30 years retired Cop - aspiration in becoming a Truck Driver

Two best pieces of advice you're going to get here:

1. Do NOT sign up for any trucking company's CDL school. They're stupid expensive and you don't want to be beholden to any trucking company financially.

2. Do NOT sign up for a lease purchase. Trucking companies LOVE to slicker new drivers into paying for THEIR truck. Trust me, the majority of folks that sign up for lease purchase go broke. Actually, you don't have to trust me, there's endless documentation on this forum.

BONUS TIP: Avoid Chicago (and most other places for that matter) 1099 gigs at all cost.

You're welcome!

 

Best advise i can give you is don’t trust the dot cops and most city cops. They hate truckers. Welcome to the most hated by government and number one source for police revenue and harassment industry.
Beware of the old “ chaffed airline” ploy.

 

lol, not in my book.

I've had DOT help me learn how to fill out a log when I was a new kid.

even had a Cal. trooper cut me slack up near Susanville for a logbook violation. said I'll be right back after I measure your trailer axles and I hope it's correct by then. I hadn't kept up to date for about 6 hrs.

 

You find good and bad in every line of work.

 

I think the OP's bored comment was indicating he was bored since retirement, NOT he wants a boring job like trucking.

 

There are some companies that like former LEOs so they can pass the background check and get a security clearance from Uncle Sam

my nephew works for a small company based out of Atlanta , home every weekend .

He attended the CDL class at the local community college , and this company was there recruiting ,
Of the 30 students in the class , only 3 were eligible to even apply for the security clearance , and 2 of those 3 didn’t want to fool with the paperwork and 6-8 week wait time .

I think the dry van freight is called
“A A & E “
I’m not sure cause the company he works for used RGNs (removable goose neck) trailers to haul heavy equipment oversize loads for the military.

good part is you have a nice pension , and you can afford to be choosy

once you get a years experience your options will open up a lot ,
Same as LEO, getting your state training and a years experience opens up a lot of opportunities to transfer to other towns or departments etc that don’t want to do the initial training

I’d avoid the company sponsored training , the company requires you to sign a loan document for the overpriced training , and if you don’t work for the company for the specified length of time you have to pay them back .

imagine if the new recruits that washed out of the academy or quit after a couple of months had to pay back the department for their training costs …

Most trucking companies have an average of 130% turnover

that means if they have 100 drivers , the average driver lasts about 8 months before they quit

can you imagine if in your previous department , the average officer left after 8 months ?
and that’s the average , which means most of them last less than 3 months


if the vast majority of officers got treated so badly by the department that they quit in 3 or 4 months ?

or the local
Elementary school teachers quit after three months ?

it would be a national crisis

but to that happens in trucking and it’s just business as usual .

 

Not to mention if the OP is retired LEO with a badge it greatly simplifies the self-defense gear that he can bring into the truck under Law Enforcement Officers Safety Act or LEOSA. I don't know if the state limits on magazine capacity or ammo type are affected by LEOSA or not. I'd think OP should NOT discuss that topic with any employer under a "don't ask, don't tell" strategy.

 

also would eliminate 99.9% of the hassles from revenue collection officers

I used to work at a state historic site and museum , which was under the state DNR department of natural
Resources
Same department as the game wardens and same uniform but our patches said “historic sites “ where the game wardens had the identical patch that said “law enforcement”

I figured out they that shirt meant that all
The cops thought you were a game warden and if you got pulled over nine time out of ten they wouldn’t even ask for your license ,
They walk up to your car and see the shirt and tell
You to slow down .

sometimes they’d apologize for
Stopping you .

 

Do it. I retired from the fire dept after 25 yrs, at 50. Didn't work out. Worked for the govt for 12 yrs. Retired.got bored with being home all the time and got hired and re-trained at 64. Food grade. No vans of any kind for me .