LA and OC area local trucking jobs

hey all, just got my class permit, anyone know where I can get the rest of my experience, and join a co,.

I was in construction, but it is really slow, so I tried for my class A, and got my permit, so i would to get started asap. The bills wont wait.

 

Did you try the container cartage companies?

 

Pavy ‼ You have to look at trucking from a trucking company's management perspective. Say you own a fleet of 10 to 500 trucks. The law says you need to have insurance before they give you common carrier authority. This establishes you have the right to offer trucking services of hauling goods from point-A to point-B, and charge a fee for services rendered. So you call around to find the best deal on insurance coverage, and every insurance company wants to pre-approve a driver before you can hire them. Insurance companies evaluate the risk and chances that a prospective driver is going to cost them a claim. Based on past claims, they've concluded that anyone with less than 1 year of verifiable driving experience is an accident waiting to happen. This is why companies require a minimum number of years; they don't make the final decision on which driver they can hire. Its the insurance companies who dictate who they can hire, and who they feel is a liability risk. The only ones who take rookies with less than 1 year of verifiable experience are giant OTR carriers like Schneider, Swift, JB Hunt, etc... -- these companies are self-insured. This means they created a dummy insurance company to insure them, but the insurance company is owned by the same parent company that owns the carrier. I think the only way you'll find a local job, is by knowing how to speak Spanish. A lot of the container haulers are dominated by latino-hispanic drivers in California. If you don't know Spanish, some places will take longer to load and unload you. I once hauled for Rail Delivery Services, hauling piggyback containers. I've been in some places where I tried to pickup a preloaded trailer, and when the shipper saw I didn't speak Spanish, he tells me to come back in half an hour. I went to get something to eat, came back 15 minutes to see my container being hauled by another driver, who happens to speak Spanish. I realized he sent me away so he can give my load to another driver who's the same race as him. Container hauling, whether its ocean containers or railroad piggyback containers, can be a problem if you don't speak Spanish.

Americancontractor ‼ same advice to you; I'd talk to owner operators and get a job as a 2nd-seat driver. Until you upgrade that permit to a CDL, you're swimming against the river's current. After you get your CDL, you'll need to struggle for at least 1 year to establish verifiable driving experience, with a clean MV report.

Keeping a clean MV report is crucially important, so if you pick up any moving violations, take time out and fight the ticket to keep it off your record. Otherwise, you're stuck as an OTR driver till you're down to only 1 moving violation on your record. If you pickup any alcohol-related offense (like open container), this tells insurance companies you might have a drinking problem, so its treated the same as DUI. Once, I had parked in a vacant lot across a Chinese restaurant, and had 1 beer with my dinner. Two uniformed police officers were looking at me, noticing I was wearing a uniform shirt with the same company name and logo as the semi truck parked across the street. After I paid my bill and walked back to my truck, I scanned the area around me, and I see a black and white patrol unit in the distance. I took out my binoculars and recognized the same officers who were eye balling me inside the restaurant earlier. They were waiting for me to move the truck, and nail me for DUI because they had witnessed me have 1 beer with my dinner. I climbed into the sleeper bunk and decided to leave the truck where its at.

Another option is to sign yourself on with an owner-operator who's only doing local and short haul runs (inside a 500 mile radius). As a 2nd-seat driver, working for an owner operator, the insurance company will approve this because you're under close supervision, not driving solo.

 

im sorry there's a small company in ontario, ca that does the over night thing like 500 mile radius run there over by the racetrack probably more in fontana again im sorry cause I cant think of there name. But your best bet is get a local paper and check the help wanted adds. good luck.