Job History- Retired

More than likely you are. But it's good to get the potential pitfalls squared away before investing in the the time and cost of your CDL.

 

Old Dominion Freight Line drivers make excellent money doing line haul.
This company hires new cdl grads from approved schools.
My buddy went there and made over $70K his first year as a solo line haul driver and home every day.
Old Dominion is big in PA.

 

Do you have anything big keeping you and your wife in the area?

If not. Sell your stuff, clear your debt and travel while you are both young enough to enjoy it. Your pension is more than enough for two people to live on comfortably in many countries.

 

Get paid to see the country. Best thing I ever did!

 

Just to make sure you weren't somewhere in the Middle East at some Al Queda training camp. Just account for your time. A notarized letter from a friend or relative will normally suffice for most companies.

 

This is the best thing I’ve read in a while. This industry is one big bureaucratic Seinfeld episode. Our trade is exempted from the normal laws that encourage folks to act right (fair labor laws), then we create a huge agency (fmsca) to encourage those same folks to act right. Now that agency is a self-perpetuating monster full of your typical insular government employees. And the DOT says I can’t smoke weed even for a medical reason in a weed-legal state...when half of the truckers I know are alcoholics. I take a physical every two years where some creepy doctor eyeballs my beanbag and makes sure I don’t have a hernia ( who has ever crashed a truck into a school due to an emergency acute previously undiagnosed hernia??) while we give CDLs to unqualified, undertrained drivers who merge into I 5 from the shoulder at 8 mph after stopping to update their Facebook. It’s mind-boggling. Rant over.
OP, a community college is probably best place for good cdl training.

 

I am in the same boat. Retiring in July, going to drive for someone for the time being.

 

I have linked to Title 49 CFR 200 series rules before (US Railway rules). This is Subpart C to 243. I have several relatives that work for Norfolk Southern and CSX. The US DOT is not just picking on Truck Drivers. If interested scan through all the hoops that have to be crossed to work for a US RR company. (class one railways generally don't hire felons). Look at what you have to go through to be a certified Conductor. 49 CFR 242. My point? While I don't agree with a lot of this BS, it is a fact almost all people that work in the transportation industry are working under a lot of Federal Oversight. Anybody opened a bank account recently? Last time I went through that process I had to have two forms of ID and one HAD to show my current address.

When I see someone advised to (bend the truth) to obfuscate something negative from their past I hang my head. In the past 20 or so years database after database has been created. HireRight? Is just the largest employment history database FAR from being the only one. I was speaking to a neighbor that works for an insurance company over breakfast the other day. Almost ALL insurance carriers regardless of who underwrites will report ANY money paid into the CLUE database. About a year ago an applicant was sent home from CRETE orientation because he lied about an accident that was NOT even his fault. Not a lie on the application, but during an interview was asked about an accident that involved a death in Florida. The interviewer just wanted to know what happened. The applicant still denied the entire incident. The interviewer ( a good close friend of mine) had no other choice. @ZVar in post 10 has just scratched the surface here.

This subject goes back to 49 CFR 391 and what the FMCSA DEMANDS be placed in these DQFs. Yes, it's total BS and it makes me so dang angry sometimes I could spit. This is not going to get any better either. I am going to stop my rant now and get off my soapbox. Word to the wise, answer those questions honestly, ONLY answer what is asked, NEVER under any circumstances volunteer information not asked for.

 

I sold my insurance agency in 2009 at age 49 and retired. By 2015 I was going nuts and needed to find something that got me out and away from the house. Got my CDL that year and now own my truck and trailer and enjoying the heck out of it. I just hope my body holds up for a few more years.

 

I retired from another industry and recently started in the trucking industry with no recent experience but had my Class A and just got all endorsements. Like you I always wanted to try this field and had some experience over 20 years ago driving straight trucks and in 2015 I transported RV 5th wheelers part time.