling in , although it was fairly disorganized . Any other ? , let me know .

 

Well you cant expect the pay to be that great with a training company. At least the miles were there. I have no idea what the pay is now, I hope its still not 24cpm...lol.
Was the training pretty good? I know im going to get two stories from people here, Im sure some will say the training was bad, and some will say good...lol

 

Willy Shaw..right there in the gutter with Werner.


(oooop...did I say that ???)

 

Lets change it around, where do you geniuses think a "newbie" who wants to be an OTR driver get their training and work for their first year?
Because really, I dont know of any training companies that dont have tons of negative drivers such as yourself whining about them.
So lets hear it...say you run into a newbie who wants to be an OTR driver, where would you tell him to go?

 

They don't know Sheepdancer! Of all the posts I read on this forum the 2 of them reply to almost all of them and I'd say they have nothing to say for about 99.9% of the time. Just ignore it.

 

Sure, I can agree with that. I have always told drivers if financially possible, its better to pay for your own schooling than be under a contract. Unfortunately, a lot of young drivers dont have the money to pay for a driving school and dont want to. There are arguments for both sides.
So say some young newbie driver, who wants to pay for his own school, goes to a PTDI school, pays out of his pocket and now graduates with his CDL, where would you tell him to go. I recruit these drivers all the time too. And Really the only options I have for them, until they get some experience are the same companies you seem to hate.
Now here is the other thing to think about, I recruit for a lot of great companies ( I know you will still hate them) Those take at least a year of experience....and sorry Small operations and mom and pop trucking companies usually dont count as experience. Hate Swift, US Xpress, Willis Shaw, Schnieder, USA truck.....all you want. But even good companies know that looks better on an application than a bunch of unheard of companies. When I get a great job thrown at me to fill, this is the PERFECT driver im looking for: A 1-2 year driver with a pretty clean MVR who has worked for one of the BIG training companies. Because I know that this is exactly the driver the company is looking for. Therefore I have the best chance of getting him approved. If I get a driver who has been working for "Bobs Trucking" for the last year. It doesnt matter if he says he was paid great and BOB runs the greatest trucking company in the world. I dont get too excited. If its a slow week, I might do an app on him and see if it sticks...But deep down, I know that they chances of him getting that job are about 1 in 100.
I look at it like this...your first year driving is just a continuation of training, you arent going to make great money. Hell, at least you are being paid something for training for a year. I sure wasnt paid for 7 years at college.