I got my CDL A; will my MVR disqualify me from bulk?

Prime Inc. Tanker Division | Bulk Liquid Transport Carriers

 

Just curious: If you've never been a truck driver before, why the insistence on a job driving a manual? Been listening to too many super truckers talking out of their rears, have ya?

 

You took the words out of my mouth. Lol, driving a manual has that look, kind of like driving a Peterbilt does. Me personally, I don't think a Peterbilt is the best truck on the market. I'm a Volvo and Mack kind of guy, and I say that with no shame lol, but I digress.

OP, lot of drivers young and old get caught up on the the type of transmission and it really doesn't make a difference which transmission is in the truck. A driver has to learn how to drive that particular truck. Each one is different. People talk a lot of trash about autos but they make life easy. I like anything that makes trucking easy. Lol

 

@Ol' Red --

Veteran Schneider driver here.

Now, I do hazmat tanker duty...hauling fuel. But NOT with Schneider.

Yes, Schneider Bulk will hire you right out of CDL school.

But there are better choices out there.

Until you get some experience under your belt (2 years, or more)--stay away from hazmat tanker duty.

In the meantime--get all those endorsements--tanker, hazmat, and also doubles/triples.

Get a TWIC card, too.

--Lual

 

If you don't get into tanker, the most consistent freight out of the upper Midwest is in Reefer. You'll never miss a paycheck due to slow freight.

 

Experience driving a personal vehicle with a manual transmission will make it MORE difficult to learn the manual transmission in a semi-truck. You use the clutch in a big truck VERY differently than in the 4-wheeler. If I was starting in trucking now I would have a preference to drive a manual transmission, just to avoid the auto-restriction on my CDL but I would not do much more than shop for a CDL school with manuals or if the school had them demand to be trained on them. I wouldn't pay much more for the manual, they are just disappearing from the industry most of OTR is auto and every model year many fewer new trucks are even available with manual. Stop and go traffic is in most cities and autos are great for city traffic. I used to be one of the old drivers saying get the manual experience. It's almost like having a preference for the color of the truck, in my mind. 75% of trucking can easily be done with auto or manual. Maybe 80-90% of new trucks are already autos. All but 3-5 years of my 28 year career was in 9,10, Super 10, and lastly 13 speed. It was nice to have a 13 speed out West in the mountains, but auto would have worked, also.

 

Many companies are going to Automatics anyway, so an "automatic restriction" isn't too big of a deal

 

Recent grad here. Just some input from what I’m seeing in the job market. Most companies are automatics only or have enough automatics that your restriction won’t hurt you. I’ve only seen a handful of companies require no auto restrictions. Those same companies usually require a million years of experience and don’t pay that well compared to other companies that don’t have all of those requirements.

The key is to go to a good CDL school (I recommend community colleges) and get all of your endorsements from day 1. You’ll discover that a lot of the jobs that require 1 year experience have exceptions to that rule if you went to the right school.

I’ve driven 10 speeds and automatics. It’s much more enjoyable of an experience in the automatic. The manual makes you feel like a big boy trucker, but sucks if doing any kind of local driving.

 

First, you ain't "Ol'" anything.
LOL.
Second, you should consider going where the money is. Please consider this seriously.
Right now reefer seems to be the ticket up in Mini-soda.
Most likely easier to get a good job in that line of trucking.
You can always switch to tankers later.