Question about local jobs and physicals.

@TripleSix - by his accent, maybe he's in Kentucky.
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Do not give out your location because you do have people online who will snitch your truckstop practitioner out.

 

There is a good chance you will have to take another physical with the company you sign up for. A lot of them require it, some don't. I don't know much about the beer outfits, but it is hard work.

Good luck.

 

DON'T do this. Yes, it's very possible to get away with that, but you are endangering yourself, and everyone around you. While a lot of things in todays trucking world piss me off, physicals are THE most important thing. I never would have known I had high BP if it wasn't for a DOt physical. Besides, you aren't fooling anyone, you'll get your card, and continue your lifestyle, sorry, I calls 'em like I sees 'em. You'll never get a company to use someone elses medical card, and a trucking career is no place to "get healthy".

 

In my experience, most big corporations are going want a new medical card from the doctor’s office they contract with. Small businesses will vary. I can think of 3 right now that would use the card you came to work with until it expired, then send you to their doc. But they only have 12, 5, and 4 drivers each. Either way, unless it’s your name on the door and the cab card, you will have to pass a legit physical at some point. I can relate though. I’m not as big as you, but nobody is calling me small.

 

One thing for sure is a beer route would take some weight off you. On your feet lugging cases of beer all day. I bet you'll loose 100 pounds in a year.

 

Going into food and beverage service to loose weight is a bad idea. You need to be in decent shape when I get there. I ran flatbed for 4 years before I started. First day with my trainer at the first stop the cooler and freezer were in the basement. I was thinking what did I do. I went from a size 38 waist to a 34. A lot of guys underestimate how hard the work is if you’ve have been sedentary and not used to using your body

 

Not going to get into the ethics of your question. Many of us lie our arses off anytime a DoT physical comes around. I will warn you that they will make you do a non drug piss test and see where your sugar levels are.

Any reputable company will want you to take a new DoT physical. For one, they want you to start out with the newest available information on where you stand in regards to health issues that prevent you from doing the job (also liability reasons), and for the other, this gives them two years to run you around before they have to worry about your paperwork expiring. Keep in mind, if whatever clinic unearths egregious health concerns, they will limit your DoT card to a year or less before you have to do another follow on visit to extend it for another year.

Personal opinion, drop the weight before you start. Not trying to come off as a jerk, but if I had an applicant that was way out of shape, I would probably not consider them. Not questioning your work ethics, but you sound like you could get seriously hurt doing this line of work.

 

I came off of 5 years OTR in worst shape in my life. A new company especially Foodservice if you go to the big companies like Sysco etc will need a new card. When I got hired on by US Foods I got a 3 month dot card cause of my bp at 33 years old I wasn’t on meds. Got a bp prescription and work my butt off the next 3 months and got my 1 year. Now I’ve gotten nothing but 2 years since 2012 no meds. I did what you wanted to do get in shape. Believe me Foodservice will get you into shape. It’s a big shock at first for me I thought I was in boot camp or a double day of football in pads. Foodservice isn’t a lot of heavy lifting just a lot of movement and walking all day. You will want to quit and think you made a big mistake but just like you I had that mental WANT to get in shape and lose weight. If you have that desire you will succeed while making a good wage. Yeah there’s easier local jobs that pay the same but none that will MAKE you get into shape. I lost 40lbs in 6 months overall since I’ve been off the road I’ve been down 70lbs. Dock guys thought I wouldn’t make it cause how fat I looked I’m a short dude so I looked like I weighed over 300lbs at 260lb. One of the drivers who was on the docks who became a driver told me this. I would help a small terminal for vacations and one of the drivers saw me 6 months prior then saw me 6 months later and said I looked like I’m in fighting shape. I’m a naturally a stocky dude. I think you’ll lose more faster then me since you have more to lose. Doing this before your health gets extremely worse is a good Idea.

Also beer pays horribly bad. Foodservice you can make really good money and some people have made it a career cause it pays so well. If you can only get beer job do it until you can get on to a Foodservice company.

One of the driver helpers at Mclane I worked at was a big guy. He was 6’3 over 300lbs. Guy could do the job faster then most thin guys. Every driver wanted him as a helper when doing local runs.

Don’t go day 1 full bore. Take your time learn and let the body get used to it. Stay hydrated and you’ll be fine. Go at a pace you can handle. They’ll understand.

 

You know, in terms of this thread, I really have no experience in the field to throw my hat into the ring and give an informed opinion....

Buuuuut.. I have been in the local field for most of my natural life. We've had a 350 lbs linehaul guy swap to P&D and he lost 70 lbs along the way. @Radman is obviously another positive example that came out on top. I am not here to poison the waters, I have a blind friend that is a professional computer programmer (the computer reads back his commands and scripts and he edits things based on that). So my point is anything is possible.

I wish the OP the best. I hope he succedes and gets a good career. It's an uphill learning curve though. It's steeper if you are new.

Stick around. Read and learn. Advice is the only thing that is free.