It is not foolish to get licensed now, as there are still opportunities for young drivers. In addition, there are murmurs throughout the industry about possibly lowering the interstate age. Some say its a mistake, but for those who aren't college-bound, there are dozens of trades willing to accept a high school grad, train him (apprenticeship), pay him, and by the time he's old enough to go interstate trucking, he's already well on his way to Journeyman status. That's a LOT of interested, otherwise eligible talent being pushed aside and lost forever.
In our company's case, interstate is, of course, 21. We have several local positions, but most of them are highly sought-after and have regional drivers on a waiting list to fulfill the roles. One position, however, is perpetually shorthanded: the Yard Spotter drivers. Because of this, and the fact they rarely leave the customer's property, we hire any age for the role. I hired an 18 y/o girl last fall to drive a spotter truck for us. That's her primary role, and we have also trained her to run a shag truck (moves trailers around town) when needed. As soon as she's 21, she'll be primed and ready to run the system, as well as already having built up 3 years' worth of experience and her 401(k) with us. Compare that to a standard 21 y/o just finishing school who now has to look at the megas to be treated like dirt for the first year out on the road...
Is it stupid to get a CDL at age 18, 19, or 20?
Discussion in 'Questions From New Drivers' started by Zan1995, May 24, 2022.
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TravR1, meechyaboy and rbrtwbstr Thank this.
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D.Tibbitt Thanks this.
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- I got my CDL now. I asked this because I thought about canceling my CDL skills test and doing it when I'm 21 but I chose to take it anyway and turns out I passed.
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Chinatown Thanks this.
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There's some CDL-B otr jobs.
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Still, could have pushed it back again.D.Tibbitt Thanks this.
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