Another dang n00b.

Myself and my girl, are soon to be "empty nesters". I have one son and he's 18 soon and my little pigeon will leave the nest (and poop all over everything somewhere else).

Girl and I are committed to making a lifestyle change, giving up our house, using our vacation property in the mountains as our permanent base of operations.

We are in AZ. We currently have not been hired by anyone. We're a stable couple who gets along well with or without adversity and desire to drive as a team.

So far we've been contacted by CRST who offers training at Cedar Rapids or Denver. The problem with Denver (other than the fact that it's Denver) is separate, based on gender, sleeping arrangements. Now my girl is pretty resilient, but telling her we have to sleep apart every night would not help us get along. Bad enough we'd be apart for a month for OTR training...we'd get through that, but not being able to be together nightly would cause us some grief.

I also have an 18 year firearms manufacturing business that I'm in the process of closing out. It's not as easy as it sounds with Federal paperwork "in process" for many months to come.

So, other than the typical "what to watch out for" questions and solicitation of advice. Which any good n00b should ask, I guess my query is regarding companies that train teams in Phx or the West.

Thanks in advance for your sage words of advice.

KV
 
All I know is they have a YUGE hotel for trainees right of 24 in Nooga, about which my daughter commented "Jeez they must go through a lot of trainees to need a motel"

And when you used to call in to get a repair, talk to safety, report a driver you had to listen to bible verses on hold. I believe this was in an effort to get people to hang up.
 
My $0.02....

Insurance might care if you've been to a school. But not likely. What matters is how much experience you have.

12 months is good. 24 is better

I would go to a private school before I go to a company school. That whole selling your soul to the company store bit.

Any place that forces something on you they can't ask on an application is someplace I'd rather not work. How long before they mess in your personal life?

Having been a business owner, you are likely going to hate being a company guy. Your hunting time isn't going to happen. You are seat meat who is only there to guide the truck to it's destinations.

Your family isn't their concerns. When it interferes with their needs, you're gone.

Pay your dues for 12-18 months. Learn your expenses and buy your own truck. You'll put the control back in your court. Even leased on to somebody.
 
Want to tell him what Covenant was like?
You already did.

Just a couple more things though. In 2004 their trucks had optimized idle, making it impossible to sleep in hot weather.

And after I quit, I literally had to fake my own death to get their recruiters to stop sending me junk mail.
 
Show us one company that would give a month off to go deer hunting to a rookie with zero experience..


After a year I can name 3 Titan, Big G, and Barr Nunn. All of them would honor a leave of absence.

See the problem here is people like you telling people companies have the control, and people who buy into that bullshippie.

A company driver is under no more obligation than an O/O under contract. Yeah the O/O can go home and stay as long as they wish. Here is a newsflash for you. So can a company driver. So long as you tell them what you are doing there is a 99% probability if you were worth a crap you will be welcomed back. Often in my case at the exact same rate of pay. Companies are begging for drivers that do not bend stuff up, or make up phony assed excuses for being late.

Hate to burst that fantasy that O/O control their life and company drivers do not. No one can make either of us work.

Now your gonna brag about how you just willy nilly take off way more work than any lowly company driver. YAWN.

Horse pucky.

Guess where my debt so far as trucking goes when I take two weeks off because I am becoming dangerously close to losing it. Nothing not one dime has been removed from my account. In fact I have been paid just like I had been there all along.

What do yours do? Does your insurance give you a rebate? Do your plates cost less? You load board memberships? Hell most of you on this board talk of the repairs done on "time off", and book work, billing, IFTA........




Sure some companies like Covenant, CRST, England, Prime may pull that crap. Hell we had a Swift guy at one point needed 3 months out for something and then went back. Working for someone else does not make you seat meat unless you allow it to. And telling every company driver that ever reads these threads that they are is both dishonest, and only inflating the ****ing ego's of the people claiming it.



Yeah yeah I know another point. Good if it prevents misinformation, and ignorance to spread. **** it, so be it ;)
 
Yeah but they call you partially part time.
Having gaps in employment to explain is a problem. Some of the more idiotic recruiters will insist on a stupid refresher course.

On Van Wyk's part time list I can (and have) gone an entire year without even sitting in a truck, then get called to go rescue one they (dispatch) abandoned somewhere.

It's a little awkward for about 5 minutes but otherwise it's like riding a bike.

On an application I can simply list Van Wyk from my original hire date in 2005 to "current".
 
We don't need a month off for hunting, typically a week will suffice nicely, including a day or two to cut, wrap and freeze that tasty free-range critter. If you've been through AZ you know we have elk here...big bastards.

The story of AZs elk is quite interesting. Market hunters had nearly wiped them out by 1895, so Teddy Roosevelt and Congress appropriated monies, and the Elks Lodge caught some up in Yellowstone and planted a starter herd in 1913 (basically brought them down by train to Winslow...aka Radiator Springs the town that God forgot) and then hired local cowboys to lead them into the woods. Between Clear Creek and Chevelon Creek north of what is now Hwy 260, the first 90 or so were left loose. There were a few other starter herds after that. Fast foward 105 years. There's now between 35k-50k head just in the State of AZ.

Good thing they are delicious.
 
Rollin Transport takes the whole winter season off every year just so their trucks won't get dirty.... of course....they aren't your "typical' trucking company.

We talking SHOW trucks here.

There are a lot of smaller companies that will bend over backwards for a good (experienced) driver... just get it in writing, in advance


A large company: is not my cup of... whatever. Corporate Trucking scares the crap outta me. So does team driving. Couln't do it if I wanted to. Spending the time with the old lady as much as I do is already an issue. Sitting beside her day after day, hour after hour, following her demands: showers, bathrooms, restaurant food, snoring... wait, I think that's me....

Nah. Lone Ranger trucking is good for me. If she could get on where I'm at and they do their best to send us to the same locations every so often... that might work, as long as I don't have to tie down her load and tighten her wenches for her... or tarp or whatevah...


Good luck. Seems like you are starting out BRAND NEW in this industry..... hope you've done your research before you get indebted to someone only to find that you can't stand the life.
 
My girl is one of those rare birds who keeps her pie hole closed unless she has something constructive to say.

The banal, vapid and inane yammerings of women will drive any man insane over time.
Amen brother!

There is a woman on this forum that I do not wish to offend... but she is the exception as far as I'm concerned.....mmmkay?

Other than that, couldn't have said it better. My Pitbull likes to look out the winder... unfortunately, he can't shift gears yet...
 
still laughing my ass off...

inane: silly, foolish, stupid, idiotic, ridiculous, ludicrous, absurd, senseless, asinine
banal:: trite, cliched, overdone, stale, unimaginative, humdrum, dull, trivial
vapid: uninspired, colorless, uninteresting, feeble, flat, unexciting, lifeless, boring...

Dude... sounds like we've been down the same road a time or two....:biglaugh::biglaugh::biglaugh:
 
My girl is one of those rare birds who keeps her pie hole closed unless she has something constructive to say.

The banal, vapid and inane yammerings of women will drive any man insane over time.
That's the cool thing about picking out your own partner and driving a truck: You're not forced to deal with people you don't like for hours and hours every day.

I picked a man who doesn't spend days on end yelling at the TV over some sports game, including himself as a member of the team, living his life based on their failures and triumphs while he can't be bothered to get his fat, stinking ass off my couch and pick up a football, much less his skid-marked skivvies and believes he's Adonis, even though the last six-pack he saw was the third one he polished off that day.

I picked a guy who lives his own life, has his own friends and chooses to share it with me, just as I choose to share my life with him. He is not intimidated by the fact I make more money than him, he trusts me when I'm gone working for six days or out with the girls all night, he values my opinion, which I don't give unless it's requested, he's very gentle with me while a force to be reckoned with for anyone who threatens his people and if I really need something, he will move mountains to make it happen.

I never have to doubt his commitment or faithfulness to me. I'm not bothered by the fact some of his friends are women and, while I miss him while I'm away, I'm not in the least concerned that he might be chasing side bitches. I don't have to check. I already know he isn't. In fact, I think it's funny when women try to hit on him before they know we're together. He rarely notices them and when they're so obvious about it that even he recognizes it, he sends them away crying.

We don't want to be glued together 24/7 but we sure enjoy the hell out of each other when we are together. We have a lot in common, but we are far from being opposite sex versions of each other. He doesn't mirror me. He completes me.
 
"...including himself as a member of the team, living his life based on their failures and triumphs while he can't be bothered to get his fat, stinking ass off my couch and pick up a football, much less his skid-marked skivvies and believes he's Adonis, even though the last six-pack he saw was the third one he polished off that day.

OMG!!! :biglaugh::biglaugh::biglaugh:


Sounds like you may have had experience with one of them dashing Cassanova's in your lifetime though, huh??
 
OMG!!! :biglaugh::biglaugh::biglaugh:


Sounds like you may have had experience with one of them dashing Cassanova's in your lifetime though, huh??
Yeh.. Like to sell a set of goods that turns out to be a lie. Should be allowed to sue for false advertising.

But I settled for the best Valentine's Day gift ever: A divorce.
 

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