Starting out at 22 years old

I know TMC is a flatbed outfit and their recruiter is coming at school tomorrow again.When he was there 3 weeks ago he clearly said you have to be 23 in order to go with them and i am not saying there is no other companies out there that want hire anyone under 23

 

If at all possible pay for your own schooling, because signing a contract is going to obligate you to a company you might not like ! also remember this , ALL RECRUITERS LIE !!!!

 

Melton Truck Lines will hire you if you're 21 or older. They are exclusively a flatbed gig. They hire out of private CDL school. So does Prime Inc, Schneider National/Bulk, Maverick, etc. Those are only a select few, and there are many more. Granted, a lot of companies want you to be 23 years of age or older, but all you need is to get your foot in the door at a starter company for 1 year, you're 23, and there will be many more possibilities. You don't need to find the best company to work for out of the gate, you just gotta get your feet wet for a year. I'm heavily looking into Melton and Schneider Bulk, because flatbed and tanker is where all of the money is at, and they seem to be decent companies - or so my research has stated. The key other than finding a starter company that will hire you and where you meet age requirements but also, you need to fall within their hiring area too.

I'm curious to hear from melon, and what he is thinking about doing now.

 

Prime is not a bad company at all. They have a terminal in Pittston, Pa. It's a job like anything else there will always be good things you will like and bad things you won't like. As far as getting "shafted or screwed" it's always been my experience to see people who lie to try to cover up mistakes or personal histories that get the shaft in orientation. The guys who get the shaft in a lease get it because they get stupid with Thier money ( ex. They get a couple of loads that pay really well and then they go home and buy a new car.). Now they have no money put back for times of dry freight. There are a lot of things to talk about with leasing and I don't want to make this into a leasing argument thread. On the company side of prime you don't have to worry about a lease. sure you'll have to start out in a lightweight truck (smaller sleeper) but if you stick it out you could get a condo sleeper eventually.
company trucks are typically governed at 58 on the floor and 62 on the cruise whereas lease trucks are governed at 62 on the floor and 65 on the cruise.

prime has an excellent training program. One on one with an instructor (PSD phase)and same with the continued training (TNT phase). I challenge anyone to find a company to beat Prime's Christmas pArties. ( that's another story ) . Ok I'm about to ramble on here, bad habit of mine.

good luck with the trucking endeavor.

 

I'm 22 years old right now. In my (short) career I've been 16-feet wide, 15-ft. 11-in. tall, 95-ft. on a stretch load, well over 100,000 gross, pulled reefers, tankers, flats, steps, lowboys...

My honest advice, is look for small companies that would be willing to teach you. Learn from veteran drivers. The trucking schools are a waste of time in my opinion, especially for those of us that are younger. If you aren't over 23, it's going to be hell getting a driving job anyway, whether you learned the old way, like I did, from veterans, watching them drive, or some trucking school.

The biggest difference though between a trucking school and learning the old way? A trucking school may teach you to drive, may teach you how to color in a logbook, may teach you about regulations, but, it doesn't teach you about long days, about dealing with port officers, about all of the trucking that goes into your day that doesn't involve driving the truck.

It can be done when you're young. It won't be easy, but it can be.

Send me a private message and I'll offer some advice.

 

Here is the straight dope, you have a charge for possession of marijuana that is about a year old. This is going to haunt you. It sounds to me like you are a smart guy, an educated guy, but that one little thing that is going to pop up in your background check is going to hinder you.

The flip side of that coin is time is your friend, and as that charge gets older it will be less relevant.

The first thing you really need to do is talk to an attourney, talking to them will be free. Find out if in your state if you have any options for getting that charge sealed or scrubbed from your record, if you have never been in trouble before or since there is a possibility you will be able to.

Here is the thing the kinds of companies that hire people who have convictions for drugs are the kinds of companies who abuse drivers. Yes you will be able to find a company that will take you with that on your record, but the question you have to ask is, is a company that will hire people with a "crimial" history someplace you want to work and tie your future to?

Your first trucking job is important because it is going to set the stage for the next, if you have a bad experience with your first company, they can file a bad report on your DAC, and you will be black balled from the industry.

Getting your record cleaned up is paramount for these reasons. As well, so is being clean, IMHO smoking pot doesn't make you a bad person, but drugs and alcohol have no place around the trucking business and with the way the industry is currently and where it is heading, you need to be wholly committed to being clean and sober 24/7 otherwise in time trucking will become something you used to do and can no longer, not a career you love and enjoy.

Trucking has opened a lot of doors for me and allowed me to have some great experiences and to meet some great people and build some amazing friendships. I've been to 47 states, 3 Canadian provinces and Mexico, and I've traveled over a million miles. With a desk job you will never get to have that kind of experience.

Sometimes it is a #### hard business too, bad weather, broken trucks, idiot drivers and thieves certainly take their toll, as do the bad companies. But if you learn the business, you work hard, you know your job and you take pride in what you do, this can be a rewarding and profitable business.

It may take you some time to get to where you want to be, if you do it right you can do very well, do it wrong and this industry will use you up, chew you up and spit you out like yesterday's garbage.