Over the road.

Friend, I understand. The thing that I don’t want you to do is bet all the chips on getting the job and then being satisfied. Plan 5 years ahead. Don’t want to be negative, just real. How old will you and your dog be in 5 years? You are in a tight spot.

Ask the members wha percentage of newbies wipe out in orientation. How many get fired and stranded out in the middle of nowhere? What happens to you if you wipe out? You sure as hell can’t go back to Dads, can you?

Whatever you do, you had better do your absolute best to make the next 5 years count.

Luck in battle.

 

If you get situated up in Bushnell, FL -- that would set you up for a possible opportunity with this "starter" carrier:

Werner Enterprises -- all you really need is a CDL -- training for beginners -- pet friendly -- Orlando, FL

Here's some hard evidence they are pet friendly:

Werner blog -- top five tips for your furry friend

Some other drivers here on the Forum recently made some surprisingly positive comments about Werner -- good dispatch, good terminals, etc. They are well worth a good look.

Werner is one of those carriers that will really teach you how to drive a big rig.

-- L

 

My hyper active border collie/beagle mix dog was great in the truck. She was already potty trained and never had any accidents in the truck. She did pee in almost every hotel room we ever stayed in no matter how hard I tried. It was nerves I think. We might have stayed in 4 hotels in a few years.

The only time having the dog was an issue was if the truck broke down and the shop didn't allow pets in the driver lounge. Also, if I got a layover and the hotel didn't allow pets. I snuck her into a hotel in Orange, CA and she barked the first time she heard the door slam in another room. Most of the time she would stay in the truck and my last time I slept in the truck of the hotel parking lot because it was warm enough to need A/C. If your truck breaks down and needs a long tow and the tow company doesn't allow pets in the truck, it could be a problem. But these days you have access to Uber/Lyft and maybe some of them allow pets. In 3 years, it was, at most, a minor inconvenience on occassion. For the 3 x 365 -10 days it was a giant benefit for the driver/pet. Like any requirement for a future job, if you didn't have that requirement you would have more options. Of all of the requirements for a trucking job it's fairly easy to satisfy. Living in FL will be a bigger obstacle. Some customers don't allow pets. I hauled HazMat tanker and almost every customer prohibited them. Many of those customers didn't even allow human passengers, and a few required team drivers to leave the resting driver off of the property or at the entrance guard shack as in the case the plant blew up, every person kept out was once less lawsuit. Somewhere between 25-40% of trucking companies allows pets. The only answer that matters when asking "are pets allowed" comes from the Safety Dept, not past or current drivers with no pets and not people that see an ABC Trucking truck with a pet inside. Smuggling a pet was considered an immediate termination, you are kicked out of the truck where you are sort of offense at some places. They consider it the exact same thing as carrying a hitchhiker or prostitute in the truck. NEVER CONSIDER SMUGGLING A PET IN THE TRUCK. Never. Almost no home daily jobs will allow a pet to ride along due to the nature of those jobs. Maybe there are some exceptions. I'm no expert on pets and trucking but before I do something I research the carp out of it because every decision feels like a life and death decision for me.

 

We are DYING for new questions. We answer10 times per month questions like "I just signed a 6 year contract with Violent & Vicious Trucking LLC for a free CDL and I leave for orientation in 30 minutes. Are they a good place to work?"

 

Lots of the new CDL drivers have never had a job other than entry-level retail and they may just barely live outside of their parent's home. They are trained on every detail and every unusual situation is to only be handled by the manager. They get into trucking where you get little more than a pick-up address, delivery address and appointment times for each and are often expected to handle everything else. 80-90% of newbies quit long before they get 1 year of experience. Some mega fleets have most of their drivers with less than 90 days behind the steering wheel of a truck. MOST. You are 20 years younger than the average truck driver. I suspect living in an unconventional RV means you have some experience dealing with adversity or non-standard situations. If so, that's what trucking expects you to have. Your situation isn't going to require 2 miracles and a bit of luck to make it work. But you cannot just do a typical 30 second Google search of "free" CDL and signing a 1 year contract like most newbies. Don't rush into a trucking company because you have to be out of your place by Tues at 4pm and don't rely on the company web page and a recruiter telling you whatever you want to hear. Ask open-ended questions and make them put you in contact with current working drivers at the company doing the work they want you to do, Stay away from any dedicated dollar type stores. Often recruiters will string you along after you tell them you want OTR and then at the last minute recommend you switch to "our dedicated X store account that pays a little more and has a more regular schedule." Those accounts are poison for newbies for multiple reasons. They are obstacle courses for backing the trailer and you will hit things and they will eventually fire you for hitting stuff. Now you have a really hard time getting any other driving job. Stay away from dollar type stores, whatever the actual name of the store might be. Dollar General, Family Dollar, 99 Cent store, are just some of the most common names. ANY of them have the same issues and veteran driver avoid them like the plague. Pick a company like it's a 1 year commitment you cannot easily leave. Less than 12 months at a company is somewhat less desirable and in a slow industry you don't want to add obstacles to your path. Make long-term decisions. Its common to switch companies after 1 year because you now know what things about the job make the difference between a good job for you and this might be better for other drivers, not me. Switch jobs in the industry as few times as possible. Stay put for as many years as possible. A lot of better treatment at a company comes from just having seniority and them knowing you are reliable. Being the new guy is hard, once you get past it the job gets easier. You will have a few occasions during the first year where trucking seems like the worst job and nobody would want to do it. It will quickly pass and you'll just be treated like a cog in the machine. If you are a genuine adult, you can do it easily. If you are like the standard spoiled child that's never overcome ANY difficulty stay away from trucking. Be honest with yourself. REALLY HONEST.

 

Kudos to Chinatown and Lual, they seem to chime in on every post looking for job assistance, Great job Gentlemen.