Standard Transmissions

Hello everyone,

New to the forums and will be filling my mental sponge with all the info I can gather here.

I apologize in advance if this topic has already been discussed but I couldn’t really find answers in other posts.

I have decided to make a career change and I’m regretting not doing it sooner but life kinda has a funny way of throwing curve balls.

Anyways… I’m going to be getting my license in the next month or so and I’m EDD is paying for the training. My concern is being sent to a school that trains on automatics and having that restriction on my license. There are schools locally that offer both Auto and Standard but I don’t know if EDD will give me a choice. If I have to end up paying out of pocket to go to a school that uses Standard Trans for the training and drive tests I will but that’s definitely not my first choice.
I know I can go the company sponsored route but the idea of a contract makes my skin crawl so that avenue will definitely be a last resort.

I’ve wanted to drive a truck since I was a kid and have driven Class B as well as a lot of heavy equipment during my construction career. I’ve always been seduced by the idea of driving down the road pulling machinery, grabbing gears and rolling coal.

I know there is a mass exodus with company’s going the Automatic route and I get it from their standpoint but I’m not interested in putting a semi in Drive and holding the wheel and driving down the road with my head up my ###.

Long story short….Are there any companies hiring new drivers that still supply trucks with Standard Transmissions? I hate to bring politics in on this but I view Automatics as the “Liberal/Democrats” of the trucking world.

 

Yeah, probably not a good idea to bring politics into this. Kind of a bogus analogy anyway.
Anyway, an automatic restriction very possibily won't have much effect on you these days. Most fleets are all automatics and slowly but surely more are going this route. From a fleet management standpoint, it just makes more sense. Fleet managers care about fuel costs, repair costs, maintenance costs, etc. and, for the most part, automatics these days are simply better on those statistics. Fleet managers don't really care about what drivers want if it's gonna cost them more money.
From a drivers stand point, they have some disadvantages, but also some advantages. Much less work driving an automatic, especially while stuck in traffic and they simply won't wear you out as much. Most drivers, once they swallow their needless pride about being a 'gear jammer' seem to prefer them more too. I've heard several on this site that once they transitioned to automatics and got used to them, they don't want to go back.

 

I’m not looking to be a company driver for more than two or three years. I want to get my experience and then will be looking into my own authority. When that time comes I’ll be looking at purchasing a pre 2006 Pete or possibly a KW so the restriction will definitely affect me.

 

Good, but driving with the cranium fully lodged in the rectum is not tied to the transmission in use.....

Here's something to consider... Driving a standard is a good skill set to have. You can drive anybody's truck then, even the old worn out crap.

There is a second skill set needed to drive an Automated trans well. Not all are capable of developing it.

 

It's not what you drive, it's how you drive it. Your Green, learn the trade. Nobody cares if you can run a set of sticks.

 

Freymiller
FFE Transportation
TMC
JRayl Transport
Crete Carrier/Shaffer Trucking

 

I do. I just don’t know how I could look myself in the mirror... Wait a #### minute, I can’t see myself in the mirror!
Never mind, carry on, ya da ya da ya da.

On another note, I take great offense to the OP wanting to carry Big Maude!

 

Be offended all you want, Not sure I would mess with anybody stout enough to pick Maude up and carry her.......

 

You have a point... I wonder if he’s a Kentuckian...

 

I don’t get it. I’m assuming your talking s*** but the hits aren’t landing.