keep it pushing

by anthony
(Savannah Ga)

man I think this is great dawg, especially for new jacks trying to break into the industry, and get there feet wet with this trucking thing, the videos are great all aspects of the trucking world, and the backing shots that's whats up,and the truck stop experiences, all I can say is keep it pushing homie, from da seaport city. P.S. this yo boy " what's a good company to start with"

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Jan 20, 2009
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Kept us updated on the your adventures at Swift
by: Hervy

Thanks Anthony.

I sure am happy that Jimmy, Onespeed, Jennifer, Julie, and Collin has decided to help me make it more exciting here.

If you keep us up to date with your SWIFT adventure man you'll help me make it more exciting and informative too, I look forward to hearing from you.

Stay in touch,
Hervy

Jan 13, 2009
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thanks a million!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
by: Anthony

man I really appreciate the feed back, this is a #1 rated site in my book and jimmy thanks for sharing your knowledge, us newbies need this type of encouragement and this type of website, well the industry is tight right now, I have gotten accepted to 3 companies, TransAm, Swift and CRST.

Well I think I gonna go with Swift, I suppose to leave on the 27 of this month for orientation in da atl, man I know what you said jimmy about the biggies, but every body is calling for experience, so I will just get in, where I fit in, and get the experience, then try and hit the medium companies after about a year or so if it's God's will you know.

I have a lot of homies that say the same thing about the medium companies, trust I hold on to what is being said because I'm gonna learn all that I can about this business, that's just me.

When I put in, I put all in. Well once again thank you guys for everything, and Hervy I will not be a stranger you know that homie, keep it pushing dawg, peace.

Jan 08, 2009
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Keeping it pusing in 2009, trucking it up woop woop
by: hervy

What's happening Ant,

Man, Jimmy dropping some good stuff on ya, everything he said it true, the turn over is high in trucking period and probably is much higher at larger companies because of most of the stuff that he mentioned, including internal turnover.

Sometimes they hire a lot of college kids(and other people too I suppose) who could care less about the driver, trucking, or the job, they just want a pay check.

That being the case, I still won't just make the blanket statement to stay away from them. I would try and talk to someone that will be out the same terminal that you would be out of and see how the dispatchers at that terminal.

Also I would ask them if you could request a certain dispatcher so if a driver says that he has a dispatcher with a good attitude and one that coordinates the loads well you could request him.

Also ask the companies (and driver for the company) can you switch your dispatcher if you and your dispatcher are not getting along. Your relationship with the dispatcher is an important factor to your happiness. (getting home and running miles instead of sitting around)

I was leased to swift for over a year and my driver manager was excellent, we worked together real well and he became the terminal manager at Eden.

Some of the guys i talked to at all of those big companies loved it there and some hated it. Like Jimmy said, most of the time the dispatcher is going to be what makes the difference.

The ideal dispatcher would be a former driver (who stills cares about trucking and truckers of course) then went to dispatching. Unfortunately, I don't think you can just go to a company and request a retired trucker as a dispatcher.

Now at the smaller companies, there may be more dispatchers that do have experience and may even have been former truckers which means they would be more in touch with what it is like to be a driver. So again, the medium companies have a pretty good appeal.

I personally like the medium companies too. Both of the 2 after I was leased to Swift were medium. Some of them will want experienced drivers only. (Both of the ones I worked at required experience)

Here are some companies recommended by other drivers at the bottom of these two pages.

truck driving jobs

driver recommended

Be easy man, let us know what companies you end up look at and how it goes.

Jan 07, 2009
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good trucking co to start with
by: jimmy

yo Anthony. glad you like this website. I'm re/tired from 32 years in the biz. there are tons of company's to start with.

I would suggest stay away from the biggies(swift, Schneider, j.b.hunt,Werner,) i say that because their internal turnover is as bad as the driver turnover and you really want someone on the inside to sort of nurture you as you learn the biz.

Recognition means a lot in this biz. Your dispatcher becomes your friend and you need that. you'll only have family members to stay in touch with. look for a small ESTABLISHED or medium size co. small is 50- 100 trucks. medium is maybe 500-800 trucks. search on the web. the co's i mentioned above have 10,000-12,000 trucks and 3 times that in trailers.you will be a number, not Anthony.

Ask questions, try like hell to stay at that co. bite the bullet if need be. you'll fare much better if you don't jump around co to co. get 1-2 years experience, and you will be in a good position pick your co or become an o/o. You will not learn everything in 3 or 4 months.

Good luck

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