New driver, advice needed (MVR)

Thank you for making my day! This was the best comment on this thread!!

 

Which CDL school did you use? Did they say anything about those tickets when they pulled your record at the time you enrolled? Did they require you to get preapprovals from companies before you started?

I can "sort of" understand a new driver not realizing the importance of a clean record, but CDL schools absolutely should and do.

 

You know you are in a jam and you interpret anything other than "you are my hero" as an insult. I hope you overcome the obstacles you've placed in your own way. Trucking has turned many people's life around. It's not guaranteed. You have to make a lot of good decisions or you can be out of work and still owing money for school. You need 12 months of steady work and no more tickets for anything and no hitting of buildings or vehicles. Your temper is going to make that very difficult if you don't get it under control. I hope it works for you, but it's your life and it's on you, not somebody's fault if it doesn't work out. Don't Park At The Fuel Island, pull forward.

 

Yes sir they did. They let me know that it may be a little harder to score a job but they said it definitely wasn’t impossible. Which they were right. I’ve been approved by 3 companies for employment and denied by another one that I thought for sure would hire me because they’re a second chance company. I accepted the offer from a decent mega carrier because they have a pet policy and the better paying one didn’t.


I do want to apologize to the fellas that I snapped back on though. I’m sorry, I felt attacked and with my background, I snap back. I’m not the type to give unwanted “advice” or criticism so I don’t like when people give me unwanted criticism especially since I stated that I didn’t want or need any lectures.


Moral of this for the other newbies, DONT GIVE UP ON YOUR DREAMS! Just because you’ve made mistakes doesn’t mean you should give up. And don’t let these know it alls steer you away from doing what you want to do. It’s possible, just believe in yourself and MAKE IT HAPPEN! You can do and be anything you want to as long as you believe in yourself!

 

I hope you can keep your cool because you have yet to experience guard shack guys, dock workers, your dispatcher, and anyone actually that you come into contact with.

expect to be lectured daily in this life by snot nosed kids. Just let them know “your not there to be lectured, and your 7 points.” Comeback and tell us how that worked out.

good luck.

 

Glad to hear it worked out. Regardless of which carrier you go with, just make sure to mention your tickets a few times before you go to orientation and ask if safety has already reviewed them and approved you. Believe it or not, some companies don't even begin to verify your information until your first day, and they have been known to cut drivers loose for things they were told weren't a problem.

It's not uncommon for drivers to schedule orientation and then never show up, so some companies just book as many as they can and wait to sort through them until they see who comes to class. A good way to tell if a company might be like this is if they only provide travel by bus/train, put two drivers in each hotel room, and if they wait until you get there to do your drug screen.

Companies that spend a lot up front on recruits are less likely to get rid of them than those who scrimp at every turn.

 

Solid advice man, thank you! So the company I decided to go with ran my MVR while I was on the phone and told me they would call me back. They called back about 20 minutes later and said that I was approved to move forward. They then sent me a bunch of paperwork to do (onboarding) and a few videos I had to watch. They then told me to go do my drug screen and DOT physical before my orientation next week.

I live in the same city as the terminal so I won’t be needing transportation or a hotel stay.

So from what you described above, I think I’m in the clear but I suppose anything is possible.

I do appreciate your solid advice though, like really! That’s the type of information and advice I was looking for here. Thanks for being a solid person!

 

That sounds perfect. Personally, I think it's really important to have a terminal near where you live even if you plan to park the truck at your house when you're on hometime:

#1 Realistically, you're going to change companies many times in your career. When you go to leave one, you want to be able to take your hometime, clean out the truck, get it back on their property ASAP, then go home without having to ride a bus for 2 days or fork out hundreds of dollars, if not more, on a plane ticket.

#2 You're going to have things go wrong with your truck, and not all of them will have to be fixed immediately to keep the truck running safe and legal. Hometime is the perfect opportunity to leave your truck at a terminal and get all those little problems fixed that would otherwise have to be ignored to keep the wheels rolling and the money flowing.

#3 Companies tend to put terminals near where they do a lot of business. If their nearest terminal is 10 hours from your home, that may be a sign that they don't run a lot of freight near where you live. That can present a problem when you try to take time off. They like to find loads delivering as close to your home as possible to minimize the distance you drive empty.

 

OK, Nathan, I am glad you got a job but until you get into the cab on the first day, you may be one of those who the safety people talked to the insurance people and they said no.

Do you think I am picking on you?

Really?

You didn't read what I said, but it doesn't matter.

Wait until you get into a truck and nothing goes the way you want it to. You are going to have a hard time adjusting.

What gets me is this quote

Princess?

Acting like this, posting your response to me makes you one.

Just saying ...

Good luck.

 

Thank you for the feedback, I appreciate it.
I’ll keep my fingers crossed until I get into the cab and begin my first trip.

I’m sorry I reacted the way I did, I automatically go into fight or flight mode when I feel attacked. Peace