Need Help Newbie

Now storyteller.....you ain't tellin' us stories are ya? LOL! Just kidding with ya bud...like gashauler said check the internet as there are quite a few companies that will take zero experience driving school grads. The pay will be sub standard but at least get in 6 months to a year with them to re-establish your drivign record and then move up the ladder from there. Best of luck...things will work out for ya! Remember, persistence equals success...who said dat?

 

Wish I was. My school actually GAVE my number out even though I have been very specific and adament that I do not want/need/expect job search/placement services from them.

I do realize I have a number of things going for me....... my age, my driving record (perfect), my past experience(s), my non-existent legal background, my education, and my location..... not to mention, my family and 30 years of community connections. All that being said......... I have no doubt it will be my personality and persistence that gets me the job that I, READ I, decide I want.

But then you know us women......... NO is not a word that we have a great fondness for.... or extensive toleration of...........

My personal suggestion for finding a job? Go ahead and use the internet for some reasearch...... but then get up off your butt. Start knocking on doors the old fashioned way! A large number of companies are still owned or supervised by men from an earlier generation......... they are not into the internet, networking and email........ their handshake is their word and they make decisions based on their gut. Balk all you want but in my world that is just the way it is............ I don't know.... maybe it is easier for a woman to see that???

As for the bottom feeders/trollers, I have been reading way too many posts online to not know how hungry they are. If you are remotely acceptable someone is going to take you. If they won't............. then there is a REASON.

As for stories........... in my class we have an older gentleman that keeps talking about the thongs he wears...... don't know why he has to discuss wearing his thongs everyday....... but I do know that even after 6 weeks we still get caught off guard and laugh........ he means "flip flops" of course, but when he says something like "I'm really sore from my wearing my thongs" we just have to smile/laugh/giggle........ we have been told "we need to grow up"... but I want to know why????

 

Hrm.. that may be actionable. Have to check on it. My school has never given my name or number out. If they get a call from a company I've applied to, they call me to let me know.

Ha! only when it's said by a man! Else it's the woman's favorite word.

"Hunny, wanna go skinny-dipping tonight?" "no!"
"Hunny, wanna run down for a evening at the strip club?" "No!"
"Hunny, wanna get real friendly tonight?" "No, I have a headache!"

Growing up is for old people.

 

I'm in the middle of trying to get good trucking companies interested in me too. I want to be pre-hired.

I have a perfect driving record.... No arrests... I'm over 25 (by 22 years)... I've got a DOT certificate

The information I've gotten from several trucking companies (Central Refer., Schneider, Crete, W/S) is all the same... If you get your CDL without going to a CDL mill or trucking school... They won't talk to you.

I got my CDL learner's permit and was ready to go hire a 3rd party tester and get my CDL A (with endorsements) which is legal here in Oregon--- but found most companies WOULD NOT hire me... Even the so-called "training companies".

With a CDL they want 3-6 months experience. Better carriers want 12 months...

If you go to their school (get obligated to them for 12 - 24 months) they'll talk to you. But you can't go to their school if you already have a CDL.

If you go to a trucking school (and pay $3000-$8000) you're more hire-able.

I agree with the OP... (in theory)... The economy has made getting a trucking job more difficult. My theory is that when building and construction went bad, many ex-truckers went back to trucking to pay for groceries and rent.

Or maybe I can get that bus driving job I've had my eye on

Of course, YMMV

 

I think I am going to add......................

What I have noticed from the people I have talked to as well as listening to the people on this site and one other.........

The company motto is: Make the investment in a new person, as long as you have a contract.........LOL

Now taking into account the insurance factor by no small part, the liability factor is great for a new driver. We experience this aspect in our own pesonal driving senses. The co. I work for claim to spend $4.5 million dollars annually for insurance. I have not researched to verify nor disprove this statement, only because I really don't care. However, if this is remotely true based on a company of such stellar quality, well.


Combine that with the govt. programs that these bottom feeders are sucking on to add to their profits for what is supposed to be a normal everyday process, everyday people are caught in the middle and the short end of the stick.

I heard an interesting theory a couple of days ago that I am going to throw out there to see if it fits here. The larger co.'s have run the cost of freight down in an attempt to run the smaller one's (indep., small co.'s, etc.) out of business so that they can control the market. Now as ludicrous as this may sound, follow another moment.
All businesses have the same aspects of functionallity: revenue, costs, expenses(fixed and non-fixed) etc. Now putting this into play, how about a company that can offset their expenses/costs by having monies brought in by govt. programs, employees(not fulfilling contracts), employees paying for their own training, accepting a lower wage compared to national avg.(considerable difference) You now have a company that can do the same job (cheaper) and have the same profit margin in theory.

I know this is going to cause some type of uproar, however, look at the math:
Company---------
Revenue
expenses
training
experience
govt. prog.

As I understand it the theory was that if a company can do it cheaper (THEY WILL COME)hahaha

The problem with this motto is, no one co. or even 3-4 can handle all the freight of this countryand it is backfiring. It has run the costs of freight down with the combination of other factors.

For a company to invest into a new employee and then that employee leaves for what ever reason, co. lost that amount of money. The next aspect to consider also is with a new employee even with experience (to some degree) their is a learning curve that affects the production that is a non-direct investment into an employee.

I think I rambled, it's late so I will come back to this later.
Hope someone understands...........................J

 

DaddyMojo

mileage definitely varies. I just got my CDL via a third party school and at the present moment I have 5 offers for orientation - which makes six since I got my CDL. And does NOT include Werner/Swift/JBH/CR England. I wonder if it's a location thing...

 

I call BS on the story.../ theory...

Big companies don't want all the business, they want all the profitable business. All of it is not profitable.

They also don't want all the business because:

1) They can't cover all the freight when its busy and afford to let the trucks sit when its slow. They want to cover the happy/medium amount of loads from the best paying compaines. They don't run out and buy more trucks just because they can afford to and then let them sit in the yard. They run out and buy more trucks as they acquire more customers and needs expand.

2) Trucking is to easy to get in and out of, so there will always be independents. Any company driver, with a decent 401 and credit worthiness can run down and buy a truck and go in business. Most don't for obvious reasons, but consider freight pays dookie right now. Guys are crying they need $2 dollar freight to live. Guys are going broke left and right. What if tomorrow freight suddenly went to $4.00 a mile??? You'd be rich??? NOPE!!! There'd be 20,000 new trucking companies fighting for a share of the new HIGH PAYING freight. They'd all start under cutting each other to get the loads and the prices would drop really faassssstttt...

3) One guy with one truck will always make a living but never get rich. Theory being: you can survive on the scraps, or be a thorn in the paw of the bigger companies. However, as soon as you start to get rich they will notice you and adapt and move into your territory and try to underbid you.

4) Trucking is like selling candy bars.

a) To make a real good living you'll have to find a niche and fill it. Provide something few others are providing. Example: Custom candy bars that sell for 10 bucks a pop.

b) To make an ok living you'll have to do what everone else is doing and count on your ability to do it more economically and hence still be able to make a living.

c) To just make a "just getting barely by" living you just have to do what everyone else is doing and not really do it any better but no worse.

d) Big companies, are like "C" "just getting barely by" doing what everyone else is doing, not doing it any better, but no worse, and most importantly doing more of it or more often. Rational... no you can't get rich selling candy bars on the street corner for a penny profit a piece. Now if you have a factory and are selling 10 million a day that's a whole different story.

JB Hunt and Swift aren't going anywhere, the name on the door might change but there will always be a "biggie" company pounding out gajillions of miles for cheap.

Joe Trucker, he isn't going anywhere either, Name on the door will change much more often than the "biggie" door but basically he will always be there, living on the scraps or filling the niche.

Yes, way too much coffee this morning...

Point being, of the rant.

Good luck and smart thinking dictate you'll be fine, so quit worrying.

Bad luck and stupid, well the name on the door will change but somebody will take your place. It's not like the bank will repossess your truck and bury it in a big hole in the ground somewhere outside of Vegas.

This (R)eccesion (D)epression is actually a fantastic once in a lifetime chance to go out and make some money. Millionaires are made with innovative new ideas and through survival of the fittest economics. Trucking isn't new and innovative so it will take some hard times to weed out the knuckleheads so the cream can rise to the top.

You're either smart or finnished but don't blame the economy its just doing what it has always done and is suposed to do.

 

interesting.................