How do you measure one year OTR?

Tell them you hate running SoCal and prefer to run up into New England.

But regardless, Oxnard is a hard place to get to as a trucker.

 

Once you start getting paid. For me with both prior employers it gets measured from the first paid day of orientation.

My suggestion is to stick it out for your first year. The first year is the worst. Once you get a year in, especially with no incidents and even more especially all with one company, you can pretty much start writing your own ticket.

If you absolutely cannot stand it and have to leave your first job before a year is up, best bet is to stick with your second job for at least six months before you start trying to write your own ticket.

 

HaHa.....I worked otr for a company, car hauling, and when I went in to get my load they always asked where I live so I told them Illinois. They assumed Chicago even though I lived 10 minutes from St Louis. Was awesome never having to go to Chicago lol

 

One year is one year, driving. Solo. So... if your training was completed on or before say... 10-4-2016 and you have been in your assigned truck and in employment without breaks since then to today, you would have had one year.

The important problem with employment in trucking goes back 7 to 10 years. You will NOT have any breaks or gaps in between jobs without giving a specific accounting for that time. (Homeland Security... they are a part of your file as for everyone...)

DO NOT quit one trucking job without having a firm orientation date for the next week somewhere else in hand. (Tickets are even better....)

I see you are on your way to becoming a lawful United States Citizen, so... I applaud and welcome you to it. If this is your first winter coming up in the Dakotas... you have some surprises waiting for you.

Oxnard is really tough from a trucking point of view. It's off the 101 NW of LA, or 126 off 5. It's generally a Naval Base in one corner of it. Otherwise parks, golf courses and residental. Basically not much for trucking unless you are delivering Naval Stores to that base or a bit of food service LTL into sysco or something.

You could park in Teton at the truckstop there, bobtail to Oxnard with permission during a reset or scheduled time off when you accumulate enough... you might have to pay a little bit for the fuel and mileage to and from there. But if you are on good terms with a company and it's people, dispatchers in particular you will get whatever is availible going west. In time.

You cannot stress about going to Oxnard all the time. Trucking is about delivering loads wherever they may go. If Oxnard is special to you, then relocate there. You might like it better. That I think is your final solution to the problem. You will hire onto local farms, companies or similar in that particular part of California so that you are constantly coming and going from Oxnard.

Good luck. Don't be a quitter. If you made it this far, you can do a while longer. Consider that those who join trucking at 21 for example usually have a 50 plus year expected time into the future to continue trucking work provided all else works out well for them. I managed 30 plus before my body broke down. That's not too bad considering the old iron we had way back then. Life span for a trucker was only 56 years according to a dept of labor study back in the 80's Im pretty much there or a few years early when pass on. No worries.

Keep your eye on Citizenship. Staying at your job and accepting that you will not get the west coast loads is part of it. Hang in there. Be tough. But above all. stop biting on your dispatchers about the blessed west runs... they don't wanna hear it all the time. Like a whiney kid demanding a sweet snack of something... You will get west sooner or later. Or actually pick up and move to Oxnard. That would be good for you I think considering your feelings about it.

 

But they told him it wouldn't be a problem! I would be upset and aggravated at the lies as well

 

The problem is, your domicile is South Dakota and you want hometime in Oxnard. The hiring area you live in, South Dakota, is the problem right now. You need a company that hires South Dakota drivers with under 12 mos. experience and has regular freight going to Southern California.
Contact Armellini Express in Oxnard and explain the situation and maybe they'll cut some slack and work with you. They run to Florida and Wisconsin a lot, but have a terminal in Oxnard. Tell them you really don't have anything in South Dakota anyway and would want hometime in Oxnard.
Armellini Express hires new cdl grads, so you're ok there.

Here's some more you can talk to and ask if they can work with you:
A&A Express in Brandon,SD
TWT Refrigerated Service - solo drivers stay west and teams run coast to coast.
James H. Clark & Son in Utah.
Pride Transport in Utah.
National Carriers has a California/Southwest regional position. Let them know that's what you want.
Britton Transport in Grand Forks,North Dakota might work with you on Oxnard hometime.

 

"Back in the day" I used to run maybe 6 dry loads a year from a 3M plant in SC to a 3M warehouse in Oxnard. That was my only opportunity to get to Oxnard in my history of trucking. Not been anywhere near there in 25 years or more. But I've never hauled a lot of produce either.

 

For me with both prior employers it gets measured from the first paid day of orientation.

My suggestion is to stick it out for your first year. The first year is the worst. Once you get a year in, especially with no incidents and even more especially all with one company, you can pretty much start writing your own ticket.

If you absolutely cannot stand it and have to leave your first job before a year is up, best bet is to stick with your second job for at least six months before you start trying to write your own ticket.

 

I've never seen an app ask for the actual dates. Say you started 10/30/16 an quit 10/1/17 most places will see only 10/16 to 10/17 so plenty of time. Heck working 10/30/16 to 9/1/17 could be a year, as again they see 10/16 to 9/17.

Doesn't really matter anyway. If the company needs drivers more than saving on insurance they will hire you dispite their website stating otherwise.