Switching career to trucking, need advice

Dot Transportation is a good outfit. Only difficulty being hired there is there's rarely an opening. Drivers tend to stay. Several new grads on this forum have applied for Dot in California and found there's just no openings. Apply anyway though; might luck out.

 

When you pick an employer you just decided what your schedule, pay, insurance costs, which fuel stops you can use, where you drive, if you have cameras watching you all day, how many miles you drive, if you park truck at yard/home, and lots of other things.

You are not going to get hired on and then change any of the above at the company. Most newbies assume it's all a big buffet & you can pick from among an endless list of choices. IT DOESN'T WORK THAT WAY.

Your choice is Company A, B, C, D ..... Z and you just locked in all of the details & conditions at that one company. Newbies ask questions like "what's the a rage pay & average miles, etc." You don't get the industry average pay & miles. You get what Company C pays & their miles & their policies. The miles & policies can make it almost impossible to work at a company for 12 months or they can make it easy to stay for 12 .months or more. Choose carefully.

 

May Trucking Company will reimburse cdl school tuition back to you.
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Melton Truck Lines has cdl school tuition reimbursement program.
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Prime Inc. will reimburse $1500.00 of your cdl school tuition back to you.

 

Just because Dot has no openings for new drivers at present -- doesn't necessarily mean they won't have any next month -- or further into the near future.

Thus -- choosing a CDL school listed on Dot's website (in the link given above/earlier) is likely still to be a good idea.

-- L

 

Truck Driver Home Daily CDL A

 

Going with a mega has the advantage of usually having good freight options. They will keep you running with enough variety to get some good experience.

Swift has a terminal in Lathrop, which is pretty close to you.
No driver facing camera, just a dash cam with no audio.
You can run as a solo driver after training.
No touch freight, with very few exceptions.
You have options with the loads you accept. If the timing is too close for comfort you can counter the times with your own. If they don't work, they will find you a different load to run that has better times. Mac 9 is your friend. Sometimes you may have to run on a tight time schedule, but one of the things that keeps me at Swift is that mac 9.

You can park your car at the terminal so you don't need to worry about taking the truck home.
When you come back from home time you can set your PTA for whatever time is good for you. That lets you have enough time in the morning for the drive back to the terminal.

 

I must be invisible here,,,