Newbie Team Driver Wannabees - Can We Do This?

I have a question … but where do I start? How about I start 2 weeks ago … hope I don't bore you all too much!

My husband will be unemployed at the end of September 2012 due to his company closing suddenly. He has been with this company for 25 yrs; it was a complete shock to us when we were told, 2 weeks ago, that we and 1700+ other families in the company had 60 days until the end.

We are seriously considering trucking, team driving for the next 12-15 yrs until we retire. We want to work for a company for a long time, do not want to skip around from company to company. So we want to choose a good company to begin and retire with, if at all possible.

So why trucking?

We think we may be able to handle the trucking life, we may be good candidates because we have the freedom to travel, don't need to be home on weekends, kids are grown and on their own and we are already familiar with the lifestyle to some extent.

We are RV’ers, love being out driving and hauling our 30 ft travel trailer around the country behind our Dodge RAM 1500 (big truck to us, little truck to you-all, I know…), seeing the sights and camping at KOA campgrounds (whenever we had the time to do so). We had the luxury of being able to take time off work back in the early summer of 2010; we hooked up the trailer and went on the road for a month-long 3200 mile trip, spending the night at a lot of different campgrounds on our 10-state tour, not staying too long in any one place, so we could see as much as we could before we had to go back home. We had a great time, we took turns driving, we learned that we loved spending time together and could get along quite well without all the comforts of home, although our travel trailer is pretty nicely comfortable. We always joked about ‘being truckers’ if anything ever happened to his company (because you just never know what life will bring you) but never dreamed it would really become a serious consideration two years later. So when we got the bad news about his company closing we had to make a huge decision about what to do next and the first thing we both said was “I guess we’re going to get the chance to be truckers after all!”

The idea is exciting but at the same time, pretty darn scary to us.

Without going into a lot of details on a public forum, I’ll share this info with you all so you won’t think we’re too unfamiliar with all that this trucking career could entail. My husband is an airline pilot, has been a pilot since 1980. It’s all he has ever done, it’s who he is, at least for a couple more weeks. He is very familiar with HOS rules and regulations (for his industry), being paid only while moving, yet being “on duty” for many hours without pay, interacting with crew scheduling (which you all call dispatchers?), health issues while working, staying in hotels, being tired and hungry, working in a cramped space with another person (i.e. the flight deck), safety issues, team (crew) management, maintenance issues, weather issues, etc, etc. Many of the working conditions and rules/regulations that he has dealt with in his industry are fairly similar in the trucking industry. I am a former flight attendant and am also very familiar with those same issues.

So we are very familiar with traveling for a living and we know that it’s definitely a lifestyle choice, in addition to being a good means of producing income. But, until recently (and largely due to this forum), we knew nothing about the real lifestyle of truckers; we didn’t know how any of it worked, how to go about getting started, what was required to get started, the costs involved, etc.

I found this trucker’s forum about a week ago. I began reading, literally all day and all night long, until my eyes crossed, every day. I learned a lot; it was enlightening, informational and sometimes amusing and entertaining! I had times when I was so excited to get started I wished we were already hired and leaving out on a trip. And then there were times when I got a little scared while reading what the whiners had to say, wondering if things could really be all that bad. But I also know that the same thing goes on in the airline industry, I think I've heard all of this before, just about a different industry, different companies. It's all about people having to get along with other people. Some can and others cannot. It's just how the world turns.

So my emotions have been all over the place while researching this trucking lifestyle that we’re considering being a part of. But I’m not easily scared away from things I want to do; I’m the kind of person who sees another person’s negativity as a problem within themselves that I need to allow them to own, and a challenge that I might have to face ... but can overcome. I love a good challenge and more times than naught, I will succeed where others have failed, simply because they had a bad attitude … or they gave up and I didn’t.

I read ORG’s story from the beginning to the end, all in one long sitting, yesterday. I went to his thread about going on to Swift and was stunned to find he had disappeared from the forums and I didn’t get to hear the end of his story, along with all of you. I hope he’s ok and I am sad that I didn’t get to thank him for all the wonderful info and insight he provided to me in my search, even though it’s been almost two years since he began his journey into trucking. I really wanted to do that, thank him. He really painted a detailed picture of everything that my husband and I would need to deal with if we decided to pursue trucking and for that I am very grateful.

So, after cramming my brain with everything that I possibly could find in this forum to read in the past week, I realize that I am on information overload and am a bit overwhelmed, but still on board with the plan to become OTR team truck drivers. (And I also realize that my brain could sure use a little more RAM. Or maybe I just need to reboot.)

In any case, I think I have pretty much discovered all the good, the bad and even the ugly things about trucking, from getting our CDL, interviewing schools to attend, studying up on companies to avoid (which I’ve found are also on the best companies to work for list!), all the way to truck maintenance issues, breakdowns, sitting with no pay while waiting for a load ... and where to go potty. I literally barraged my husband with info while he took on the task of making phone calls to possible schools and companies that we are interested in obtaining information about.

My husband and I have looked for schools which are PTDI certified in our area, found that there are none in our state (wouldn’t you know), but found a few in NC that we might be able to attend in October. We have called them and were filled in on how to go about attending the school while having a residence in another state. We'll have to rent an apartment with a short-time lease so we can get a NC driver's license. Complicated, but doable if we really want this.

We have tentatively decided (because we know things can change) we’d like to drive for Schneider, USX or Armellini since these companies seem to be very team driver oriented. We even began calling companies yesterday, called a recruiter at USX, who sent us info in email, said they were definitely hiring teams and gave me a little info over the phone about pay, miles, orientation and where we would be sent to training after we get our CDL training.

So we’ve been on a fast-track to learning, understanding and trying to put things in order so we can get moving with all of this and then I heard about the physical testing at orientation ... and ….

So, she's finally getting to the question? Yes!

My question is about that physical testing! I am a small woman, 5’2”, 110 lbs soaking wet. I’m not a wimp by any means, but I’m not a weight lifter either!

I read in one thread that the testing requires being able to push something that weighs 100 lbs and I have to say that concerns me. That’s almost my weight! Is that even possible for a 110 lb woman to accomplish?

I love a challenge, as I’ve said above, but I also don’t want to fail due to something that I cannot control because it might be physically impossible. I'd hate to set my husband back after spending a ton of money on schooling and getting all the way to day one of orientation, and be sent home because I cannot push my weight. I also read that the testing requires me to lift 60 lbs and carry it 30 ft. I might be able to do that, with a lot of training ... is this something I can train for?

My husband just left for WalMart to buy weights so I can train. I’m serious!

I’m sure there must be a lot of women truckers out there who can enlighten me on these tests. Will someone please tell me of their experience with the weights, or post a link where I can read about it if it’s already up on the forum somewhere?

Thanks so much in advance, and also thanks for all the info I have read to-date, wish I could remember everyone’s names.

And now I'm off to find those 10 lb weights we had in the basement ... I need like 10 of them! No wait, hubby will be home with some soon.

 

Hi transam pete, thanks for the help! If this is Craig and Anne, I have seen some of their posts and will definitely check that link out and ask them some questions.

 

Thanks Klatu,
What were the physical tests like for women, do you know?

 

Thanks so much! We really appreciate the advice and info! We'll keep you posted on how it goes ...