Anyone here start their driving career after

Denise,

I'm sure you will do great! One thing to remember, you will do a fair amount of night driving......so if you have any issues driving at night (or just uncomfortable driving at night) make sure you get those peepers checked. When driving a large vehicle at night those issues just get magnified. One other issue some people quit over, is having to change driving schedules often. I would trying sleeping during the day, and then see if you can stay up for 11 hours or vise versa, many people have always been on a certain schedule, and then when they have to go to bed at 1PM and then make a drop at 1AM, and then the next day flip flop back to their old schedule, they decide this career is just not for them. I know many drivers who thought they would have pretty much the same schedule everyday (6AM-6PM) and quit within a few weeks after they found out that often they will need to make deliveries at odd hours, and sleep when its time to sleep even if thats 2 pm in the afternoon. Just something to think about.

 

Yep he was driving doing regional until a couple of months ago. He got laid off. they did talk about him coming back as a contract driver. I told him they needed to pay him a bunch more to cover his SSN and taxes. They didn't like that!

Just another company trying to screw the American worker. He lives in N.Mississippi. Not much going on there at all!

 

Buuuuuut, Wasn't that 5-6 years ago when they hired on ??? Facts, just the facts, 5-6 years ago was a "driver shortage". just asking........

 

As a new driver you become the company slave, and will just do the best you can without being unsafe. Depending on the company you will do a fair share of night driving. There are more details, but here are the basics on HOS

You have 14 hours a day to work with, once you start this time, you need to be off the clock in 14 hours (AE: Start a 5AM you need to be off the clock by 7PM) Within those 14 hours you can drive 11 hours......you notice you have an extra 3 hours, those can be used for fueling, lumping, or what ever. There is also another element to this game, you can not exceed 70 hours (drive time) in eight days........so you need to be aware how you are logging your time........if your driving be on the drive line, if your not get off that drive line because it effects that big picture of 70 hrs in eight days rule. There are things like split breaking, but many companies that train students will not let you use this option, unless safety approves it. There is also something called a reset if you exceed 70 hr rule, but the way freight moves these days, often you will get a reset of your hours during the week before you need to, so often it will not come into play.
I'm sure some of that may not make sense, but it will when you go to school. Its very simple plan, but you really need to understand it in detail, to make those hours work for you, so your not always turning down loads, because you do not have the hours to make the delivery in time.

 

Denise,

I have had many careers in my short life (and many short lived) I love driving a truck, but this life style is very hard on your body and mind. I have so much respect for these professional drivers that have been in this industy for so many years. I now work as a fill in driver for an O/O with a few trucks. My schedule is very predictable, and I only work part time. Until you have been driving in bad traffic all day, go to bed exausted without a shower (thinking you will grab one in the morning) and then get a dispatch in the middle of the night, that as soon as you rub your eyes in the morning, requires you to get on that road ASAP and then that next night (still no shower) sitting in a mud parking lot, next to your drop (not near any truck stops) and then driving another 11 hrs for the delivery.....on and on and on....that is trucking in a nut shell. When you finally get that hot shower 2 days later, and climb in the bunk......your out like the light. The next day you get up, and start all over. Its just very hard work, not only physically, but mentally balancing your HOS, and managing your time......not to mention runnning a business if your an O/O.

I think anyone can be a success at this career, just have to want to be very bad, or you will never survive.

 

Johnny are you familiar with Soberliner? Franklin amybe?