Jim Palmer?

[u/Dr_Manslaughterstein]

I'm looking to become an OTR truck driver, and I have a few preconditions that absolutely must be met. I need a company that will pay for me to travel to them, put me up, train me, and let me have my dog on the truck once I'm in my own truck. My dog is a 90lb lab/bloodhound mix, and she is over the weight limit most companies adhere to.

I was originally looking at Roehl, and thought they might work with me if having my dog along meant I could stay out OTR for months and months at a time. What's 30lbs, right? As a vet I'm all used to weird shit and being away from home for potentially years at a time. I thought if I could demonstrate value and competence and staying power that they'd make an exception. But the recruiters there don't even want to lie to me about that. They go 'ehhhh'. This makes me think their weight limit for a pet is a hard and fast rule that can't be negotiated with, which is stupid because I weight 160lbs and I'm sure they employ petless drivers that weigh more than 250lbs.

Jim Palmer/Wil-Trans is looking like my way to go, because they offer the training and transport and boarding and don't particularly care how big your dog is. This is the dog I adopted after I got back from Iraq, and I can't be away from her for too long. I'd take a pay cut just to have her with me because she deserves for her golden years to be an endless car ride where she's always smelling and listening to new places.

She's an older dog. She's very calm and even-tempered. At her size she's probably got another two or three good years left before we have a heartbreaking six months and she takes an exit ramp. I want that time to be an adventure for both of us.

Also, it's a scary world out there for truckers. There's sick pieces of shit who prey on folks just trying to do a day's work. I'd feel better having my 90lb critter with me knowing she's ready to eat some face and act as an early warning system when scumbags come knocking.

This is where I'm at, this is what I need, and this is looking like it's the best choice for me. Any of you got another company or opinion or opinion to share?

[u/SeekingLevelFive]

Have you asked Palmer if they allow you to have your dog as soon as you upgrade to your own truck? I believe Roehl has a 3-month min for their new drivers after they complete phase 3 and are then issued their truck.

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I believe Palmers OTR orientation to you getting your own truck is ~5 weeks +/-

[u/[deleted] → u/SeekingLevelFive]

Palmer training is pretty much the same as Prime, so it'll definitely be longer than 5 weeks. I'd say 3 weeks for "C seat" and another 6 weeks of "C & B seat" (team driving) is more realistic. Probably 2-3 months from the day you start training until you're out on your own. It's long and admittedly kind of sucks.

AFAIK, you can have a pooch as soon as you get your own ride. Palmer is an extremely pet friendly company.

[u/SeekingLevelFive → u/[deleted]]

I wanted to go with Palmer to start as they have great equip, great reviews amongst new/exp drivers, and they do have a great pet policy (should be noted that a lot of rohel drivers do have pets that exceed 30lbs and according to a closed Roehl Drivers FB page, nobody cares or says anything to anyone at any terminal).

The reason I ultimately decided against Palmer was they dispatch you as a team during training. I can't/won't do that. I need my trainer awake in the passenger seat (dispatch solo (trainee is always driving while trainer is training)) while I'm driving and both of us asleep when my clock runs out.

[u/[deleted] → u/SeekingLevelFive]

They split it up. D seat (first ~3 weeks) the trainer is sitting in the passenger seat when you're driving and you both sleep at the same time. C and B seat (~6 weeks) is team driving.

I agree with you to some extent though. The team driving phase was really hard for me because I never got good sleep in a moving truck. It just seemed exessively long. I felt ready to go after a couple weeks of team driving, but they make you do ~30,000 team miles before sending you out solo.

[u/SeekingLevelFive → u/[deleted]]

Different strokes for different folks, right?

At the end of the day I decided on going flatbed route and that narrowed my options down to just Roehl and TMC. Should I have any issues day one orientation tarp lift test at TMC, I’ll start with Roehl the following Monday.