want a cdl-a but...

Honesty is fine, but don't go overboard because that doesn't work in trucking.
"You're under arrest for robbing a bank on Feb. 4, 2019."
"Ok, you got me, but what about the other two I robbed in December 2018?"

 

i would say that since i have been in this industry for 48 years now, 100% honesty, will get you no where, despite your "recovery"

the 1980's do not count anymore. on most if not all job applications, they go back about 5 years on your driving record...now,....IF YOU MAKE THEM SUSPICIOUS, THEY CAN AND WILL order up a lifetime DMV on you, so SHUT THE HELL UP.....!!!!

now try a few companies, you haven't tried yet, including any that chinatown suggested...

you can also try (maybe thru the Vets GI BILL) to get schooling from your GI benefits, then apply to companies WHEN YOU GET your CDL, and again...SHUT THE HELL UP about your past...

best of luck to you.

 

Try some 2nd chance companies that hire from private cdl schools, but don't give information that isn't asked for. You're only hurting yourself when you do.
TransAm
USA Truck
Celadon - www.driveceladon.com
Senn Freight Lines (Newberry, SC)
Paschall Truck Lines
Western Express
Roadtex Transportation
Carolina Cargo Freight - www.carolinacargofreight.com
Carolina Southern Inc. - www.carolinasoutherninc.com
Rusty Dog Express
Liberty Logistics - Address: 4149 Arcadia Industrial Cir SW, Lilburn, GA 30047

 

Try covenant. They hired me with way more than you’ve got. All from the 80s and 90s.

 

Good one; forgot that one.
Covenant Transport - Official Site
https://www.covenanttransport.com

 

There is a thing in this industry as a sort of a necessary evil.

Let's say I had your 18 wheeler with a load of wine and I was speeding on the GWB one night, broke a pallets worth.

Which is the greater issue? Me buying that much wine in the shop a few blocks away by the case to build that pallet so that no one ever knows but me? It never happened. If you the trucking company does not know damages happened on my end, no harm no foul.

If you DID know then.. well Im out of work, you have a stranded truck that will probably get stripped and god only knows what happens to the rest of that wine which you will pay for and never drink a drop.

This industry is not.. black and white. If I spent 3000 dollars against a loss of 30,000 for being unhireable to cargo damage. 3000 is cheap. You follow me?

Let's step a little further. Suppose I applied to another company and somehow they were aware that I had some cargo damage. Because they know people who were involved in my wine fiasco. Ask me about it? Well there are stories and there is keeping quiet. I never volunteer anything, if anything they have to make a case and show me evidence. If they did, they will get told the story whatever may happen. It's over, the damaged wine was replaced and as far as the trucking is concerned no damage to load. Delivered as BOL'ed etc. (The seal will be a trip up but Im not introducing that wrinke to keep it simple)

That kind of cargo damage in losses is enough to keep anyone from being hireable in this industry IF it makes a database or into the employers history anywhere. If it happened.

I work hard sometimes to make it right without the employer being wiser. IF that makes me dishonest then I don't know where to argue that end. I replaced and paid for the damage in cash on the spot. It;s over. Would YOU prefer the whole truck load be lost? Of course not.

There is value to being silent. Decades later there is value to stories to teach lessons on how to be silent.

Now, if you wish to be totally honest, then call your boss and say you broke stuff and it's going to be very expensive to fix it. Ive made a whole lot of those calls. Sometimes the boss made it paid, othertimes took it out of my pay or fired me and so on. Whatever happens is happen.

There is one thing. The most horrible are the calls on the SMALLEST of stuff in damage. I once took up three payphones. One contained my angry dispatcher in one ear, another contained someone in the NYC trade center and a third back overseas in Holland that flew the Tomatos in the bottom of 900 pounds of green peppers which got crushed on the way to Philly overnight from Kennedy. Something like 45 dollars american in destroyed tomatoes you cannot get for love or money anywhere in North America.

But it is still a special order which is lost. SOmeone is going to be paying for that. My boss paid ultimately. Why? Because he did not have a air ride reefer truck like they asked for.

This industry does not run on honesty. If they really did? Like your principles setforth and so on? The whole nation would cry in hunger because not a single truck can run on time with the right freight.

 

To be honest I don’t remember. But they did go thru things with a fine tooth comb