Profile For Trenton H.

Hello fellow truckers, I need to reach out and speak with you all. I’ve had my CDL for 8 months now and I am local. I have been doing well and backing into loading docks is no problem. I just started a new job that has start times anywhere from 12am-4am 5 days a week. About 55 hours a week. I am having an extremely difficult time getting decent rest. I’ve also been getting switched from nights to afternoons. Today was very difficult. I needed to use my 16 hour exemption and I only slept about 1 hour last night. I thought about calling out because I do not feel comfortable driving a CMV with such little sleep. My truck broke down earlier today and after an hour and a half my manager wanted me to continue getting stops completed. By this time I had been on duty for 11 hours. I let him know that I wanted to call it a day considering I had only slept 1 hour but he made me finish the route. I have to be up in 5 hours to start shift for tomorrow. Is this common in this industry and what would any of you had done in similar circumstances? Thanks everyone.

Hey everyone. Trying to get some insight and was wondering what your very first CDL job was and how did you land that job? Did you enjoy it and how many hours did they having you working a week?

Hello truckers! I am signed up to attend a CDL school in June for one month. Once completed I will obviously get my commercial drivers license as long as I pass.

I wanted to ask for recommendations pertaining to starting my job as a new CDL driver. I am a single male 28y/o with a dog. I understand for many truckers this is a lifestyle and can work up to 70 hours a week (currently work 60-72 hours at current job). I am looking to hopefully start off doing regional or dedicated or car hauling, but I’ve heard this can be difficult because many companies require OTR experience. And at some point I may want to move into the hazmat field of transportation.

I’m having trouble finding companies that will let me bring my dog with me. He is a very friendly 95 pitbull and I could never consider adopting him out. As a rookie driver would it ever be possible for me to find a job with maybe 50 hours or less a week, regional or dedicated? What was your first CDL job? And what advice would you give to a new driver? Thank you for whatever input and advice you can provide!