I need to vent WTF !!!!!!!!!!!

Everyone has to pay the piper. The first year will go quick and then you can call the shots.

 

>>>> but you try to get in with what you think is a good company and they tell you this line of crap, go to work for someone else for 6 months and then give us a call. WTF!!!

WTF?...Most 'good' companies want some experience...They're good because they don't just take anyone out of school...

And what some call bottom feeders are "good" companies...I think my company, to some, would fall in that category but I consider them a "good" company because they treat me great, pay is always right and I get home when I want with all the miles I can handle...What more could you want?...

 

The big problem is experience. What is true, but nobody seems to tell new drivers, is that a CDL is a license to learn. Now what I am saying probably isn't what you want to hear but when you get 500,000 miles you will know it was true.

Let me share with you my thoughts on experience. When a driver has ~3 years/400,000 miles he is becoming seasoned. When a driver has 7+ years/1,000,000 he is a veteran. I am still working on my veteran status. Until you have a year of experience, you don't have many options. The good companies want two or three years experience. That is why they are the good companies.

Paying for your own training is the way to go. You made an excellent choice. It keeps you from being indebted to the company that trained you. It does not however give you a different list of starter companies. They are at the bottom of the barrel because they take new drivers. Good luck.

 

Furniture only goes out of a few terminals and is only 5-10% of my loads and being I'm 47, I'm far from a young man! LOL Other than that, a road test won't show much of what they really need to know...Driving and turning is well and good but only experience can get you into and out of the places you'll be going and that takes experience...

And honestly, the multi-stop furniture runs will give you, or at least it did me, that experience FASTer than almost any type of hauling...You will be hitting the greatest variety of docks(i.e. 500+ dock warehouses to the ones originally built for horse and buggies) in the shortest amount of time...Docks I used to look at and go "oh schit, no way!" I now have no anxiety over and without those furniture runs, it would still be "oh schit, no way!"...

Even if you choose a "bottom feeder" to gain experience, it'll be worth it...Heck, just parking at night when you're dead tired between 2 trucks that are hugging the lines is also the experience you want and will need..The last thing you want to do is get on with a company you REALLY think you want to be with and make a mistake from lack of experience and lose it...Even companies with bad reputations have many happy people, like chocolate, strawberry and vanilla, there's someplace for everyone!....Good luck!!!!!

 

Outside of hauling certain commodities, chemicals, missles, etc,

what Good companies turned you down?

And remember- a refusal by phone doesn't always count.

Showing up in person really works wonders.

 

The best thing is to find a company and get some experience. The more experience the bigger the paycheck and the more your options. I don't consider any company who hires inexperienced drivers as bottom feeders. I really detest that term. Were it not for some of these training carriers, many would never be able to work in this business. It not only demeans the company, but the drivers who work for them. If you work for them you are also putting yourself down. Not every carrier can afford to hire inexperienced drivers. Most of us have minimum experience requirements.

 

It takes time and experience. We have been trying to tell new drivers that for a long time now.
Perhaps your nickname "RENEGADE" speaks volumes.
Try to fit in and learn .

 

All sound advice for sure. If I could add anything it would be find a company that will hire you and stay there. The "good" companies frown on job hoppers. Don't rush it. That year or two will fly by and then you'll be more marketable. Hang in there and good luck.