Hello I'm getting ready to go to truck driving school at a community college in NC. I'll be starting class in March and hopefully graduating at the end of April. I just have a few questions for anyone who can help. When I graduate truck school I want to team with my brother who has his cdl but only drove tractor trailers for about three months back in 2005. He didn't like trucking back then because he wasn't out of his partying years yet. He's grown up as have I and were ready to hit the road together and make some cash and see the country together. So my question is since he's been out of trucking so long does he need to go back to truck school for the entire class or should he take a refresher course? Question two when I get my cdl does anyone know of a good starting company we can work for as a team? Question three when we hit the road is there a good GPS system anyone can tell me about that works well for truckers or are they a waste of money in this profession? If anyone can answer any or all of these questions I would appreciate it.
It seems like someone asks those same questions every couple of days. Read, use the search tool, and learn. Your questions have been asked and answered many times. Good luck.
I am sure the mega outfits will take your brother but he will be put with a trainer for about six weeks since it's been five years since he has driven.
You would both need to team with a more experienced driver for several months. Congratulations on your choice of schools. I went there in 1964 when their classroom was on the campus of NC State.
Welcome to the forum NCTrucker! I can't answer your questions from a standpoint of experience because I'm a wannabe myself. I will make a couple of suggestions (or 5) based on what I've read here in the forum. 1) Get together with your brother and make a list of 25-50 carriers that you've heard of or whose trucks you have seen. 2) Once you have your list go to this site: https://ai.fmcsa.dot.gov and find out what each carrier's Driver SEA score is and what each carrier's Vehicle SEA score is and what their ISS-D Recommendation is. Once you get to the site, it's pretty much a "click and search" to find out how to navigate around the site and find the carrier. I recommend this step because of what is called CSA 2010 (just google CSA 2010). It's basically (and I mean basically, there's really a lot to it) a new method the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is using to focus on carrier safety and driver safety. I strongly recommend that you get at least a working knowledge of CSA 2010. 3) Eliminate carriers that have the most horrid of scores in SAFESTAT and ISS-D Recommendation. 4) Make direct contact, by phone, with the recruiting department of the carriers that survive the cut. Have all your questions ready when you call the recruiters at the carriers. 5) CONTINUE TO DO RESEARCH using this forum. Don't eliminate a carrier just because of 1, or even 20, bad comments. Sometimes someone will post something negative about a carrier and everyone and his brother will come out of the woodwork to add their 2 cents worth. Eliminate a carrier when your "comfort zone" gets to be uncomfortable. Conversely, don't get on the "bandwagon" if you read a few posts glorifying a carrier. Finally, find, through reading lots and lots of posts, a handful of members here that you believe are straight-shooters; avoid the whiners and criers like the plague. Some of the "straight-shooters" will have some negative comments but they will back up the comments with proof. Okay, sermon over. Good luck to you and your brother! Stay in touch with us here and thanks for joining!
Thank You for the tips Oldnewbiegonnabe. Looked up CSA2010: http://www.csa2010.com/articles/CSA2010_Driver_Introduction.htm & http://www.csa2010.com/articles/DSMS_(Driver_Safety_Measurement_System)_Methodology.htm I am thinking about OTR again with my wife. I don't know what to think about it. The I don't trust Uncle (Sam) Is thinking "Here we go again with more Regulations" The Opportunist in me is thinking "No More Super Trucker?" (Log Burning,Brown Nose,New Truck For Running Scales Company Drivers) I have a chance if I keep a safe/clean record. The Logical part of me is thinking "Why did it take this long for law makers to do this? A extra fines/tax on trucking company's? Wait, maybe that was my Cynical Side hiding behind Logic? What Do You Think?
I do a lot of reading. As I said, I'm a wannabe, a 56 year old wannabe, and I've learned over the years to make sure I know what I'm getting myself into before I get myself into it. I learned mostly the hard way...ya know, diving in headfirst without checking the depth of the water. Well, these days, at the height of my "wannabeism", I find I have lots of time between bus routes (I'm driving a school bus until I start driving school this summer) to read. I've been a little surprised at how much I like reading about the trucking industry, not just about trucking. I've had some help in that direction, as far as finding reading material, from some really good members here on the forum. Plus, these days you can Google anything, everything! My gut feeling from reading what I've read is that 1) trucking will plod along and begin to resurface as a viable career for a limited number of NEW, GOOD, SAFE drivers, 2) CSA 2010, once all the rough edges are ironed out, will be a good thing for the industry overall, 3) the "old hands" that have been doing it right all along will still be around to help the rest of us, and 4) I think all the new "stuff" that's coming down the pike (EOBRs, increased driver medical standards, HOS (once they finally write a final, final, final.....rule), California dropping off into the Pacific (lol, that's at least 5 years out), and others will make trucking even more attractive to the young and the not so young.
Hey NC... I'm pretty sure I'm in your class. I'm the bald white guy with the red goat! See ya monday!
