im driving for werner now and hoping to bring home about $35,000 this year. but after i have that first year of experience id like to find a job which pays better.
ive heard that leasing a straight truck and driving for panther pays real good. ....give me a simple answer please.
2006-09-23 04:22:49 · 6 answers · asked by Anonymous in Cars & Transportation ➔ Other - Cars & Transportation
Oh you poor thing! Werner, I am surprised you made it an entire year! LOL Do you have the option of driving for a local company? You are able to drive less and make more $ than driving OTR. Most only require you to have one year driving experience. I have found that Smith Transport and Westside are very good OTR companies, ans the pay is pretty good. My Hubby worked for JB and Covenant. He hated JB (for obvious reasons: decent pay, but no miles, and you don't want their dedicated accounts!) Covenant on the other hand didn't pay the best, but they do give you more miles. Now, as for healthcare, a local company that has the union will be your best bet. All OTR companies that I have known cost about $500.00 plus a month for coverage. With a union company, you only pay your union dues (around $50.00 a month, which is a big difference on your wallet) Stay away from CRST! Which you probably already know. Schneider is alright, for a starter, but since you have already done your first year, I would NOT advise it. My Hubby works at Roadway Express, (a union company) and would love to answer any questions you have. Hope this helps, been there done that, and congrats on the completion of your first year. Also, as for your question about leasing, it is a bad idea, any O-OP will tell ya. The price of fuel is way too high, unless you got a ****-load of money to waste, your not going to do well financially. Plus they get you coming and going when you lease. Another question, do you have your haz-mat endorsement? I do not know if you are a citizen or not(only US citizens are allowed to get haz-mat now) And you should consider getting your doubles endorsement. The test for it is very easy, if you have half a brain : ) That will help you if you wanna haul wiggles. Okay, I think I have said enough...God bless! And be careful always!
2006-09-23 04:38:14 · answer #1 · answered by yoohoosusie 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Advice from personal experience: "DUMP WERNER!" I drove otr for them for about 1.5 years. They've got some good people, but not many. A detailed Btchfest would take up a couple pages, so I'll leave it at that. With your experience, you'll be able to find work in many places. I'd look at a company's per mile pay, and ask around about how many miles per week their drivers actually roll. Being paid more per mile, but rolling fewer miles will leave you with an equal or smaller paycheck. What I did was start asking drivers what they DON'T like about their company. Putting up with $20 per hour worth of B.S. but only being paid $10 an hour means it's time to go.
2006-09-24 21:10:00 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
I think all of the above sum up the feelings of driving for various companies. The one key point is 1.5 years and NO Major moving violations or accidents. In terms of drivng for company x or y, it's a matter of opinion. You can do better then 35,000.00. Keep in mind, one feature to being OTR or even in a truck reginally, is the tax deductions. Claim it all. My log book never went home, though I might have been there sleeping ;-)!
2006-09-26 10:13:42 · answer #3 · answered by Adam 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
to be honest there are no GOOD companies to drive for they all just have different degrees of **** to put up with . if you want to drive a straight truck DONT DRIVE FOR PANTHER !!! drive for FedEx they pay good and are just a better company to drive for plus you wont have to deliver to some warehouse on the bad side of town at 2am you deliver to a FedEx terminal and the local guys take if from there when i drove for Arrow Trucking we had a bunch of guys that were former Panther Drivers if that tells you any thing . but if i were you i would look in to something local unless you like driveing OTR then stick with it and drive for FedEx . but in short FedEx = good , Panther =Bad
2006-09-23 16:02:27 · answer #4 · answered by rjm_333 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I needed to say my son got hired for Werner but never worked for them because of other plans . I`m sorry I do not have a answer for you because he went to a different field of work. Good luck!
2006-09-23 11:29:16 · answer #5 · answered by Patches 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
elite transport is a good comp. but hard to get hired onto. panther is good and i have heard stevens transport is also good. there is one by me that alot of drivers have said good things about it si jct John christner trucking http://www.johnchristner.com/.
good luck hope i could help
2006-09-23 11:36:49 · answer #6 · answered by Ben Miller 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋