School, or trained by first job?

If you want "drop and hook" loads -- look for opportunities to pull dry van trailers.

Reefer trailers will be mostly live load/unload -- where you can sit for hours (as discussed above).

-- L

 

Megas are best for that.

Have the largest corporate customers contracted with nationwide distribution networks & requires a very large amount trailers to be pooled & sometimes relocated.

I actually had a pretty fair amount of drop & hook refer at the mega I started at. Even more so while I ran team & when I was an instructor/trainer. They really like to maximize use of those teams.

 

As lual said, might get more D&H with van.

I did not get any running dry van, because I had my own trailer. But, sure was a lot less hassle & way less waiting. And, had much, much better luck offing loads a day or two early than reefer. Reefer much more sticklers on appointments. Not all, but most.

Oh, and I never get D&H with reefer, since I have my own trailer. Always live load/unload, and I will not do drop trailers unless I know the customer. Won't take the chance of damage. Been there, done that.

 

"Megas" = the so-called "mega-carriers"....these are fleets with thousands of trucks and trailers.

Some examples of the "megas":

• Prime
• Roehl Transport
• J B Hunt
• Werner Enterprises
• Swift
• Knight
• Schneider National

A major benefit of these "mega' fleets -- they are usually self-insured.

Why is that such a big deal?

As a new driver -- if you have a bad day, and do something stupid (like tear off a bumper) -- since the fleet is self-insured, your odds of getting fired at the mega-carriers is less -- A LOT LESS.

Smaller fleets can't afford to do this. So you'd get canned for a real mistake, most likely.

Getting fired early on in your CDL career for an accident can be pretty much the kiss of death -- especially in the current job market.

Just some food for thought.

-- L

​

 

Forgot

And regardless of self insured......

As @lual said previously, still highly discourage getting talked into any Dollar Store account. Recipe for disaster for an unexperienced driver & high potential for too many mishaps, leading to early career demise.

 

Detention pay is supposed to mean drivers that get paid per mile can also get paid for waiting. HOWEVER, there are rules to get detention pay. The most common rules require you to be on-time for your appointment. If you are late for any reason (truck breakdown, traffic, weather, previous customer made you late, driver illness, etc) you can't get any detention pay. Another common requirement for detention pay is you must give away 1-2 hours after the appointment time before you start to get paid. Some of the biggest customers write into the contract that they will not pay detention pay. I got paid maybe for 10-25% of the waiting time I experienced before I retired. Trucking companies have different policies so the policy at one company doesn't imply other companies have the same policy. In my experience, the best I could expect from detention pay was going to only make about half of the pay I could make by driving lots of miles. Long waiting times wrecks your driving schedules, makes it hard to get any parking later that day/night. The long waiting times is why I would never haul refrigerated freight again. Not only do you have refrigerated or "reefer" customers reject more freight than other customers, meaning you and your company have to suddenly find someone to take the rejected freight before you can get your next load, but the waiting times to load/unload, plus the waiting caused by lumper service delays, are too much for me. You also have the occasional repairs needed on the refrigerated trailers in addition to the standard trailer issues for the other types of trailers. You also get to sleep 2 feet from a loud diesel engine running all night next to your head. Some drivers love reefer freight, I'd jump off a building before I pulled anymore reefer freight. Your mileage may vary.

 

Las Vegas, NV is probably he most obvious choice if you leave CA. Nevada has no income tax.

 

DON'T pay for school until you find the trucking company that will hire you AFTER school. Find the job you want in trucking and then decide about when/where/how you go to CDL school. DO NOT just go to the most convenient/cheapest CDL school and hope it will be a school the good trucking companies accept. Find the job first, then find the CDL school. CDL school is not a 4 year college program with lots of time to network and research companies to work for. It's a 3 week rush job where you will not have time to do much research on future employers at all. If you borrow money to go to CDL school the loans will require you start repaying the loan before you get an income from trucking.