Dump Truck Experience - Does it count?

Mr Bergy, I know that you plan to buy your own equipment and run your own show. I know also that you have decided to get 6 months experience in a company truck. There is a reason why we recommended the learning in someone else's truck: there are a million and one pitfalls to be avoided.

Unless your ultimate goal is to buy a dump truck and run local like your buddy, doing a dump truck gig would be an incredibly huge waste of time for you. You're trying to think ahead, and that's commendable, but you aren't keeping your eye on the goal. what's the goal? Discipline, brother...discipline. Stay focused. What kind of trucking do you want your business to be based on? Aim towards the goal, not any gig you can get into.

 

Any local work will not be counted as experience. Its BS I know but thats just the way it works. Doesn't matter if its a straight truck or combination.

 

Yo Bergy...I've had my CDL for 10yrs. I jumped around ALOT first year for crap companies. 2nd yr I drove a 53 footer LINE DRIVING (home every night) for about a year with one company. After a yr with that same company I switched to a box truck (4 yrs) for local delivery. Total with that company was 5yrs. I got into the concrete business. I was what you might call a "utility" driver. I flipped between driving a mixer and bottom-dumps hauling rock & sand for them. I worked about 4 yrs in the concrete biz. Took a year off for personal reasons. Just applied with "a local OTR company" driving 11 western. (after a year off!). They DID accept my dump-truck and class B experience. A monkey could pass their road-test. All I have to do is pass my piss-quiz and company physical on Monday and I'm in. Sorry for rambling but I want you to understand that....your experience MIGHT count with a given company. It counted for me. "Embelish" your resume Man. Throw in some statements stressing your CUSTOMER SERVICE experience!! They seemed a little concerned that I had not driven for a year. I simply told them that I was confident in passing any road test...and I did. Good luck my brother. Anymore questions? Shoot me a private message. I'd be glad to help as others on this forum have helped me.

 

I didn't mean to ENCOURAGE you to drive local...just trying to tell you if you have to drive local to feed the family it might work for you down the road. I don't know what your present situation is. Just an option. Good luck in whatever you decide.

 

I'm not sure if they actually called my previous employer to verify it.

 

If you look carefully, you will see money and very successful drivers in every avenue of the entire transportation industry. Pick the one you want and go after it. Start with a company that's doing what you want to do. Learn the ropes from the company sides. While you are in a company truck being schooled in the basics and the regs and the business, you will be rubbing elbows with owner operators loading at the same places you will be. Pick their brain. Look at their trucks, their setups. Why? Owner operators don't spec their trucks like the beancounters spec'd the company trucks. The company trucks are going to driven for 3 years and thrown away. An owner OP will run his truck for twice as long.

You know what they say about first impressions, right? You don't want a customer's first impression of you as an owner operator to be a poor one, do you? No...that's bad for business. Take the oilfields for example. You had guys go out and buy old Beancounter spec'd fleet trucks, put wet kits on them or winches and hit the oilfields. Breakdown after breakdown after breakdown after breakdown. They lose more money, and pay out more money than they make. It may have cost more initially, but buying the right truck in the beginning would have most certainly netted them more money and allowed them to make a better name for themselves.

So, see how the big companies set up...learn their system and THEN see what the owner ops do differently and ask them why. The better companies don't normally cover the basics, and you need to learn the basics like you learned your last name.

Anyways, the gang here would love to see you successful. Keep your focus on your goal, and odds are you will do just fine.

 

One thing that I know, I would hire someone with one year combination experience to drive my dump, but I would not hire someone with 10 years dump experience to drive my semi