Profile For Dan67

I strongly encourage you to stay with Western Express a year or longer. Do not job hop, that will kill a career in a tight market. I have a friend of mine who has been driving for 20 years and he has been getting frustrated and blaming his employers instead of himself. He *****es and whines about they promise this and that and they don't deliver, yada yada.. He has been with 3 companies in the last 8 months and now he cannot find a job anywhere.. don't be like him. Learn every day you are driving, never forget the basics. Keep your head on a swivel and be aware of your surroundings and practice GOAL (get out and look). Learn to be efficient with you're time. Master your tradecraft. You can do this and succeed.

Freight has been inconsistent the last few months. A week or two light, then gang busters the next week. In my area one of our biggest customers is Electrolux in Atlanta. They recently changed companies they contract to run the distribution center. All new software that runs the warehouse and never bothered to train anyone on how to use it. And a majority of the staff quit vs moving over to the new company. So its now a complete mess. Last I heard they where still a week behind on receiving loads and and doing outbounds.

Cargo Transporters has their own app that we use our in cab tablets to scan, we used to use our phones and the company app.

I drive for a company based in North Carolina and I am considered short haul/local. I get paid hourly and time plus half after 40 hours. The company limits us to a max of 55 hours a week. The pay is not the highest but I enjoy having every weekend off and sleeping in my own bed. At 55 hours a week I average about$1400/week. The OTR drivers are still home weekly and they are at 0.67/mile and they average about 2,400 miles per week. The more productive drivers get close to 3,000 a week.

I've never heard of a company that pays actual odometer miles. They go by statute miles or zip miles and practical miles.

Doing construction jobs is not anywhere near the same as maneuvering a 53ft van trailer in those tight dollar store parking lots. Do you have any experience with a dry van or refer trailer? If the answer is no, I highly recommend you not take this position until you have at least 1 year experience with a 53ft van/refer. These types of accounts are career killers.

I've had 2 deer strikes in the last 4 years. First one, the deer hit me. Was on a 4 lane road and the dear ran out of the woods and did a header into the side of my trailer and went up under the trailer tandems making a huge mess. Second was leaving the terminal gate going up our driveway and a dear ran out in front of me. Barely hit it and knocked his rear legs out from under him. It got up and gave me a dirty look before trotting off.

Brett is right on the mark. The test is always a high stress event and they want to see how you handle it.

I have a friend who is a CDL instructor at a local technical college. He says that one of the biggest reasons why students fail the road test is they demonstrate poor situational awareness. They don't maintain their lane, don't check the mirrors enough, and they ignore road signs. They get so nervous and the focus on just what is in front of them and forget about every thing else. Keep your calm and you will do fine.

Look at city services companies that drive Class B trucks. I had a person in my truck driving class at the local technical college that had a manslaughter conviction and did time in prison. He was able to find a job driving a garbage truck. That was back in 2016. He's been with the same company and is one of their top performing drivers.

Insurance is one of the highest expenses in the trucking industry. And its also one that companies can try to lower by making sure they have highly skilled and very professional drivers. Hence, why it is so hard to get started in trucking with speeding tickets and other bad judgement incidents, DUI/DWI, and illicit drug habits. Everyone here at TT wants new and perspective drivers to be aware how much your driving history effects your career. Best wishes and hopefully you learn allot here.