The few guys that got..."lucky"

Keep putting in apps and talking to people. Ignore all the megas. The first company to take you on may not be very good, might be beat-up equipment and lack of concern for safety.

Everyone I've seen come out of a mega had bad habits and poor decision-making skills, enough to have gotten me injured or killed if I hadn't been in transportation my whole working life and known how to take care of myself.

Find an opening, don't say much, don't expect to stay unless it's surprisingly great, just get your time in and move on. And keep your own counsel on right and wrong, be your own safety advocate. I've worked with deaf people who made fun of my wearing hearing protection, for example. If they offer safety equipment, wear it. You can either wear a respirator on the job or later in the hospital when you've got silicosis.

Look around at your co-workers; any of them missing limbs or parts? Do they have criminal convictions or addiction issues? if so, you're working at a company of last resort, so most of the advice you get there will be from people who made poor decisions, treat their advice accordingly.

 

My old man bought his first truck when I was very young. He worked local but the only time he wasn't maintaining the truck or working was for half a day on Sunday. Most of our quality time consisted of me riding shotgun in the pickup while we did parts runs on Saturdays and me fetching him tools from the toolbox while he did his repairs. So yes its not all sunshine and rainbows.

 

Idk where you’re located but the oilfield might be a good place to start or construction jobs.

Warehouses as Six said. Know a couple guys that started working docks at Conway and moved into local jobs that way, Conway got their license for them and everything.

My brother in law got his license paid for by an oilfield company.

Don’t ever be afraid to call and simply ask.

Also, don’t ever tell an employer you can do something you can’t. I know, seems like common sense right? Wrong. It’s ugly when it happens. Had a guy do that in a shop, put in an entire set of lifters upside down.

There’s a lot of unconventional ways to get your foot in the door outside of Megas, just gotta show up and ask or call.

 

I got hired pulling lowboy with 5 months OTR experience, also drive dump trucks. I had never touched a binder in my life. We are a real small company and I wouldn’t trade this job for anything. You get to run heavy equipment everyday. You just can’t be scared to knock on some doors. It’s hard work but I love it, I can’t sit on my butt all day I go crazy.

 

It’s really simple. Ask the good jobs if they are hiring.

I never worked for a mega and never will.

I too am in a teamster construction gig. I don’t work 70 hours a week though.

 

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit”- Ernest Hemingway

When I was a kid, I wanted to get on the fire dept. I trained and trained just for the opportunity to try out. I didn’t just want to show up, I wanted to ace it. Alas, I had zero political pull and although I had the highest score at the try out, I didn’t get accepted into the fire academy. But the police wanted me to try out for their academy.
Years later, saw an old school mate of mine and found out that he was now over the fire academy. Had a young friend going through and I inquired about him. “Well, he could do lots better, but he doesn’t feel the need to try harder.”

Repugnant. How does anyone go at a goal half hearted and expect to win? So, I went to the young guy and asked him why he was slacking. “He said, “Well, once you’re in the academy, you’re a shoo in. There’s no reason to go full tilt.” His reasoning left me puzzled.
Well a week or so before graduation, they cut the bottom 5. He was 4th from the bottom. No, I didn’t ask him how he felt...I didn’t care. He got what he deserved. Did he have bad luck? No. He got out what he put in.

There are people looking to get into the trucking biz that want the best jobs and the best pay. But they are unwilling to put forth their best effort to find that job. The better the company, the better the average driver. If your natural HABIT is to be a slacker, you will not fare well at the better companies. Oh wait...I forgot...you guys think that you’re a shoo in because it’s just driving, and you just sit there and hold a steering wheel. Right?

How many times do we see threads about some van driver that’s loaded wrong and now he’s worried about dodging the weigh stations? How many times do you read about some driver following his GPS like gospel and going down some restricted road? How many threads do we read about where some fool went home for the holiday and smoked seed with his friends and then got popped in a random? How many threads do we read about some driver pissed off because he was late for an appointment and now has to wait a couple days? How many times have you heard about some driver getting fired because he keeps hitting stationary objects? Unlucky? No sir. Bad work ethic. We make our own luck. If bad things continually happen to you, YOU are doing something wrong.

 

All I see anymore is slackers, what happened to my profession?

 

The millennial generation has it in their heads that for some reason they shouldn't start at the bottom. Millennials also cannot stay off those phones for anything, keep my phone off and in a fire safe while driving; never be able to say I was using my phone while driving.
Does it really make sense to jump into the deep end of the pool when you don't know how to swim? Trucking doesn't have mom around to bail you out your fellow truckers will only go so far in helping.

 

Kinda depends on what you mean by a gravy job, but if you mean, home every night and weekends off it seems to be dependent on where you live. If there is a high demand for drivers your chances increase.

Jobs where I hear of new school graduates being hired at above the usual company starting pay rate are nonexistent, require years of experience or have a waiting list when i look into those positions where I live. Same company, same position, just completely different requirements to get hired.

 

I worked for a company for 10 years, started off as a class C driver, then the company got me my B license and finally my A, I've only done local deliveries.