Need some good quality advice?

you DO KNOW HOW TO SHIFT....????



it just ain't your knee's that'll be destroyed in your older years. your back, your legs, your arms, your neck.......you may "prefer" to drive an automatic, but if you hold out specifically for such a job, you will be waiting along, long time......

you dad must have used the clutch every time he shifted, which now tells me, he never learned to "float the gears".....so in retrospect, who's fault is/was it really his knees went out....????

you ARE ASKING for an awful lot. you HAD BETTER BE an excellent student. you say you went to school here in CT........i certainly do hope it wasn't NETTTS........but most likely it was, wasn't it....?? they must have fed you a bowl full of crap, that you can be "picky" as a student driver....




i wish you well.....and good luck, you got hurdles to jump before you can get what you want, over an experienced driver.......

 

I'd feel left out of the crowd if I didn't have my "trucker" limp.

 

and i'll just bet you got a "certain swagger" to your limp too....!!!

 

I have my expections too. I expect to successfully get through my schooling and get my CDL, and I expect it to be a hard grind. I then expect to suck hind titty driving OTR for a least a year, including a tough training process, in order to get the needed experience. Then I expect I might be able to look at other options, if things go reasonably well with the economy and the industry.

I guess I'm lucky I made it into my 50's in good health without any major physical problems. I hope to drive for 15 years or so, or maybe until I drop dead if our economy stays in the dumper, and my savings continue to evaporate, while retirement benefits go up in smoke. I hope to burn the candle right down to the wick!

 

there are to many unemployed experienced drivers??? why is that?? seems like a lot of companies are hiring drivers. oh i get it, they are too good to work for what you call bottom feeders?? so they would rather be unemployed than work for a company like Swift, Werner, Covenant, JBhunt or any other mega carrier. If they really wanted to work im sure they could work somewhere.

 

in a way YES.......with my experience for example, why would i lower myself to work for such companies unless i was in total desperation...??

YES, WE ARE TOO GOOD for the scumbag outfits, like the ones you mentioned. but sadly, some drivers in a spate of desperation will go to the bottom feeders. we did OUR TIME and many of my compadres would not consider the bottom feeders as YOU CALLED THEM, it wasn't me that called them that, at least NOT in this thread......so DO NOT PUT WORDS IN MY MOUTH......and you had better go back and read my posts..he wants this, he wants that, he wants drop & hook only........uh excuse me.....those are "cream puff jobs" that many of us WORKED hard over the years to get, from the sound of it, he just wants it given to him on a silver platter.....

 

NOW I LIKE THIS GUY!!!
This is what Im talking about, Newbies. See the years driving on this man. Talk to him more often, and learn. 38 years driving, Over 3 milliion miles. You need to find out what were his secrets. This man had a routine driving and surviving in the industry. This is what newbies should be asking. We also have 2-3 driver trainers, and a few Top Notch Mechanics on this board. You really should be Very good friends with these guys. Down the road, they just might have the answer you are looking for.

 

and he IS RIGHT the "new breed" are indeed (in many instances) as he said they are.....God only knows the things i have seen at any of the DMV test sites i have to go to.

and if what i have seen at the test sights are any indication of "the new breed", i highly suspect the guberment and consumer advocate groups will clamp down harder on the industry more in the near future.

i cannot wait for retirement to come fast enough for me....as i will sit back and laugh at the regulations the "new breed" helped bring upon themselves.....

 

You have 2 years experience, those companies want you, not us. We tell them the way it is, and dont put up with the lies, and bull crap. So they dont want us. Thank God. And you darn right, I would not work for them. Im going to be your next dispatcher. I`m almost done with the Industry, TIME TO RETIRE

 

Again, I like this kind of guy. You have one advantage in being a newbie. You have life's experience. That means a lot. All of your mentioned, expectations, I honestly feel you will Succeed in your journey. When we get over 50, It becomes a journey. Keep us updated driver. You can do it. Good Luck.