purchased a headache rack today

well ran into another wall.

mercer decided not to qualify me because they don't consider me as having 1 year otr experience.

now crst took my 6 years allover the lower 48 with a 48 foot gooseneak and 1ton as otr experience and my almost 2 years in a class a tanker in the oil field as OTR experience because i stay out 3-4 weeks at a time. giving me almost 8 years OTR experience but yet mercer wont qualify me due to not having 1 year otr by there definition despite 8 years of commercial vehicle driving experience. Its frustrating that they couldn't have said something sooner if that wouldn't work for them as iv been talking to them for probably over a month now and last i had talked to them they had said everything was good to go minus the 2290 and long form physical copy's i needed to get to them.

Crst declined me because i had rear ended someone in my personal vehicle towing my camper+boat out to the lake. just shy of 5 years ago. at fault on my half i accept responsibility for it although i think the driver of the van should have been held at fault because i was coming up to a stop light intersection in the right hand turn lane green light a van cuts over at the last min into my lane when approaching the intersection then the light turns yellow and they then hit the breaks hard stopping before the light even turned red not leaving me enough room to stop i bumped the rear of the van doing some damage to the rear door no injury's no tow truck only damage was just to the rear door of the van as my front bumper was higher than there rear bumper. no damage to my pickup at all. I was issued a ticket for "Care Required" becouse the cop said becouse i rear ended the van the accident was my fault so i had to be ticketed for somthing. The only other things on my mvr are a seat belt ticket in Washington in a cmv in 2010 and a ticket in November of last year for not coming to a complete stop at a stop sign. crst said they can get me qualified as soon as that accident becomes more than 5 years old that I don't really understand because I'm well within what there requirements are listed on there website. however the accident will be more than 5 years old in a few months.

I have been stone walled with a few other company's on the lack of otr in a tractor trailer.

ew wylie out of fargo has said they can probably get me qualified for a Canadian run out of Fargo in to Canada without otr experience as they wont except my 1ton experience or oilfeild as otr ether. however they said they typically don't allow trucks over 10 years old but will occasionally make exceptions but i would need to get my passport before they would even talk to me further on it and the rates were nothing to get excited about. but home time would be great.

I can go to work for another company if i set up my own authority and get my own trailer hauling oil field pipe from a terminal in Iowa to the Sidney mt area for about 3.50 per loaded mile + FSC I have a friend who is doing it now and says it works out ok occasionally he can setup a hay load on the return side but normally dead heads all the way back. pays every two weeks. but its up and down like anything to do with the oil feild right now, really busy one week and slow the next.

I can setup my own authority and pull belly dump know of some places hieing and places to rent trailers. but its a little late in the season to be getting into that unless i want to be looking for something else to haul again in a couple months.

there's several other opportunity in the oil field for o/o with there own authority to lease on in the oil fields but the nature of oil field is busy one week slow the next. was hoping to get into something that was not dependent on the oil feild.

I was hoping to lease onto another company under there authority for a few reasons. although i have a good bit of money saved for this venture i cannot afford authority costs plus 30-60 days operating expense and still have a break down fund ect let alone the fact i don't currently own my own trailer. I have about 15,000 in available funds but yet i see that as not being enough to try to do everything on my own. let alone the learning curve with your own authority brokering loads ect.

I have a good paying job and enjoy what i do now driving a company truck and work for good people. Maybe I just need to stay where I'm at threw the winter and try again next spring. I almost feel a bit defeated at this point. Iv put a lot of energy, time and money into this venture and seems like I get shot down around every corner for one reason or another.

I find it fustrating when i have trouble quilifying for jobs that require 1-2 years otr experiance but yet i have logged around 700,000 miles in cmv's in 8 years, 10 years of work history with no more than a 2 week gap in employment 6 years with one company never less than 6 monthes at any job in my life. out of the last 8 years 0 days gap of employment with a total of three companys. It almost feels like i have to go to work for some otr bottom feeder company as a company driver to go to work driving a truck that i already own becouse i skipped that step in life of course they would probably make me go to cld school for a referesher coruse.

sorry for the rant but if you have any advice id like to hear it.

 

I should also mention the original intention for buying the truck I was going to lease it too the company i am currently working for however i that didn't pan out for a few reasons for one i was going to have to stay employed in my current position and hire a driver to drive my truck as per there policy. Then work took a down turn so work became very slow for the lease trucks and has been up and down sense and they stopped accepting any new lease trucks Witch prompted my change in plans. really cant justify spending the money to install a wet kit on the truck at this point in time and wanted to get into something that is more versatile than hauling tanker in the oil feild.

On the plus side i have no truck payment so the cost of not having the truck working in minimal and would rather the truck sit than work doing something that is not profitable.

 

well my frustration has eased a bit sense i posted.

I understand my situation is a little unique as i didn't follow the typical path into trucking so I'm outside the mold a little bit, I expected a few hurdles but seems i keep running into walls every time i turn around. I felt like beating my head against a wall earlier today. I got the call back from mercer while i was at jiffy lube and they stripped out the drain plug bolt on my pickup.

On the plus side CRST had said they could get me approved after my accident is over 5 years old the date on that is 10-2-07 i could possibility go with them after that date which would then give me otr experience that anyone will consider as well as flat bed experience. (i have some flatbed experience but never as a primary trailer, only on a occasional basis threw the years.)

keep my eyes and ears open for other possible avenues keep saving money and eventually something will work out.