I don’t think I can do this anymore.

You situation is pretty common for guys starting out.Your biggest problem is living in Florida where there isn’t as big pool of good jobs for truck drivers and the few companies there can be a lot more picky since there’s more people want the good jobs than there are jobs openings.Maybe you should have pick a skilled trade like electrician,hvac plumber welder but good luck

 

Eagle Transport Corporation | Truck Driver Jobs | Rocky Mount, NC

FLORIDA
Jacksonville
Orlando
Port Everglades
Tampa
If there are no openings, application will be held on file for 30 days.
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Applicants must have at least one year of CDL Class A driving experience with a tractor-trailer within the past seven years OR have graduated from an Eagle-Approved Driving School, meeting Eagle GPA requirements, within the past seven years (school certificate and transcript required).

 

No job openings with them, at present....in central FL.

Daily fuel/food service commute times really need to be 30 - 35 minutes....at the MOST.

-- L

 

@TNSquire can tell you all about life with Eagle Transport.

-- L

 

Have you tried dollar general? A budy of mine lives in Florida and got a job delivering to stores. Not an easy job but he’s happy.

 

Ok. You have a couple of things to learn here. Everyone has already said ad nauseum that your location is killing you. Agreed. I think you're being a little impatient in one instance: if food service is what youre looking for, then you should have taken the Sygma shuttle job, made a name for yourself and then transitioned into what you'd prefer. When you have so many disadvantages (freight market+ location)or one big disadvantage (location) you have develop flexibility. Even if you lived somewhere else you need flexibility to make it in the trucking industry.

In trucking, even if the freight recession wasn't here, to get a local job is still competitive as hell, especially in Florida. Most, if not every driver wants big money and home every night. Those jobs are really not as available as people think they are. Sure they say "Now Hiring" but those jobs can be picky because they're so desirable, even in a freight boom. They want the best of the best.

The most surefire way to make a steady paycheck is to go OTR. You won't get rich driving OTR, but you'll make a steady paycheck every week once you gain experience. You just caught a bad break with Swift. If you stay in Florida, and ever decide OTR is what you want, make sure you either look to companies that are based in Florida, or have a presence in Florida.

I know you don't want OTR and you want local, so if you want that, you may have to just get on the payroll some kind of way...dock worker, shuttle driver, etc. I'd try to get back on with Sygma as their shuttle driver, but you run the risk of having burned that bridge. Plus, that job is probably filled. You're going to have to give up something for a period of time to get what you want long term. Long hours, gotta do it. Lower pay initially, sometimes you gotta do it. We all did. Just get in the door some kind of way. If a driver quits, and said company likes you, they can hire you from within.

 

Its unfortunate after reading your trials and tribulations when entering the trucking industry. However, the key to what has occurred holds merit regarding that the word, 'Lie' is consistently going to occur whether one wants to believe it or not. Many liars, deception, deviant etc. Individuals in trucking and one thing you can never do it takes anyones word 100% just like many other things in society. However, theres usually light at the end of the tunnel even though it may seem bleek. Location plays a huge role in truck especially on a carreer level. The experience under your belt is reasonable so if you can hold a little longer something might come your way and if you can possibly relocate to a more progressive area that has a higher volume of freight traffic there will be trucking companies that will hire you. The unfortunate news is that we've living in a difficult overall economic time where inflation is rampantly increasing daily because of the tariff war globally. This is what's currently affecting the trucking industry on the forefront because we move the world's commodities. One would think as important as we are one would protect us at all cost however corruption from greed plays a huge role on the outcome that amalgamated. This revolution of trucking is a difficult one but change for the better is coming.

 

I think the root of your problems are living in FL, but I understand you can't change that. The other issue is not finding out from current working drivers at a potential employer what the actual pay and conditions are before you commit to working there. FL weather causes more people to want to live in FL than there are good paying jobs. FL manufacturers very little so the freight rates for outbound freight at always low, which causes most trucking companies to not want to bring freight to FL and to generally avoid FL. FL has an abundance of "hospitality" jobs like hotel & restaurants but fewer better paying jobs.

When you see an ad or a company web page advertising a job, you MUST have the company pass on your contact info to the current drivers inside the company doing the job that they need filled. You need to find out from the drivers doing that job about pay, schedule, working conditions, etc. Company web pages are always optimistic or misleading or depend on "creative" interpretation. Don't be the baby deer walking into the lion's cage and expect to be comfortable. Being desperate for change doesn't mean the next company that hires you is obligated to give you what you need. Trucking companies have their way to operate and they don't change for the new driver. Your job is to find out how a company operates before you decide to work there. I try to keep in touch with drivers from past jobs so if anyone of the group finds a good job we can find out and work there also. For various reasons younger drivers seem to think being isolated is normal and websites are accurate. Recruiters ARE NOT good sources of info. They are care salesmen trying to get applicants to get hired, what happens after that is not their concern.

I hope you find something better soon.

 

Don't count UPS out as they pay great and have great benefits. I live in Wichita,ks and this area is really tough to get a great job like what you want. I've been in your shoes and did 16yrs all of it OTR. I wish now that I could've seen the future cause I didn't fare to good financially. But we can't go back only forward. So that being said, a good friend who I grew up with went to work at UPS and he had to be a loader first then finally became a local driver. He was working long hours and they ran him to death (literally) but I know for a fact that he was grossing yearly over 120k. He worked there for 24 yrs and he had excellent health insurance, sick leave, vacation pay snd time and probably was in the stock market but we never talked about that none if my biz. In the end he had a heart attack at home in bed next to his wife and what sucks is he was ready to retire he was 65yo. Now then as a driver for them he used to tell me that he practically had to run at every stop to be on schedule because he said that he was on a time limit they would only give a driver xx amount of minutes at every stop. Yes it was hard work but he had a gorgeous home that was paid off a brand new dual cab nice pickup, a brand new Honda electric car and was always giving his kids money every week. I used to wish that I wouldve went with them years ago and I did get the chance but prior to that chance i was a warehouse manager for a small auto parts conpany and was standing on concrete 10hrs a day m-f and half a day on sat and did that for eight years straight and loading trucks standing up all day at UPS didn't appeal to me as I wanted to be a semi truck driver for them. But you have to be a loader first then a city driver (which didn't appeal to me at all) and then finally work into being a semi driver for UPS. Had I done that though I would havebeen a lot better off financially right now, instead of being stuck here at home taking Early retirement and not having anything. My story is different than others but this is about you. You keep that CDL as having a clean one with a solid job history is a good thing a very good thing . You have to work your way up the ladder from the bottom rung, everybody has to do this unless you're related to a millionaire that you wont have to worry about money or even work a day In your life. But if I was you, knowing what I know now at 64yo, I'd jump at the chance at UPS! There used to be a tanker outfit in Florida that seemed to be a decent good paying company but I got CRS being OTR and I can't recall their name right now. CRS=can't remember #### good luck.

 

Really?
Do you even know what literally means? At 64 years old, you should.