My Journey as a Truck Driver

Have you spoke with Marvin Keller recruiter yet?
I'm interested in them also but there is very little info available on them.

 

Lets be even more honest: The big trucking companies and their customers view truckers as even lower class than society does. With the advent of the Mexican trucking program and all the immigrant truckers being brought in because they'll accept slave wages and slave working conditions, don't think it's not going to happen to the "new generation" of truckers; ie. former professionals who lost their good paying jobs to globalism. Truck drivers are a commodity, pure and simple. It's classified as low skilled labor by the BLS (which is stupid). It sucks, but it is the way it is.

 

First i'll say to you, good luck. Trucking is one of the most dangerous, most difficult, and underated profession in the world. It's any country's economic backbone. To succeed, you'll need to learn how to live (survive) as if you were homeless. Second, your math skills need to be above avg. Third, you'll need to know how to make money by running legal and at the same time know how to play the system, by using it to your advantage(you'll soon discover what i mean) good luck, i mean that..

 

Do you recall how long the training period is with Marvin Keller ?
Also, I wonder if you can get home on the weekends during training.
How long are your weekends ?

 

I did flatbed dispatch at Roehl. It does pay more, your average length of haul will be longer than a van driver however your weekly miles are likely to be a bit less. It's also very seasonal, this time of year is hard on flatbed, when construction slows so does freight. When I was there flatbed turnover seemed to be less than van or refer, tighter knit group within the office. As I understand it they may have expanded the flatbed dispatch team outside of Marshfield so that could create a gap in the dispatcher/planner relationship.

With all that being said, I would still suggest going the flatbed route. If you find it's not for you, you can always make the switch to another division. A lot of people will tell you start in vans and gain experience and then switch to flatbed because you'll have less to worry about learning. The training is outstanding and the flatbed trainers want you to be successful, not only for your good but for themselves. Eventually they'll be picking up a load that you relayed and if they fail to train you on securement they'll be redoing it before driving.

That's the route I would take, get some solid experience with Roehl and the flatbed group and maybe after a year or so start looking for a smaller company to run flats with so your earning potential goes up.

 

It's more work than driving van, more to it than opening and closing doors. Flatbedders I would say for the most part stay in better shape physically.

 

Shrug I like your post and your attitude.I also came from a high stress high paying carreer that gave me high blood pressure and other health problems that just wasnt worth it anymore.Heres what iI did,Cr england offered a school in TX. that took 2 weeks to get a cdl.I grew up on a farm so I was able to pickup driving a truck real easy,Got a 100 on my cdl driving test from the state.CR enland was a nightmare,would not recomend this route to anyone unless I hated them and I dont hate anybody that bad.Went with a trainer after school was done for 3wks,then I went to salt lake to get a truck.Got extremely lucky and got a new truck (company) and was sent to help on a dedicated walmart fleet out of Reno NV.Like you I had sold my home in central TX. and put every thing in storage,and was prepared to live on the road for whatever time it took.I liked the Reno gig and they liked me so I stayed there and had a great time.
The snow came and everything changed,I had been there 6mos. and got real tired real quick of putting on chains and going over donner pass every day.I had my 6mos. under my belt,so I looked and found a co. in TX. that only required 6mos otr exp.so away I went.Arnold trans. was my next move so went there to get mor exp. didnt like it that much because of low miles,but stuck itout 6mos and moved to usexpress as a co driver.Did 6mos. and again wasnt getting the miles I wanted(was making 500-700/wk).Told my dispatcher that I had to find a better job,I now had 1 1/2 yrs exp.They talked me into a lease,at that time they only had 300 lease trucks.I did very well with thier program because I never hardly took any home time and drove my ### off.I did 3 1yr. leases with usexpress and did pretty good all things considered(avg.about 50k each yr).
I have just started another co. that is small,very good equipment and a great staff.What Im trying to tell you is what alot of these other guys on here are saying.It sucks at first but put your time in,drive good equipment,and be safe.Dont push yourself to fast.Just like you said,with csa and all the b.s. you have to do to drive a truck,I also think it will shake out the bad apples and crappy trucking cos.,whereas in a few yrs a good cleancut pro truck driver will be able to pick his own destiny.Keep up the post and I really do wish you luck.P.S. Theres some really great people out here and I still stay out mos. at a time I just make my own fun at all the great places I pick to stay at.