Small, but very dertermined

One of our driver coaches is like 4’11 at best. Maybe 120-130lb. And she hauled flatbed for over 30 years. She’s forgotten more about hard work than I will ever know. If she can do it, anyone can. That’s why I will never understand when people won’t come haul open decks because they are scared of hard work.

You can be a little woman, you just can’t be a big ######. Unfortunately, the latter are never lacking in supply lol

 

This is true. But if management allows the clock milking to go on for any length of time they're just as much to blame.
There's always going to be "that guy" who drags his feet and screws off just as much as he can. A guy like that can bring down the morale of a whole crew. If management doesn't see this, or if they see it and choose to ignore it, it gives you some insight into how they really feel.

 

Very few drivers fail because of their physical inability to do the job. Worry about your mental and emotional ability to do the job.

 

Develop that thick skin.

If you think the few who've posted so far are rude, or smart ##### you've not seen anything yet. Shoulda seen the folks who are banned from here. Or the truck stops, or the other various places you'll go. Receivers and shippers can be a salty bunch. As can drivers as your seeing. Laughter is a great weapon, an a great way to deal with life induced stress.

You will get great advice, you just have to filter through some of the bs.

Me an short people. We never see eye to eye.

If you need a lift up, folks will be more then happy to help.

I couldn't resist. Do forgive me.

Good luck to you though. Short, tall, skinny, fat, white, black, brown, whatever...trucking is made up of all kinds of people. Don't let your height lack of or to much, hold you back.

Sirscrapntruckalot - If I had a filter life would be boring.

 

You will be fine. We have 2 drivers that are barely 5ft tall and they have no problems with anything including the latch for which they use a puller. Good luck in school.

 

The trucks are VERY adjustable for size of the driver. I'm normal sized, unlike those freakish people over 5 foot 2, and the only near hardship I experience is trying to clean one part of the windshield with some of the long-handled squeegees at some truck stops.

Women generally learn the skills more easily because they listen to instructions. EVERYONE has some trouble backing and shifting gears. EVERYONE has more trouble shifting to a lower gear (downshifting) rather than shifting to a higher gear (upshifting).

When you are trying to learn to back the trailer you need to learn what to do to push the trailer tail toward passenger-side or push trailer tail toward driver-side. Some people use the "crutch" of putting their hand on the top/bottom of the steering wheel and push/pull toward/away from where they want the trailer to move while backing. Some people are confused by that method. I was confused. Don't be afraid to speak up for yourself. You will be a paying customer. You can tell an instructor to use his inside voice. Some instructors yell as if that makes it easier to understand.

People with a lot less ability than you have learned to do this job. You can do it if you want to do it. I would recommend you find a company you really want to work for before you decide on CDL school. For some companies the easiest way to work for them is to go to their school, or CDL school they work with. Some companies will be happy with any 160 hour CDL school.

 

I thought for sure I was going to fail when I went to test for my cdl. I used every pull up, bumped all the cones I could without failing... tried to downshift and couldn’t get back into gear... and still managed to pass. And today I’m a decent driver. Absolutely no question that anyone who is willing to risk being very bad at something for a while can be a better driver than I am. None.