Those kinds of $9.00 per hour jobs won't lead you anywhere. Not OTR and even when you take that kind of job you won't have the requirements to go on to better paying jobs. If I was going to fork out a few grand for a school you can bet it won't be to turn a key for $9.00 per hour. I make twice that and don't even drive a truck anymore. There are better ways to invest money in a future than being caught up in the bottom feeding of the trucking pay scale. Not trying to be-little anyone on their wages, but you can make $9.00 p.h. lots of places without dumping in several grand to get your foot in the door.

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A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels:

I tend to shy away from the lower paying jobs around here. They are not with reputable places and do not maintain equipment. Trust me, I know.

I worked for this outfit once, the mechanics stayed doped up so badly (not to mention some of the drivers) they coouldn't even walk across the shop floor without falling all over themselves. It was so bad, you could just walk into the shop and get a contact buzz... If you wanted anything done right, you'd best do it yourself or risk killing someone on the road.

Personnaly, If I can hold out until February or March, things will start to pick up around here. Being laid off isn't that bad, you get a weekly check from the state, and you get to surf the net all you want. Unfortunately for me, I'm going crazy not getting to work. But, that's just me.

This is the only reason I'm looking to go back OTR for the moment.

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Ya know, You'll have that on a big job..

I understand what you are going through driver and I agree with you. You are a perfect example of what I try to tell people, but there are those that think if you have a CDL, just go get a job. 2 factors always come in to play, recent OTR or recent grad. Good luck to you my friend. I found a gig a little while back where I could get home 2-3 nights a week with weekends off. Guess what prevented me from getting the job? If you said no recent exp. I will buy you a cup of coffee.

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A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels:

Ok, you were comparing a $9.00hr job to the price you would pay for recieving your c.d.l from a school/mill.Believe it or not but there are lots of people out there OTR MIND YOU ,that hate there current otr job now because of the time spent out and unpaid hours,that they would quit in a flash to be paid $9.00 hr to be able to drive localy as a start and be home everynight avoiding the mental issues of otr reality.If you piece the CPM formula together you will clearly see that a minimum wage job is even better to have.

Also you claim that these type of local jobs dosen't mean squat to a large otr company ??????After you complete the drug screening for any company for a commercial driving position big or small company,when you get behind that wheel, a DAC report is started and will be documented it's federal law.Straight trucking jobs will hire you in a heartbeat with a class a with verifiable experiance and there are straight truckers that are making about $21.95 hr to start.

Now lets say you drive 6months to a year local and go to say prime-tmc and you put this experiance of driving a commercial vehicle but with no trailer experiance just a straight truck,then you would probably have to do all there required training,but if you have verifiable experiance pulling a trailer you will be put on what is called a advanced orientation briefing,most of all large otr companys have these for people who have driven a tractor trailer for a decent period of time with no gaps.

There main focus for these people is getting them familiar with company policies,paperwork,trippaks,tripplanning,and saftey classes and a simple driving test.All in all i think this training for prior T-T experiance is about 2 weeks long and if your not familiar with NOOS rules then maybe a week longer.There were atleast 60 people who came through stevens who were gone in a truck on there own in 4 days with NO otr experiance ,there were some who would be assigned a trainer and back on the yard a week later awaiting there truck hanging out in the drivers lounge.

I do understand alot of companys can shot ya down quickly from the start ,but you can't quit because you aren't gonna get the starting pay you require just because you feel your overly experianced.

Bottom line .......Any verifiable experiance you have driving a tractor trailer is seriously looked at by any company out there,it does not mean however a all reefer company is going to hire you based on dump,hopper flatbed,box trailer experiance , but i guarentee you will bypass most of the basic BS about operating the truck and having to live with a trainer for 5-8 weeks, and most of the problems are with reefer companys , they know you don't know the first thing about a thermo-king etc etc,but we all know its keeping it full of fuel and learning to properly maintain the equipment and know the alarms, im sure it didn't take everybody a month to understand it.

My brother works for ABF freight out of st.louis missouri and is home everynight and makes double i make in a week all because he had experiance driving a tractor trailer (dryvan-dump-hopper) localy making less than $10.40 hr.

TopFlights~


Ps: your dumping that big money for that c.d.l , because it's almost the same as originized crime and there gonna get away with it,your either going to work a job you like for $9.00 hr driving temperarly or make just about the same starting out otr and hate it,but atleast by the time your otr training is over you would have done gotten a raise and getting good hours along with experiance.

I thought you had verifiable experiance locally ?

Good luck to ya hand, OTR isn't so bad if you have nothing holding you back,unfortunelty i have a six pack, a wife and five baby girls i did however attempt otr life while my children were still young,but realizing life is too short and the days and events you will miss will never be replaced,i knew there was a better way in the industry without starving and un able to support a family.

Driver I did not get my CDL yesterday. I have drove and pulled a little bit of everything except parking lots, and reefers. I am familar with the old ways and the current. Nothing I have stated is anything short of the truth. I myself have fallen into some of these glitches and have tried to help many others work their way through them.

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A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels:

Exactly my point! The last time I came off the road I took a local. Did that for a couple years. Later was going to go back on the road. Problem was no recent OTR, local DOES not count. That is the whole issue here that I have been talking about. No recent OTR, not a recent Grad, hello refresher course (not)

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A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels:

There were no trainers when I was coming up. I started washing trailers as a teenager. Then, I went to driver's school and drove solo for two companies before taking a union team job coast to coast. My point is that I learned more from my lead drivers at Tri-State Motor Transit than I had learned on my own. Of course, I had not driven in mountain country. Those former Willis Shaw drivers and other old-timers at Tri-State taught a lot more than company paperwork, etc. It was in their best interest to make a driver from a newbie, even one with two years of experience. I stayed with one lead driver for seven months. You can always learn from someone with experience.

What companys did you try ? did otr then went local , there had to be one heck of a gap for them to believe you seem to had forgotten everything you knew about otr driving. So even with this experiance you have thats verifiable you cannot find a local job that pays near what you desire ? I wish ya the best of luck brother , just keep trying and find something thats right for you.I wish you lived in illinois , i could get you a job driving pulling a 53' hopper making $16.50 hr awsome benifits,overtime and all through GHOI.So many people here are getting there experiance here that way for companys across the river like ccx,roadway,yellow,allied,abf,cfi,conway and theres proof of that here because these past grain haulers are making ways for drivers like me in the future.