Employment opportunity for those interested in trucking

[Beeman]

This is just a heads up of opportunities if you're interested in driving a truck, includes those with no experience. They train you and help get you your license for a 1 year commitment. This isn't a scam it's a real opportunity and it's not pack up and leave for weeks or months in many cases it can be a home every day job. Many other LTL ( less then truckload) freight companies offer similar programs too. Look at www.truckingboards.com and do some research but there are opportunities out there.

[fantasymaker]

Shouldnt this blatent recruiting post be a paid addvertizment at the top of the page?

[james dilley]

I Think that Beeman is just trying to point folks in A direction, And offering Advice to help others make A outside income! And I sent Beeman A P M. Company paid training helps Alot of people who can't get the training otherwise. You will NOTE he also posted A link to other driving oppertunities!!

[fantasymaker]

While his heart may be in the right place I dont think his advertizment is.
I disagree with him ,it is a scam, the company wants someone to commit to a years slavery in a high demand job for a few dollars spent on training. Whats worse is that is that company will then set these barely trained drivers loose on an unsuspecting public. Its even bad for the drivers cause chances are they wont have a clue how inadaquit their training is.

[james dilley]

Lets see now 1st off Newby's can earn Leaglly up tp $40,000.00 A year their 1st year Where is that Slavery?? 2ndly, You have the Legal right to leave that Employer any time you want, All you are required to do is Pay back A loan to them, The amount runs from $3,500 to $5,000. The Free part of the training comes in that the company will re imburse the Studentr New driver $100.00 A week for 52 weeks, To equal the amount of training. Unlike A company I could mention, That the only way your training is feee, Is if you Rent /lease A truck from them for 12 months at $3,500 A month. If you attend the other companies school. The one in the North west you still Owe them $5,00 0.00 if you drive A company truck..I will add this anyone wanting to Attend A driving school should check them out 1st. And see what percentage of those who attended are still driving. As its A sad fact that over 70% of those who get A C D L quit friving in the 1st year.

[Windy in Kansas]

Beeman is a regular homesteadingtoday poster and not the truck company owner. He is merely telling of the opportunity not advertising for the company he works for.

[fantasymaker]

James your right but I dont think you understand the pressure these companies will put on you over the $3500 to $12000 ( yes twelve thousand) that some of them charge for a couple of weeks standing around their parking lot watching other people drive trucks.And the pressure to wait out a load in the middle of nowhere or to take bad runs or to take unsafe runs.Face it its easyer to take advantage of a despert newbie.
Even then its still a SCAM its cheaper for them to pull in unsuspecting newbies than it is to pay a wage that will fill their trucks with experianced drivers.
Think about it you dont see the good paying places that treat their drivers well doing this stuff do you?

[fantasymaker]

Originally Posted by Windy in Kansas

Beeman is a regular homesteadingtoday poster and not the truck company owner. He is merely telling of the opportunity not advertising for the company he works for.

I think Old Dominion is a public company and I understand that Beeman dosnt own it. Its great that he is this enthusiastic about his employer, In fact that says a lot for them as a company.

[Pouncer]

There is an equipment/driving school in my area too. It's the only one we have that covers all CDLs, plus offers equipment operating training as well (loaders, doxers, excavators, paving equip, forklifts, etc) It is an intensive course (I know several commercial drivers that have been through it personally) and while expensive, these are good drivers with much more skill and knowledge than the average driver.

Consider the alternative-you take the written and road test with DMV, and you pass.

There you go, legal to be on the road with huge loads of various condifgurations. No experience necessary for licensing. I would rather have trained people behind the wheel of these trucks, wouldn't you?

[Beeman]

Neighborly help and friendly advice. I have nothing to gain. I appreciate those posting in my defense. I have posted other employment opportunities on here before not at all connected with me or the company i work for. f anyone that reads this will click on the link they will find plenty of companies to inquire about.

Read my posts and I am not overly enthusiastic about my employer or my job. I can tell you that the good truck driving jobs do not advertise or tell many about their in house training which is why I passed this along. This isn't easy money nor is it a scam, this is hard work for fair pay with benefits.

[fantasymaker]

Originally Posted by Beeman

Neighborly help and friendly advice. I have nothing to gain. I appreciate those posting in my defense. .

Sorry to come across as an attack it just seemed commercial .

Originally Posted by Beeman

Read my posts and I am not overly enthusiastic about my employer or my job. .

LOL bummer cause I thought that said good things about your company that you were !.

Originally Posted by Beeman

I can tell you that the good truck driving jobs do not advertise or tell many about their in house training which is why I passed this along. This isn't easy money nor is it a scam, this is hard work for fair pay with benefits.

This I think we disagree on , I think good companies ,that treat people well and pay good wages dont have to resort to the newbie training thing thus I see most of the training programs as scams. I suppose its possable that a company wanting really good help would have a program to bring good people in young and mold them the way they want them but I just havent seen any evidence of that.

[PaLady]

Originally Posted by fantasymaker

While his heart may be in the right place I dont think his advertizment is.
I disagree with him ,it is a scam, the company wants someone to commit to a years slavery in a high demand job for a few dollars spent on training. Whats worse is that is that company will then set these barely trained drivers loose on an unsuspecting public. Its even bad for the drivers cause chances are they wont have a clue how inadaquit their training is.

As a former truck driver...I was a "rookie"once and so was every other driver on the road. NO company BARELY trains a student...their insurance carrier makes them train rookies for a mininimum number of hours - the least I've seen is 385hrs - and, in addition, the driver must pass a company road test with the safety department, and believe me, it isn't a walk in the park!!! It's usually for over 2 hrs, in city environments as well as rural areas. The "rookie" must also dock the truck (back it up) in several different prospective situations...which is extremely difficult. Also, it cost WAY WAY more than just a "few dollars" to obtain a class A CDL...mine cost $10k and 12 months of school...that doesn't sound fly by night to me. After a few years of driving, I then began training rookie drivers and I can tell you from personal experience, as well as MUCH interaction with fellow trainers, if they don't feel a student is ready for their own truck, they talk to the coordinators, as well as safety, and that driver ends up getting a set amount of hours added to their training...I worked for 3 different companies and the least amount of added training I saw was 150 extra hours. If a trainer releases a rookie driver, he is basically stating that in his opinion, the trainee is ready to take responsibility of his own truck. If that trainee then has a "preventable" accident within the first six months, (doesn't include things like hitting animals) the trainer's record is also on the line because he was responsible for the training...it depends on the severity of the accident and the circumstances involved.

Most people think that truck drivers make slave's wages...but that's simply not true. First year out, I made $55,000...the year I stopped driving, (as a trainer) I cleared $98,000 and I didn't work like a slave. I think it was good of Beeman to offer the "advertisement" as LTL carriers pay better, you are usually home every night, and "day-cabs" are alot easier to drive and back up than sleeper cabs are. If LTL carriers were hiring rookies when I was starting to drive, I would have driven for them in a heartbeat.

And by the way, there are your occasional "super-truckers" who think they can drive anything in any weather. They are the ones causing AND involved in accidents, but they are most normally the "seasoned" drivers with alot of years and false confidence under their belts. Believe me, rookies are aware of how little they know and it scares the crap out them for awhile...personal experience.

[PaLady]

Originally Posted by fantasymaker

I think Old Dominion is a public company and I understand that Beeman dosnt own it. Its great that he is this enthusiastic about his employer, In fact that says a lot for them as a company.

My uncle works for Old Dominion and loves it...doubles are a hard to drive...I couldn't stand them when I worked for Conway...but the pay made up for it.

[fantasymaker]

Originally Posted by TNDoc

NO company BARELY trains a student...their insurance carrier makes them train rookies for a mininimum number of hours - the least I've seen is 385hrs -

Im sorry but I veiw that as not even close to barely and, in addition, that time would have to be spread across a varity of landscapes weather,loads and equipment. I once met a Driver with over 45 years of experiance at an accident , his, and it was the first 100' of snow he had driven in.His entire career had been spent operating a cement mixer in Miami, so even though he was retired Id veiw him as inadaquatly trained.

Originally Posted by TNDoc

Also, it cost WAY WAY more than just a "few dollars" to obtain a class A CDL...mine cost $10k and 12 months of school...that doesn't sound fly by night to me.

Im glad you said that I was expecting a lot of guff about training not being as expensive as I had indicated($3500 to $12,000)

Originally Posted by TNDoc

(doesn't include things like hitting animals)

Ive got to wonder about your training program when you dont look at hiting a animal as a preventable accident.

Originally Posted by TNDoc

First year out, I made $55,000...the year I stopped driving, (as a trainer) I cleared $98,000 and I didn't work like a slave.

I think your experiance might have been a bit unusuall. In most companies $98,000 would add up to nearly a quarter million miles of driving . Id certainly feel like a slave at that point.

Originally Posted by TNDoc

And by the way, there are your occasional "super-truckers" who think they can drive anything in any weather. They are the ones causing AND involved in accidents, but they are most normally the "seasoned" drivers with alot of years and false confidence under their belts. Believe me, rookies are aware of how little they know and it scares the crap out them for awhile...personal experience.

Your right seasoned drivers make mistakes but not "normally" or they wouldnt live to be seasoned! What i was saying is Its certainly easyer for a company to "PRESSURE" a "newbie " into driving past his capability.

[PaLady]

Your earlier post said "a few dollars spent on training"...maybe I misunderstood. I certainly apologize if I did. How do rookies get experience if they don't get behind the wheel. I never said that hitting an animal wasn't a preventable accident, but I was taught, and I taught my rookies, look far enough ahead (8 seconds minimum) to be able to view the entire roadway, that way if an animal came out in the road, they'd be able to see it. However, that is not always possible, especially if you're driving and find yourself unexpectedly in heavy fog...I-80 through PA can be an absolute nightmare. The companies did view them as preventable accidents. That being said, the rule of thumb is if an animal darts out in front of you suddenly, do not swerve...hit the animal. Swerving will just roll the truck and kill you and possibly someone else. Better to have to explain the dents in the grill and fuel tanks rather than be involved in a rollover. As far as weather goes, how did you first learn to drive in inclement weather? You had to be in it to drive. The rule I lived by was if it's raining, slow WAY down and maintain an 8 second following distance,MINIMUM, thus allowing safe reaction time in the event of an accident in front of you, and second, if you feel unsafe to drive due to snow, rain, high winds, etc. get off the road and contact dispatch. The company would rather have to re-schedule the load because of this circumstance, than clean their freight up off the road. The last rule I drilled in my student's heads was, if you have to run with chains on the tires...get off the road because it isn't safe to drive period. Chains are for getting you out of an unexpected circumstance, not for putting you in the middle of an unsafe situation. Believe me, my truck either sat, or was cleared by dispatch for out-of-route miles due to active chaining requirements to get over Donner pass from Sacramento, CA to Reno, NV as well as Sister's Pass in Wyoming headed into Utah, and Cabbage Mtn Pass heading out of Idaho to Pendleton, Oregon...even as a rookie driver. I've found that taking chances just doesn't pay off in a big truck.

As far as feeling like a slave, when I made $98,000 my last year, I was running time-sensitive freight with a student. It paid nearly .50 per mile and I got all the miles the truck ran...my truck ran round the clock, unless the weather didn't permit it. The pay comes with the experience. Also, as I said before, the super-truckers are a very small percent of all truck drivers on the road, however, they are the ones who take the most chances, drive in unsafe conditions the most, they are also the ones seen "trashing around" (as they call it) in truck stops, which is what causes them to run late with a load in the first place. Those factor all culminated, then added to inclement weather or heavy traffic, is just a recipe for disaster. As just an example, I was headed to LA and just inside the California border, we could hear over the CB, 2 Interstate (name of the company) truck drivers conversing via CB radio, about how late they were running and they could run together and still make it on time to the consignee...one of them stated that he had been driving ten years and never had a late load and he wasn't about to start now. These two trucks were running with, at best, enough room for 3 normal sized vehicle to fit between them.(way too close obviously). A car passed one of the trucks and decided to pull in between them. When he did, the back truck hit his brakes and for some reason the truck in the front slowed down just about the same time ... the vehicle became an accordion between the two trucks and exploded...it was the worst thing I've ever seen. And even worse, there was at least one child in the car. The explosion caused other cars to start swerving and slamming on their brakes, on both sides of the interstate. (I pulled over and my student and I tried to help some on our side of the highway) When all was said and done, total vehicles involved? 5 tractor trailers, 13 cars and 5 deaths and countless injuries...during a thunderstorm. Two trucks running, pretty much, nose to tail, and an unsafe motorist (the unsuspecting public?) in an unsafe situation...sad but very very true.

[NWoods_Hippie]

TNDoc,

Please ignore FantasyMaker, he is always right (in his mind) and will continue to push his slanted and narrow views on anyone who will argue with him!

I myself don't have a CDL but I am a volunteer firefighter, and with regard to that "hitting animals" thing, we have always been and will continue to be taught to run the heck over them if they jump out in front of you. It is by FAR more dangerous to the driver and passengers to swerve to avoid a deer or whatever than to actually hit it!

Margie

[Windy in Kansas]

Originally Posted by NWoods_Hippie

with regard to that "hitting animals" thing, we have always been and will continue to be taught to run the heck over them if they jump out in front of you. I

I thought everyone knew that it was best not to swerve not to stop in the middle of ones traffic lane.

Also flash headlights instead of honking if you vehicle allows it.

Deer Alert bumper whistles may or may not work but is still a few dollars well spent.

Sorry for the off topic rattle.

[Beeman]

I've removed the company I work fors name. Do the research, go to the site I gave and any possible questions PM me. I am in no way looking for employees for my company, just wanting everyone to be employed that wants to be employed.

[NWoods_Hippie]

WiK,

What you have been taught it correct, we had a really sad one car accident about this time last year, a woman swerved to avoid hitting a deer (in a very large Dodge truck), lost control of the truck, rolled several times and the outcome truck totaled, woman dead, deer just fine and will probably go on to produce a few million more which we really don't need!!

But I do honk in the day time, flashing lights don't get a deer's attention much in the day, but at night yes I flash my lights if given the chance, and I have "clipped" many a deer.

Margie

[PaLady]

Originally Posted by NWoods_Hippie

TNDoc,

Please ignore FantasyMaker, he is always right (in his mind) and will continue to push his slanted and narrow views on anyone who will argue with him!

I myself don't have a CDL but I am a volunteer firefighter, and with regard to that "hitting animals" thing, we have always been and will continue to be taught to run the heck over them if they jump out in front of you. It is by FAR more dangerous to the driver and passengers to swerve to avoid a deer or whatever than to actually hit it!

Margie

Thanks for the words Margie. Even though we were taught not to swerve, I have to admit it's the hardest reaction to control. Who wants to kill Bambi or Thumper right? However, I have and will continue to do so...there's a million of them and only one of me...and I'm thinking I want to be around for awhile to enjoy my kids and grandchild.

A difference in opinion doesn't bother me...it's just everybody has had a first job, a first day on a job, drivin for the first time, etc...the only way they get better is experience and time. Instead of being critical, become part of the solution...maybe pitch an new training program to schools or trucking companies??? They want their drivers,freight and the public safe too...and are ususally willing to do whatever needs done to attain that goal.