Attention all rookies and wannabes: Local Jobs for New Drivers

what about guys with felonies? any LTL companies that hire felons? Im in central florida and just had twins. I dont mind working hard because ive accepted the fact that i made bad decisions and have to work hard to overcome and prove im not that person. Im planning on going to Carolina cargo next week but would rather stay local or even regional. My second felony is from 2006 and apparently thats not long enough of a "clean time" for KLLM, SWIFT or any of the other top carriers to give me a chance...

 

Most companies wont hire felons ever. A few will after a while. Some depending on the type of felony. If it's stealing/drugs.. no. Some will hire after 10 years. (all of the above fall in the very few category). Also: youre in the worst place in the country for freight. Kllm and swift arent "top" carriers theyre both bottom feeders..
You can try a moving company.. florida is loaded with them. LOW pay. The work is rough for someone who hasnt done it before (i loved the work). LTL companies tend to be picky because they can. They pay well, they get their drivers home every night etc.

Consider yourself lucky you got the carolina carrier job. I imagine youre hauling produce out of florida then bringing whatever back.

 

no. i have to commute to south carolina and get in a truck and dive to cali and back to the east coast. but im told it will be a team splitting .20 a mile

 

Sorry I can't see this working out for anyone, at least anyone in the Seattle area. Believe me I have spent a lot of time trying to get a local truck job, and the only one I found that would hire me was a company that drove trucks that were the size of a U-Haul and paid $9.50 an hour (no CDL needed) I know some people here never went OTR, and while I don't doubt that, I think nowadays things are different. Insurance companies are dictating to them who they can hire, there is also this notion that it's likely that your accident will happen in the first year out there. Fact of the matter is, if your not willing to go to work for a mega carrier (Swift, CRST, Covenant, Werner) for at least a year, don't waste your money or time getting a CDL, and for heaven sakes don't sell your soul to one of these companies by having them pay for your school and then leasing a truck from them. These scams are set up so they make maximum profit off of you, they know #### well that without some kind of paper holding you to them you will bail out with the quickness. I bailed on Swift in 3 weeks, I got tired of being stuck in BUM hole, Texas 1,000 plus miles away from home without even proper sanitation.

 

I agree...but we gotta "keep on truckin" with our heads up...ill go OTR fora while if I gotta

 

if you check out careerbuilder for some local jobs NFI puts ads on there for local drivers that are rookies with no experience and drivers with experience.... but in some states they do have local work.. i worked for them for the last 2 yrs before i left and they are pretty straight with you .... when i first seen their ad for local work and how much i could gross i thought it was a ploy to get drivers in but i went anyway and i averaged a little more than what they ad stated.... and i was home everynight ... but my situation has changed and i had to leave them ..

just my 2 cents about companies who hire rookies for local work as well .....

 

Great information thanks for posting

 

I joined stevens got trained got my cdl and quit after 2weeks otr it sux big time if you have kids and a wife it sux, the pay sux too especially during first 8 weeks, i came back home started applying immediatley and now have job offers out my ears from coke,pepsi,core- mark which pay $49k-60k starting and they all know im fresh outta school!
Ingram ready mix too wanted to hire me on the spot driving cement mixers but passed because I want to stick to semis,
now i went a different route i got a job hauling belly dumps for a mom and pop company,didnt work out because their trucks were pos's and got pulled over ticketed and put out of service. So I got another job hauling cedar posts and belly dumps for a more well organized owner -operater with good trucks and it pays me well, almost touch free loads, no corporate bullshiat,I live in south Texas so it may be a regional thing but there is tons and tons of work in south Texas if you have your Cdl.
Im hauling loads to different oil sites and constructions and home every night,work mon-fri.
Stevens opened the doors for me,not cheap I have to pay them $8500 got a bill the other day,but hey it worked for me!Ill happily pay it.
a good trainer company like stevens does have its advantages like you are proffessionally trained,safteywise youll learn things at a school like that you likley wont elswhere.And IF you do your year youll get hired much easier for the higher paying local jobs like tankers ect..

Otr I couldnt imagine doin mainly because of Family and you can earn more or at least as much as 3 year otr drivers do locally If you play your cards right!
Most of my fellow classmates quit too and found greener pastures even before the 8 week otr period like me.
for me the pay simply wasnt enough $350 for 8 weeks training then once youre a driver 600 to 1000 IF u get the miles plus never home? I make that here without the bs.700 on low end 1000 on the higher,every week.

Again im in Texas theres an oil boom here and lots of construction this may not be the case elswhere.my roomate at Stevens was a 15yr veteran class b still had to get training because noone in Maine would hire him, now hes with Western Express,he quit Stevens early too.
In a nutshell theres more than one way to skin a cat ,I did not plan on quitting stevens I thought id stay the contracted year but,otr wasnt for me it had its fun parts but not for me in the end my goal of having a steady decent paying job was met. Ill get my experience god willing and shoot to be an owner operator after I learn more.

 

I've been Otr for 6mo now and hate it I would love to get a local job but I can't find out how to apply for Pepsi coke or Budweiser I have a clean cdl but miss having a life

 

Why you consider Saia a bottom feeder, they are not the highest ltl but you compare to conway(which i was there for a while)or od or vitran or even ups there in own separate category, hourly less then conway and ups but insurance is phenomenal, vacation and pto and a matched 401k and better equipment and no dock work, I forgot to mention one of the only companys I seen where driver first! Just curious on your selection of wording but besides that imo you are correct!