Getting back into trucking

If any of your current companies had any trucks, just put down you were a truck driver there. There ya go, instant recent experience.

 

They all will take a different approach. Most of it will depend on your driving test and with how well you negotiate with your company. Local driving does not count as OTR but why doesn't it?
Local driving has all the hard parts of over the road with non of the easy parts. Lets face it, setting the cruise control on and putting the miles in on the interstate is the easiest and highest paying part of OTR trucking. Hitting dock, city driving, unhooking and dropping a trailer, unloading, those are the parts that are the real work and they pay the least.

If you approach your new company with a set of gonads and ask for the higher then beginner wage rate and are prepare to go to another company, your experience can be counted. You better be able to back it up during your driving test. The testers look for someone who has 10 years on their resume and drives like a student.

The companies which offer you a job are not giving you an allowance. You will earn everything they give you so demand a fair wage in return.

 

Call around to some of the small to mid-size truckload carriers in your area. (some that you may not recall because they're not one of the "mega-carriers") Chances are someone will take you assuming you have a good MVR. Gordon or May would probably take you but they'd be a last option for me. The smaller carriers (<150 trucks) are the best place to be. Not too big, not too small.

 

Most of all it does not depend on your driving skills or road test...it depends on the company's insurance company. It seems insurance companies have decided to take a hard line on having recent OTR experience. It makes no sense. I still suspect that there is some kind of sweetheart deal between the bottom feeder trucking companies and the insurance profession that tries to block people from making an end run around SWIFT, et al. I had a different issue; 7 years of OTR with an unblemished record but had been out of it for a few years. Found it well nigh impossible to get back in. Always the same line. We'd hire you but our insurance company wouldn't let us. I finally found a local company that is part of a consortium of carriers who are basically self-insured, meaning they can set their own policies. Good luck...I'd hire ya.

 

I had been out of trucking altogether. But you know, you don't forget this stuff. The first driving I did to get back in was take a road test with a CDL examiner in rush hour Phoenix traffic. No practice, no refresher course. He said, "It's obvious you've been doing this for awhile". It would really be insane if your very recent Class A urban driving would not qualify you for OTR. I bet you have the best bet with a smaller company where you can walk in and meet the HR person face-to-face instead of some online application where you just tick off the boxes and get an automatic disqualify if you make one wrong.

 

If you're talking about the Holland out of N Dakota, I was talking to one of their drivers a few weeks ago and said they are much like where I am. They have all the miles you can run, steady freight year round. This is common with small/mid meat haulers. It's a trade-off but ample miles, steady freight, regular customers is hard to put a price (cost) on.

Being experienced and hopefully with a clean PSP, I wouldn't consider any carrier who wasn't 100% APU fleet. You can be somewhat choosy. Don't sell yourself short having fairly recent experience.

 

29 of 31 days of my dreams involve trucks, women, and avoiding Bears. Can't say more. Left out Motorcycles. Sorry. Beverage is of your standard.

 

It was more fun when I had no idea of what I was doing. Got to love that.