Experience?? Why do some things not count???

unfortunatley the fact that you can drive engines tankers or any firetruck for that matter doesnt matter to these companies. My husband and i are both volunteers and him having his CDL helped on the fd but means nothing when going otr. It understand your frustration but realistically accoring to my hubby there is quite a difference between driving the rig and driving his rig. Hope you end up where you want and doing what you wan. Thank you for your services as well.

 

Hank let me tell you the other side. My company didn't take OTR experience over local tanker work. They knew it was much harder to haul loads of gasoline in the city all day long. I've driven Semi, Flats, Doubles, and Triples and driving a gasoline truck around the city takes more out of you than any OTR job I've had. You've got to be more than just alert ALL the time and there's hardly any time to relax. If I go OTR I fall alseep.

 

Paramedics have to check their trucks off every shift. We do far more paperwork. We have to keep up with every mile so the insurance Compamy can bill for it. We have to back our rig in some pretty tight places at times. We absolutely have to fuel our diesel ambulance every shift. I’m not sure what you mean by we have big time back up in case of “problems.” If an ambulance is wrecked despite whose fault it is both medics get drug tested and have to go in front of our superiors and possibly lose our drive status for a period of time or whatever they deem appropriate for what they believe happened or didn’t. We are held to a very high standard and have to drive under extreme amounts of stress dodging around a bunch of people who can not understand to just pull to the right. It’s like an obstacle course at times, going pretty fast, and with a partner working on a patient in the back of the ambulance you are driving, so breaking too hard, turning to sharp, and many other things affect a lot of what is going on in the back. It’s a big diesel truck and with the standards placed on paramedics and EMT’s, in my opinion it should absolutely count.

 

Truckers have to check their trucks off before and after every shift. We do far more paperwork. We have to keep up with every mile so the insurance Company can bill for it, and so we can do IFTA and renew IRP. We have to back our rig in some pretty tight places all the time. We absolutely have to fuel our diesel truck every shift. We don't have any big time back up in case of “problems.” If a semi truck is wrecked despite whose fault it the driver gets drug tested and have to go in front of our superiors and possibly lose our drive status for a period of time or whatever they deem appropriate for what they believe happened or didn’t. We are held to a higher standard and have to drive under extreme amounts of stress dodging around a bunch of people who can not understand to just pull to the right. It’s like an obstacle course all the time, going pretty fast, and with a 50,000 lb load on the back of the trailer you are pulling, so braking too hard, turning too sharp, and many other things affect a lot of what is going on in the back. It’s a big diesel truck and with the standards placed on truckers and steering wheel holders count.

Hope you understand the difference now. Glad this got cleared up after ten years.

 

It is quite simple. As a new CDL holder, we all have to pay our dues. No different than most jobs. The majority of Companies will require a 160 hour certificate, send you out with a trainer for 3-8 weeks. Issue you your own Tractor. If you manage to pick up and deliver on time, don't hit anything, no tickets or violations, after a Year almost any trucking job will be available to you. Yes.........lawyers and insurance companies make the rules. Not only in Trucking, but in EVERY FACET of life in America these days. It just is what it is! Good luck

 

Love when people rehash 10 yo posts to put their worthless 2 cents in