Looking to change career in January, 2021

CRST has a pretty fast course w/a 10 month contract. All upfront cost covered w/later weekly deductions. Team freight.

 

Go to Werner.

 

Congrats! Word of warning. There are always some complete douchebags that show up at these schools. STAY FAR AWAY FROM THEM! Trust me, the instructors know this type and will try to weed them out. Fly under the radar, follow the rules, be respectful at all times. It will benefit you greatly. Good luck! Keep us up to date on your adventure.

 

Congrats on making the move. Feel we are in the same boat. I am 51 and retiring this July from Law Enforcement and want to continue working as a driver. Already have my CDL and have kept my medical for the past 6 years. Gonna be heading to Knight's transportation, where a good friend has been with for two years. It took me a while to make a move, but reading some stories has helped me make the decision.

 

Whatever happens in this first year, look at it from the perspective of what can be learned. In this industry I’m sure you are aware that stuff happens but the less you rush and the more you plan the less random stuff happens. I hope your first year is awesome. But in the case it doesn’t go amazing work on being the best driver you can be so when it’s time to move on to the next company, or buy a truck or whatever the next move is you’re prepared.. For example training is only going to go so far before they put you in a truck. Say you feel you need to work on your backing some more, every couple of hours when you pull off to stretch or take a leak you can pull into a truck stop and back in. Get a schedule and try to stick with it. Learn to communicate with customers and then dispatch. Call your customers especially if you’re ahead “Hey I’m about an hour away, I got an appointment about 5 hours from now can you guys take delivery early, and what’s the best way to get in to you guys, what about on site parking?”.. once you’re being unloaded you can ring up dispatch and say “hey their taking me early I should be rolling in such and such, what do we got?.... same thing in reverse you get stuck in a big traffic jam and don’t think you’ll make the appointment or have a breakdown start dialing... best way to save time is to communicate. You being a farm boy and having to do a pretrip everyday you keep a good eye on your equipment you can call dispatch and have them bring the truck in for maintenance before you get stuck on the road.. “hey I noticed my truck is doing such and such, can you swing me by one of our shops before it gets bad.

And lastly even when you get good... if you can’t see it get out and look.

 

Very few, if any, companies want drivers doing any work on the truck or trailer beyond changing light bulbs or a gladhand seal. Some will even expressly forbid you from doing any work. Having said that, if it benefits me as far as being able to keep rolling and not sitting waiting on breakdown, I have and will continue to make simple repairs myself, but I don't let anyone know. I have a small toolbag, just a basic socket set, various pliers, hammer, WD40, zipties and of course, Ducttape. Any work that requires more than that is more than I am willing to do on my employer's property.

These trucks are very expensive and this society is very litigious. I can't risk causing thousands of dollars of damage or injuring/killing someone and having it possibly come back to being caused by something I "fixed" when I shouldn't have touched it in the first place.

As for a regular schedule, this is near impossible doing true solo OTR. The loads dictate when you drive and when you sleep. Nothing I would like more than to have an early 2am-4am start every morning, but very rarely does that happen. One day may be a 3am start and the very next day is a 7pm start and drive all night. Sleep deprivation is very real. There are some drivers who will only drive to their schedule or only during daylight etc. If you can find a company willing to accommodate this, great, however, very often these are the same drivers complaining about not getting any miles and making any money.