Where to start when entering the trucking industry?

I'll #### sure give it a try! I can still drive a truck, its just been years since i handled a full size trailer. Drove 4 car carrier from 13 to 15 so im not THAT out of it. Plenty of time running a 10 spd

 

As far as I know. You are right?
Am I incorrect in my thinking that the north east division. They're doing what others do. Regional and dedicated runs. It is more of a Regional Division, than OTR. Generally I'm thinking this is needed. The North East is too tricky. Too many traps. They need people who know their part of the country. Keep the nationwide OTR's away from all the stumbling blocks up there. Am I incorrect?
Either way.... If you call Nikki Yost. She's a recruiter in Springfield, Missouri. She is really good. She'll give you the straight scoop. Or she may very well refer you to someone in Penn. who knows the answers better than she does.

 

So...I had all but given up on driving. Things at home necessitated moving my family from Vermont back home to Maine and i knew i couldnt do that AND leave for training and be gone OTR.

In the process of preparing to move, I got a job! A local company has offered me a position as an "apprentice driver", starting local and training with the head of their flatbed division until they are confident in my abilities. At which point i run regional in the northeast for percentage pay (average weekly 1000-1200)!

Not that most of the story matters, but I am proud as hell that i not only got a driving job, but got a good paying local job with a reputable company!!

Any advice for a regional flat bedder in new england starting out? Primarily hauling lumber.

 

Congratulations! So glad you found what fits you!
Let us know how it works out.

 

Yes it does.

You will be given a DOT test medical everywhere you apply to.

You will fill out stacks of paper work accounting for all of your time going back 7 to 10 years.

If you have not already started, the process for; Passport, TWIC, etc that has to get going.

You will be drug tested like you wont believe. Especially now this year tests for script pain medicine.

You will be treated as someone new to the industry, but lord willing no one will mistreat you. Just remember having your valid CDL under Tier One able to run around the State or entire USA etc is very valuable.

And you probably will go through several companies. Your most dangerous time is your first year out. If you hit something and break it, you are at risk of being sent home for good and not hireable for a while if it is a truly extensive break.

You will run into intense pressure to breach the HOS to deliver the load. Remember that anti corection laws are in place since 2012 or so so that you can say no and not get fired for refusing to run illegal. Document everything when a problem comes up.

Get a good traffic camera for yourself. And use it. What that thing shows after a whoopsie will make your case or break you.

 

Your answer doesnt relate to your quote. I had asked if a post about getting my permit relates to me

I am 100% aware of the need for a dot physical and drug testing.

Thank you for the input in regards to the dash cam, thats a good idea

 

This cannot be overstated.
Yes it is possible to make 50k a year at 13 dollars an hour straight pay.
Would you be willing to put in that many hours at any other low wage job?
Think about it.

 

I took a pay cut to run lanes I like.
Actually making more because the runs are longer and only 4 pickups and or drops every week.
The great people where I'm at are just icing on the cake.

 

Swift has a dedicated account for Under Armor that hauls from California to Maine. They claim they don't when I have asked how to get on it, but I've also talked to dudes on it. Loads get transloaded onto 48 foot trailers in the Northeast and then delivered in Maine.

 

I've put in more hours for less. And if you think that a person with 3 weeks experience, no college education in a non specialized field deserves more than 13 an hour or 50k per year, making more than teachers, police, fire fighters, EMT, and people who have 50k or more in debt... come on dude.

At Swift, even in a 62mph truck I was averaging 58-60mph. I was driving for 10-10.5 hours at 60mph. I was getting 600 miles almost every day as a company driver. 600x.37 = 222. 222 / 10 = 22.20 per hour for driving. Sitting in a dock, no matter what DOT says, is not work. Neither is fueling, scaling a load, doing a pretrip, cleaning your windshield. And driving #### sure isn't work. Even on flatbed, the most exercise or work you'll do is tarping a load. Unless you're older or in some way injured or a snowflake #####, that's still not even close to how hard you'd have to work outside of trucking at a job that pays 13 an hour, let alone 20.

I get that trucking is vital to the economy and way of life for all people in this country, but it isn't hard work, nor is it something that almost any idiot can do. 13 year old kids do our job every single day on farms all over America, and they #### sure aren't being paid 20 an hour by their parents. They probably work even harder than most of us would ever dream of working.

Keep in mind also, most jobs that pay 13 dollars an hour won't let you work full time because they would then have to offer benefits outside of the ACA marketplace... they'd have to pay you for overtime at time and a half or double time. You wouldn't GET to work 70 hours.

Now I don't know about you or how closely the safety department monitors your logs, but as for me, I didn't log time on duty doing things that I didn't consider work, or could otherwise get away without logging.. like fuel... or scales... or loading and unloading for more than a few minutes before I logged sleeper. So I spent MAYBE 5 hours of my 70 every week "working" and the rest of the time driving.

And that was at .37... Swift is paying new drivers .42cpm now to haul vans, and they are making it highly undesirable for o/o and l/o to train. Penalizing them heavily, and paying huge bonuses to company trainers who aren't just looking for a second log book.

I made way more than 50k in my first year, at a company where people swear you won't make 35k. And I did that with no experience, no college degree, a felony, spotty work history with huge gaps where I had cash jobs. No student loan debt other than the contract. I was overpaid for a first year driver. Don't get me wrong... now, I demand a job making no less than 70k per year gross. But I kinda feel like I earned that by working twice as hard for a lower wage and making what a lot of people with 10 years experience don't make at their company in their long nose.