Transitioning from Garbage Truck Driver to Semi Driver

bicycle to car

 

At the end of the day you will have the same amount of garbage to deal with. Just a bit bigger vehicle.

 

it shouldn't be that bad to do,a lot of drivers have done it,like you said tho OTR might be your best first step

 

As young as you are, keep in mind the excellent benifits you have with W/M. My advice would be to let your current perks "perk" alittle longer then make the change.

I have established a 20 year retirement and now am also looking toward driving. My preferance leans towards OTR.

Good luck on what ever you decide!!

 

way back in the day I ran a real loader for BFI...I can tell you that you have been in way more tighter places with a garbage truck than 80% of the big riggers on the road..you are experienced in driving a truck..so thats a big plus because a truck is a truck weather its a MR mack or long nose KW..beyond swing wide and learning to back up you wont have any problems...you will prob discover running a tractor trailer is easier than a straight truck...rides better , handles way better...you will be fine

 

My husbanddid about the same thing, except he had mostly driven cement trucks, dump trucks and once a garbage truck. He went to log trucks and chip trucks local for 2 yrs to get some tractor trailer experience before going OTR.

Most of the local companies wanted that tracor trailer experience to hire, but it never hurts to try.

 

Did you retire from active duty military or law enforcement? If so, thank you for your service.

God bless you and your family! God bless the U.S.A.!

Originally Posted by lazer128 Searched the board to see if I could find something similar to the situation i'm in and couldnt find nothing. I'm a young 24 year old that has a class a license and has been driving garbage trucks for Waste Management for three years. Title of the topic hits the nail on the head. How much of a difference is it from a garbage truck to a 18 wheeler? Perferably don't want to go over the road but might be my only option to get a Class A job. Looking down the line of the future i'd love to get my doubles-triples and hazmat endorsement and work for Old Dominion or an established company like that.

 

They both have wheels, but drive completely different.

 

While how each type of vehicle drives is different, haveing some "large vehicle" experience will be a help. As any one can attest switching from one of those big Petes to a Mac, they will drive differenly. And thats not even counting anything your pulling. Back in a fixed axel flatbed then turn around and back in a dryvan, different pivot points, they drive different.

When my husband switched companies, he went from a freightliner to a kenworth, when he had to shift was different. The log truck loaded drove different than the flatbed loaded, which drove different than the dryvan loaded.

What i'm saying is while you maybe able to get that tractor trailer job strait from a garbage truck, just beaware that they will track different down the road, shift different and have different tolerances for everything. Good luck and drive safe.