Management Without a CDL

You sexist pig you
I dunno about the blonde bit, considering all the blonde jokes, some of them true. Now, discussing the hooters, why in the world would you care if she even has owls, let alone what size they are?

 

Oh yeah on the thread topic, I can see it both ways here. If management are former drivers, but no longer driving, it could actually be detrimental to the driver, as the driver has to live with what the CURRENT conditions are, regs, hos, traffic...
But if these folks actually climb into a truck and drive, even if only a couple of trips a month, they have a much more realistic view of how things really are in the world of trucking.

 

better they know how to run a business than how to run a truck.

 

It is more crucial, in my opinion, that the safety department staff have real world driving experience than dispatch. Ive worked with dispatchers who were former drivers and who never stepped a foot in a truck in their life. If your management, multi-tasking and people skills for that matter arent top notch you will probably be a crap dispatcher regardless of your prior commercial driving experience.

 

But even better if they know BOTH!
From my point of view, having worked for one major, and several small outfits. The bigger the outfit, the less it matters on management actually knowing anything about trucking.
But go to work for a small outfit, where the owner is a real trucker, and a decent human being, you will likely have a pretty good job.

 

My first couple truckin jobs I worked for two brothers who both drove for years n then set up their companies. On the one hand it was awesome to talk to em, soak up as much info as I possibly could. They were both great for that. They had a dispatcher who was fairly sperienced but didn't have a CDL and I had a lot of problems with her mostly due to time...she could never understand how long it took to go thru Chicago or up n down two lane roads during tourist season. So we'd fight, and the boss man would usually take her side (she was hot as hell). But he got it cuz he had driven those same roads. He just didn't wanna chew out the hottie. No worries. Overall, it was a good experience learnin truckin from a couple guys that had done it successfully for a lotta years.

My second point to the discussion is this. I've worked in truckin management both before and after I officially got my CDL. I was a MUCH better manager after I had actually done it for a while, cuz I knew the ins and outs. What shippers would take ya early, where the good hidey holes were to park, stuff like that. And if a driver called me with a bs excuse about being late, I could tell much better if he was truthin. And because I was a driver, I think I got a little more respect from the guys. And I KNOW I had a lot more respect for the guys myself. I learned a TON from em.

Overall I gotta agree with all y'all. Good people is good people, and conversely, regardless of them havin a CDL. I just know what I experienced.

 

My company is owned by a trucking family. Founded by a driver who passed it onto his two sons. Hired either ex-drivers for office staff, other family who have experience in the business, or promoted internally from driver/maintenance staff.

 

I've worked places with the majority of supervisors having CDLs and not. this is just an observation, sometimes if your managers are drivers they will push you harder. You get some guy who started driving in the 80s on 4 log books popping bennies and they don't want to hear you when you say you're tired.

 

My bosses don't have CDL's. It is kind of odd, but I guess if you're just running the business aspect of the company there's really no need for it.