[catalinaflyer]

Well I doubt I will be as good a narrator as DD but I have arived at the Quality Inn in Gainesville, TX and begin orientation with Lone Star Transportation tomorrow morning.

This was almost a no-go for me, I got a call from LS earlier this week telling me that they have no trucks available and would need to push me back to Dec 1st. I was pretty let down by this news because I didn't need to be off work for a month right before Christmas. I told them that I would have to be working before then and thanked them for thier time. The lady I have been speeking with was very gracious and told me to keep in touch and they would keep me on file if I decided to change my mind.

I hung up from LS and immediatly called another heavy-haul company who had offered me a position the day before up in the frozen -waaaaay- north that I had turned down in favor of LS. While I was on the phone with them LS called me back and wanted me to go ahead and come down on the 10th and attend orientation then they would just put me up in the motel and pay me $150 a day till they get me a truck so here I am.

So I am here and getting ready to turn in for the night.

BTW, I chose to drive my personal vehicle down instead of riding the dog for a couple of reasons. I carry a lot of personal tools and such and I can get back here to the main terminal easier than Kansas then just a 4 1/2 hour drive and I'm home with the truck safely parked in the company's yard.

[dobry4u]

Originally Posted by catalinaflyer

Well I doubt I will be as good a narrator as DD but I have arived at the Quality Inn in Gainesville, TX and begin orientation with Lone Star Transportation tomorrow morning.

This was almost a no-go for me, I got a call from LS earlier this week telling me that they have no trucks available and would need to push me back to Dec 1st. I was pretty let down by this news because I didn't need to be off work for a month right before Christmas. I told them that I would have to be working before then and thanked them for thier time. The lady I have been speeking with was very gracious and told me to keep in touch and they would keep me on file if I decided to change my mind.

I hung up from LS and immediatly called another heavy-haul company who had offered me a position the day before up in the frozen -waaaaay- north that I had turned down in favor of LS. While I was on the phone with them LS called me back and wanted me to go ahead and come down on the 10th and attend orientation then they would just put me up in the motel and pay me $150 a day till they get me a truck so here I am.

So I am here and getting ready to turn in for the night.

BTW, I chose to drive my personal vehicle down instead of riding the dog for a couple of reasons. I carry a lot of personal tools and such and I can get back here to the main terminal easier than Kansas then just a 4 1/2 hour drive and I'm home with the truck safely parked in the company's yard.

BOL on your new adventure, catalinaflyer !!! Be safe!

[catalinaflyer]

Originally Posted by dobry4u

BOL on your new adventure, catalinaflyer !!! Be safe!

Thanks dobry4u

Day 1 of LS Orientation
Well much like DD had said, it was a sh!t load of paperwork and a wizz-quiz. I'm sure thankfull for the nice duffle bag they gave us but it could use some wheels to tote the 20+# of paperwork back and forth.

We started with 10 in the class this morning (3 company drivers, 2 lease drivers and 5 O/O's which changed to 3 lease and 4 O/O's because the one guys truck needed way too much work to bring up to LS's level).

The head of recruiting came over for an q&a session right after lunch and I found out that as of right now they have no driver openings till the end of January. Not bad for a company with 300+ company owned trucks. They have 3 to 4 new company drivers going through orientation each session till then just to have a pool of available drivers to fill trucks when someone leaves but they have all the spots filled through Jan. They are very up-front about everything right off the bat, home-time, pay, benefits etc. just so there are no missunderstandings down the road.

One of the company drivers in with me is a former driver who left and said it was the biggest mistake he ever made and is coming back. The other driver is a former O/O who sold his truck and became a pilot car / steering person only to decide he missed the driving thing too much.

I was a little deflated because the recruiting department had talked about bringing me in as a level 1 or 2 or possibly a 3 because of my specialized experience but the safety department said that my experience isn't recent enough so I will be coming on as a 0 and moving to a 1 after 30 days. Not the end of the world and from what I hear from the current drivers, moving up through the levels happens pretty rapidly.

Not much else exciting, it's pouring rain here and we have some home-work toget done tonight.

See ya'll tomorrow.

[ELGAUL]

so they are going to put you up in a motel and $150 a day until the first of jan? did i read that right???

[catalinaflyer]

Originally Posted by ELGAUL

so they are going to put you up in a motel and $150 a day until the first of jan? did i read that right???

Lord I hope not ----- They are putting us in the motel at $150 a day after orientation till they get us a truck. They managed to get the three drivers from last week out today so we should all have truck by the first part of next week.

They are only turning 3 to 4 trucks a week and as of right now they have drivers scheduled at a rate of 3 to 4 per week for orientation through January.

[Jackrabbit379]

Best of luck. From what I've always heard, Lone Star is a good company, with good equipment.

[catalinaflyer]

Day 2 of LS Orientation
Well today was another fun filled day in the classroom. We did get out an hour early so two of could go get physicals. I passed that test too along with all the other tests we took today. We had the head of safety in this morning for an hour and basically he re-enforced the policy that LS pays well enough that we can make a really good living and run legal, if we don't want to follow the rules in the little green book then we were free to leave. He discussed carrier ratings and what we have to do as a company to maintain our good rating. I think these guys are really f-ing serious about running legal, they don't play games especially with the customers they have, you choose to push the rules and you will find yourself on the other side of the gate looking in. I for one like the idea of that, run legal - log it like you run it and make a good paycheck plus get to drive excellent equipment. I for one don't understand why someone who went through the whole process of getting a company driver position with this company would want to take a chance and ruin it by not running legal. The owner of the company holds dispatchers responsible just the same as drivers and they won't hesitate to fire a dispatcher if they find out they "force" a driver to push the rules. They did say that we all make mistakes and they won't fire a driver who makes a mistake but if you intentionally falsify a log or supporting document they will not hesitate to make your truck available for a new driver, no ifs ands or buts about it!

I'm liking this decision more and more every day!!

No news on when we might have trucks but we are supposed to be finished with orientation by Thursday afternoon so I will have my fingers crossed.

Tomorrow is supposed to be another fun filled day in the classroom and possibly some RGN training if they can find a truck to use.

Till tomorrow, good lord willing and the creek don't rise, goodnight.

[catalinaflyer]

LS Orientation Day 3
Well again another uneventful day. We spent the first 3 hours in class again this morning. We headed outside to practice securing a load of pipe and an old vessel. That all went fairly quick, no surprises there as all but two in our class have flatbed experience.

We the learned how to work an RGN, again fairly quick since a good share of us also have RGN experience. Then our instructor took us on a walk through the yard looking at all the different specialized trailer they have around there. Some really interesting stuff, especiall the old cable steer flats that are about 100' long. Our instructor says they still use them from time to time.

After lunch we took road tests and everyone passed so we still have a class of the initial 10. Then it was back up to the classroom for some defensive driving training. That took us till the end of the day and we have a little more to finish on that program in the morning.

Still no news on trucks but maybe we will get some idea tomorrow after we are "officially" hired.

Till Tomorrow-----

[dobry4u]

Originally Posted by catalinaflyer

LS Orientation Day 3
Well again another uneventful day. We spent the first 3 hours in class again this morning. We headed outside to practice securing a load of pipe and an old vessel. That all went fairly quick, no surprises there as all but two in our class have flatbed experience.

We the learned how to work an RGN, again fairly quick since a good share of us also have RGN experience. Then our instructor took us on a walk through the yard looking at all the different specialized trailer they have around there. Some really interesting stuff, especiall the old cable steer flats that are about 100' long. Our instructor says they still use them from time to time.

After lunch we took road tests and everyone passed so we still have a class of the initial 10. Then it was back up to the classroom for some defensive driving training. That took us till the end of the day and we have a little more to finish on that program in the morning.

Still no news on trucks but maybe we will get some idea tomorrow after we are "officially" hired.

Till Tomorrow-----

Sounds like everything is going as expected. Very good!

[catalinaflyer]

Final Day Lone Star Orientation-
Well we made it through the final day, got our company ID badges and are fully employed without trucks. They have one coming in today and since the list was printed by first name I'm number 2 on it so I still have no truck.

Not much exciting happened, we finished up with our defensive driving class and then went over the Qualcom operation.

After class was over we went to lunch with the Ft. Worth terminal manager who will be our boss and spent the afteroon with him. Again I was impressed, these people are, for the most part, old drivers that moved into management and safety. Joe Byrd, the terminal manager from Ft Worth is a real straight shooter, he told us how his terminal operates and what he expects of us but he did it as one driver to another and not as a big boss talking down to his pee-on's. I liked the way he handled everything and am proud to be going to work for him.

As for now, two of us still don't have trucks but we're hoping to get into one early next week. They are having us check in at the shop every morning to see if the shop needs any help and if they have nothing for us to do then we're on our own.

Will let everyone know when I get a truck and get my first dispatch.