Trucking School

[brgrcru]

Here is my story.
was a owner operator from 1985-- 2005. local transfer dump truck business.
loved it at first , then more rules and regulations. and more and more traffic.
turned me into . what they call an outlaw. fuck the chp , fuck the scales, fuck the BIT program, fuck the drug tests, fuck the 4 wheelers. fuck grossing 80k. might as well load up 90 to 100 k on our dirty dirt hauls to Vegas. yep that was me.
had a wife at home and kids. needed to make money . 12 hours that was for pussies. 14 to 24 hours is where it was at. run all day and all night .
then i wanted out. lol
my personnel life, was getting in my way of enjoying it anymore.
money was good at first.
diesel fuel was .78 a gallon back in 85.
got out around 2005.

had a family business, we loved . that we sold because of our POS government. lock downs.
my wife asked what am i going to do ? i said," i guess im getting back into trucking."
this year, I went and studied, on line tests and acquired, a commercial drivers hand book. to refresh. amazing, what your brain retains after 15 years.
got my permit with all the endorsements.

so now im back into trucking. i had my license before. drove all kinds of big rigs. i went to a school, more or less, just to rent the truck . I spent $1500. was suppose to be a 6 week course. 3 days a week, for about 2 hours, each session. picked it up easy and with in 2 weeks . the instructor, had me at the DMV right when they reopened.
passed the test
and walla
went and applied at a yard. was hired.

I'm working for a building material yard, driving flatbeds , transfers or flatbed 10 wheelers, with a piggy back fork lift all over so cal , delivering pavers , block , brick. sand, rock or what ever to home sites, construction sites or back to the yard.

I am now , Loving every moment of it. not stressed , drive 58--62 mph all day long. money isn't great, it really never was.
but I'm doing something I love. get to drive a nice Peterbilt truck. working 10-12 hours a day.

I might get my own rig again. really want too.

its not for everyone. but the freedom is nice, everyday is a different day. what else am i going to do.

 

[Rvrluvr]

Here is my story.
was a owner operator from 1985-- 2005. local transfer dump truck business.
loved it at first , then more rules and regulations. and more and more traffic.
turned me into . what they call an outlaw. fuck the chp , fuck the scales, fuck the BIT program, fuck the drug tests, fuck the 4 wheelers. fuck grossing 80k. might as well load up 90 to 100 k on our dirty dirt hauls to Vegas. yep that was me.
had a wife at home and kids. needed to make money . 12 hours that was for pussies. 14 to 24 hours is where it was at. run all day and all night .
then i wanted out. lol
my personnel life, was getting in my way of enjoying it anymore.
money was good at first.
diesel fuel was .78 a gallon back in 85.
got out around 2005.

had a family business, we loved . that we sold because of our POS government. lock downs.
my wife asked what am i going to do ? i said," i guess im getting back into trucking."
this year, I went and studied, on line tests and acquired, a commercial drivers hand book. to refresh. amazing, what your brain retains after 15 years.
got my permit with all the endorsements.

so now im back into trucking. i had my license before. drove all kinds of big rigs. i went to a school, more or less, just to rent the truck . I spent $1500. was suppose to be a 6 week course. 3 days a week, for about 2 hours, each session. picked it up easy and with in 2 weeks . the instructor, had me at the DMV right when they reopened.
passed the test
and walla
went and applied at a yard. was hired.

I'm working for a building material yard, driving flatbeds , transfers or flatbed 10 wheelers, with a piggy back fork lift all over so cal , delivering pavers , block , brick. sand, rock or what ever to home sites, construction sites or back to the yard.

I am now , Loving every moment of it. not stressed , drive 58--62 mph all day long. money isn't great, it really never was.
but I'm doing something I love. get to drive a nice Peterbilt truck. working 10-12 hours a day.

I might get my own rig again. really want too.

its not for everyone. but the freedom is nice, everyday is a different day. what else am i going to do.

you’re in luck. I have a 100% compliant transfer for sale. Comes with work. Turn key. $150

 

[napanutt]

I’ve had my CDL in CA for almost 30 years . Back when I got mine it wasn’t anywhere near as hard as it is now to pass the test. Might be a good thing.
For the first 20 years or so I did a lot of driving commercial type trucks. Being gubment worker our trucks weren’t considered commercial per se but I do have extensive experience with manually shifted dump trucks etc.
I plan on using my experience for local work when I retire in a couple years.

 

[Cole Canadian]

December of last year My company wanted me to get my class A combinations and air brakes. It was a "guaranteed pass" class. They set up a class that i believe cost $500. It lasted half a day. It was you and an instructor. You started on the outside of the truck. Went over every thing and then moved on to the inside. He told you what and how to say everything and how the Missouri highway patrol wanted to hear it. Then he had you go over everything yourself and then moved on to the driving portion. You got to practice for like an hour or so and then he drove you over to your appointed at the highway patrol station that they set up as part of the deal. It was a single Axel manual 6 speed tractor with a back window to look through and like a 30 or so foot trailer that was cut in half lengthwise so you could look over the whole thing and see everything. The same truck that you have been practicing with all day is the one you take your test in. It was a very nice and good set up and made it as easy as possible on you. If you did not pass then you got to come back another day and do the whole class all over again. Up to 3 times i believe. I watched youtube videos of the class a cdl test over and over before i went just to help myself. So basically all I needed to practice was my driving and backing and parallel parking. In 4 or 5 hours i walked away with my class a license able to drive a manual big rig here in Missouri.

We used to have a system like that up here in Canada,... Google Humbolt Broncos deaths and see what an instant 1A license cost an entire hockey team! Go to an accredited driver school and learn from a professional!!

 

[kevin1988]

My girlfriend's dad works as driver for JB Hunt. Started at Swift after 25 years in the Army. Hated Swift, but they paid for school and he had a guaranteed job after. Worked there 4-5 years and within the last 3 months got hired at JB. JB is paying better and gave a sign on bonus.

He want's to get out. At both places he works mon-fri doing local loads, home every night.

His biggest complaint is driving on So Cal freeways and "how fucking stupid" cars are. Being passed on the shoulder, cut off, having to slam the brakes ect is an hourly occurrence.

 

[MOUZER]

Yes but is that where you started?

yes tankers was very first job

 

[beerrun]

yes tankers was very first job

Wow that's great I would think they would want a couple years experience before they would let someone drive a tanker. My uncle drove tankers for Texaco in Michigan

 

[boatnam2]

Few years ago now, but my mom had moved to idaho and at one point she told me she was going to drive a big rig, i laughed and said ok Mom. she was probably in her mid 50's. Im watching TV one afternoon in so cal and this big ass 18 wheeler pulls up in front of my house which is on a tiny street. I'm like what the hell is going on and out jumps my mom, i about shit myself. Long story short, i bought her a little road dog and she did 46 states in the next 5 years before passing away. She loved the open road and meeting people.

 

[AZmike]

In 2018 I left Law Enforcement because I was tired of it. I decided to get back into trucking because I did that briefly before getting hired with the Sheriff's office. I decided to skip the out of pocket driver schools and look for a company that offered training. I researched several companies "knight, werner, roehl, scheider". I spoke to all the recruiters which answered my questions and decided to go with Knight. The training at Knight was 2 weeks long and since I had a license at one time, most of training was easy. Once I received my license I got paired up with a trainer. The trainer/trainee period was suppose to last about a month but my trainer had me driving the first day and felt confident in my skill set. I was assigned my own two truck after about 2 weeks of riding around with the trainer. This is when shit went down hill real fast at Knight. Their equipment is absolutely garbage and I had a ton of issues with my truck. No truck no work for me! I continued to trudge through Knight's bullshit and left knight for a local job after six months. The local gig was actually worse than Knight but I was home every night and had the weekends off. The pay was ok for my situation at the time but I knew I needed to check out of this place as soon as possible. I spent about about 4 months there and quit.

As this point I was wondering if I made the right decision. I was more depressed and angry now than ever before. The next several months I struggled to find work. No one wanted to talk to me because of my employment record as a truck driver. I understood why and tried to explain but no one seemed to care. Then one day this guy calls my old lady for a insurance quote and she gets to talking to him and it turns out he's a supervisor for Panera bread's private trucking company. They chat a little more and he's says have him call me we're looking for people. I reach out to the guy and get interviewed the next day. I explained my situation and what I was looking for and he says no problem, we can do that. I got super lucky and I'm super happy where I'm at now. I know I can make more money at other companies but my schedule is great, I'm home every night, and the pay and benefits are better than the sheriff's office.

With all jobs you have issues and shit you wish you could change, but it's about finding the right thing for you. Good luck with you adventure if you have questions on anything let me know.

 

[arch stanton]

So lots of good advice hear this is my take, First I have 31 years with a class A first as an owner operator for 10 years then 21 more with employees before that I drove a 20 foot flatbed for 6 years delivery construction supplies. I went to a diving school for a one week driving only course did the book work myself out of the DMV hand book. Then nobody would give a 25 year old kid a job driving a local dump truck so I bought an old truck and transfer I now understand why nobody would trust me with one at that age.
During this time I have also managed the field operation for a grading and demo contractor and flipped over 100 homes during the big recision but I kept the trucks running.
There are more driving jobs than any other single occupation in America and 80% of trucking companies have less than 6 trucks and there is lots of niche trucking jobs that pay better than just running a box van cross country and like a lot of other jobs you have to put in more than 8 hours to make the big money and you are going to need at least 2 years experience to be insurable and a few more before you are really good, use this time to find a good company to work for and even more important find the company's to stay away from. You don't have to unload box vans or wait for days to be loaded and unloaded just find a niche that does not treat a driver like crap, I have never waited more than an hour and even at the worst paying job stand by started after 20 minutes at full hourly rate. The farthest I have ever hauled a load was one trip to Vegas about 350 miles, I have now expanded into Lowbed work and I expect I will end up going a little farther than that in the future but not on a regular basis.
My dump trucks work 80% within a 30 mile radius and 100% within 60 mile radius.
I have met and watched a lot of drivers maneuver their truck and there are many drivers that think they know what they are doing but I have seen guys with 20 years be complete bone heads when it comes to backing in and maneuvering around the job site, for me forward or backward is all the same if you want top dollar be the best at the job don't be the bone head we all make fun of.
PM me if you want to talk
pic of dump truck shows how tight some jobs are backed in so many times over a few days had to have grader fill the low side so my mirror would not hit the fence and the low bed hauling 40 ton articulated truck thesis are fun because only about a 1/3 of tread is on the trailer.