Career change to trucking

Discussion in 'Questions From New Drivers' started by Thickeyd, Jan 24, 2019.

  1. Thickeyd

    Thickeyd Bobtail Member

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    I'm actually in Newport news at the private yard but yeah it's similar. Lots of trucking going on around here for Smithfield packing and the port terminals. It's sorta a catch 22 such is life. Can't make money til you get expierence, can't get expierence til you make less money
     
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  3. x1Heavy

    x1Heavy Road Train Member

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    Trucking is a life journey, not something to be checked off against a list. Like this "Experience" you speak of.

    If you gave me a tool and told me to fix that relay inside your plant I would know nothing at all. Such a problem right? because I don't know anything.

    It would be the exact same for you until you go to school that teach you how to shift and back a truck, then pass at the DMV realzing that you learned just enough at school to pass test without killing actual people on the actual roadway with a VERY big 18 wheeler. Whoo hoo. you be a trucker now.

    Getting hired? Wal now that's the trick I think. You are not a kind of person without credentials and clearances and so on. Most of us sitting in that school yard messing with the truck don't have english much. Never mind all those credentials and clearances you have. You are young in life. Experience will take care of itself.

    I cannot tell you how I would use this experience companies keep asking for. All I know is that I am given a load on a friday night that delivers saturday night and all the dispatchers and people I could have called to solve problems have managed to go home for the weekend. Im it. With that load of potato chip going into a distribution center for a grocery chain.

    Oh joy. NOT. Isnt there something more to that life? Hell yes. In form of McKesson, high dollar medicine loads in excess of a million in value due next morning from Memphis to Detroit. And some of that is perishable. You have to be in Detroit.

    Whatever good or bad things between Memphis and Detroit will just have to be solved as you go. Experience becomes stories to tell your grand children late in life.

    That is what motivated us personally. Experience HA... anyone can get that if they live long enough.

    It is one of the biggest problems in this industry. They pretend to cry for drivers and yet exclude thousands when they finally get a nice CDL etc. Why? because the poor bairns break stuff. They want veterans.

    Vets are smart, many know where not to hire on to. You follow me?
     
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  4. Thickeyd

    Thickeyd Bobtail Member

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    For sure I do, looked into the power company same deal they only want vets. Should have joined the Navy and seen the world!
     
  5. x1Heavy

    x1Heavy Road Train Member

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    Why not?

    If the Navy would be so pleased to spend some time and invest in your current skills at sea in the nuke compartments below decks while visiting the exotic places like Hong Kong now and then....
     
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  6. Omega1

    Omega1 Heavy Load Member

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    Muttley.jpg
     
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  7. Omega1

    Omega1 Heavy Load Member

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    Okay, so I have to admit that I first thought this was a troll posting. I apologize for that assumption. The OP is a Navy vet and I am a retired Navy vet. You sir, have many options. I would like to advise you to think outside the box for a few minutes and think about all of the possibilities you have working in the nuclear field. The Navy is so strict on their "lifetime exposure levels" that makes you a prime candidate for many companies. I won't go into details about the above, but the OP knows what I'm talking about. The world is your oyster sir and I highly encourage you to explore your options outside of the trucking world. Good luck to you Sailor. I wish you fair winds and following seas.
     
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  8. jammer910Z

    jammer910Z Road Train Member

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    I'm in Seattle/North Bend now.
    It was getting here that was hell.
    Load back tomorrow in Kent for Memphis.
    Haven't checked the weather, except for the Friday forecast to get me out and over Snoqualmie.
    After that I don't care.
    It can't be any worse than the trip out.
     
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  9. Chinatown

    Chinatown Road Train Member

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    I got my Ordinary Seamans Certificate from the US Coast Guard office, but the only job I found that I really wanted was a merchant ship ported in Singapore. It supplies US Navy ships in that part of the world. The plan was to move to Singapore and find a nice apartment for my family. The wife became belligerent and stubborn and refused to move there and live among all those fake Chinese. Another dream up in smoke.
    Well, we can't always fulfill all our dreams in life.
     
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  10. x1Heavy

    x1Heavy Road Train Member

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    You are in luck. Once you making your southing towards Memphis there is no real wather to speak of between you and here.

    It's 15 degrees tonight for the lows where I am and around that lower tomorrow night but there isnt anything going on. Which is a good thing.

    Im pretty sure if you wait a week that will change.
     
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  11. weirdpuckett

    weirdpuckett Road Train Member

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    No.....stay out of trucking......you will want your old job back......even if it is boring....just take some vacations or something.......
     
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