Profile For Ryan B.

I'll try to keep this as succinct as possible. I'm considering going to CDL school for a host of reasons but mainly to pay off debt. I watch a lot of trucker channels on youtube and lurk in other forums where truckers chat about their lifestyle and earnings. Some have mentioned that although they haven't started out making 6 figures, they were still able to pay off debt and accumulate nice savings. They didn't have to pay living expenses because they essentially lived in their truck. How feasible is this?

I do understand that if you are an owner/operator or lease then it would be likely that you would have your own tractor. But what about if you are a regular W2 company driver doing OTR? And if you are assigned your own tractor, but you do not have a residence to park it at, how likely is it that they would allow you to park at the terminal on your off days? Or perhaps you could park at a truck stop nearby.

The ideal situation that I would be looking to achieve temporarily would be to get assigned my own tractor without having to be an owner/op or lease (sounds too expensive from what I've heard). Forgo having to pay for rent because I would live in a tractor similar to an RV or vanlife. Ditch paying for a car also. I still would need to pay for food, cell service, gym membership, etc. But having a car payment with insurance and rent out of the equation, I could pay off my student loans within a year or two years at the most, and put some funds aside for savings and down payment on a home when I am ready to settle.

I'm just unsure how likely it is to achieve this with most companies as a rookie. I'd imagine most carriers need their trucks available for other drivers so they would not allow it to be used as a full-time residence.

My lease is up in June and I am considering starting the CDL training with Roehl in late April or May. So I need to have a good grasp on what type of living arrangements I have the options for.

Looking forward to hearing your replies and any insights!

It's very feasible. Lots of drivers do it. There are some who have posted on this forum who do it. The question is, how much are you willing to go without? Need a shower every single night? Might not be the best option. OTR, you have to be willing to "rough it" at times, especially if choosing to live out of your truck. Need home cooked meals every day? Might not be the best option. We meal prep and set ourselves up to eat healthy, but the fridge only fits so much food and it can be a couple of weeks or more between opportunities to hit a grocery store.

For someone who doesn't mind the solitude and is willing to live like you are camping, it's a great way to save money.

On the matter of small carriers versus large corporations, I am with PJ. I work for a pretty small company (less than 100 trucks), and I have been pulled in for an inspection once in 4 years. It was a level 3 inspection in Colorado. What I have discovered is that it matters more about what the equipment looks like. I take my truck through the truck wash once a week (what the company allows), unless I am parked at the yard to be washed. I am always making sure that my equipment is up to snuff. Even when my company has had high scores to where the safety department is telling us to expect to be pulled in for inspections, I am routinely bypassed. The caveat to this is that I am mostly in the Midwest and NE where the scales and inspection stations don't seem to be as active as they are in the West.

Good companies with good drivers come in all sizes. Bad companies with bad drivers come in a variety of sizes, too.

Reading your post and the comments here, I don't think your boss had a problem with the pre-trip. I think you came off as less than professional when you were like, "oh, I forgot something." What I imagine your boss was thinking is that if you can't do a pre-trip without disrupting the schedule, then don't bother doing it. He has other drivers, and I imagine that they do pre-trips on the equipment before driving. What they don't do is tell the boss, "oh, I forgot something."

As has been pointed out, if he's got mechanics regularly checking the equipment and taking care of issues, then he doesn't need an inexperienced driver nosing around just for the sake of doing it.

My personal approach is this:

If you drive the same truck everyday, then you have a pretty good idea when there is something wrong. Thorough pre-trip when it's been parked for a while and a thorough post-trip when parking it coming off the road. Daily walk arounds to be sure nothing is out of sorts.

Working for a company where a different truck is used regularly, my approach would depend on the condition of the equipment. Is the yard full of aged trucks that obviously in need of better attention than they are getting, or is the yard full of trucks the company cares about keeping well maintained? If it's the former, then I am doing a thorough pre-trip because you never know what you might find. Boss has a problem with that? Well, he may need to be looking for another driver before having a chance to fire me. If it's the latter, then I am walking around to look for anything obvious the last driver might have missed. Beyond that, I am going to trust that the mechanics are doing their jobs well because I don't see a section of the yard with just as many broke down trucks as the section of the yard with running trucks.

This is why starting out OTR is important. You have plenty of time at your disposal to learn how and when to do a thorough pre-trip, as well as how and when to do a walk around. Most local jobs, the companies don't have time for drivers to fumble around being inefficient with their time on things like pre-trips.

All-in-all, it was probably a good learning experience.

Why people bother starting threads seeking advice, yet refusing to provide the details?

As for you Shane, I don't have a clue what to tell you because I really have no idea what happened. Seems like you have decided that you would rather keep the details to yourself than to get solid advice on how to proceed.

I will offer this:

Keep drugs out of your truck, other than prescriptions (even those are potential landmines) and OTC pain medication. Don't try a driving career again, if drugs may end up back in your truck. Playing a dangerous game with that move.

Dutch Maid Logistics, Willard, OH.

Refrigerated freight company that hires drivers from all over the Midwest and Northeast. It's a smaller company of like 200 drivers. They would love to have an experienced driver from PA area, as this is part of their prime operating area. They don't popup on TentStreet, when using that app. Have to go through their website.

I have the same type of issue as you. Completed parole in 2020, got my CDL later that year, and it took me almost a year to find a place willing to hire me. I don't share the company for which I work because of my particular situation. There are a number of companies that I personally know are willing to hire convicted felons out of Texas with less than 5 years since parole completion.

Butler Transport Big M Transportation Witte Bros. Bulkley Trucking Tyson CFI Variant/US Xpress Wild West Express Pride Transport TransAm Climate Express

Whether or not any of these companies would be willing to hire you specifically is something only that company itself can tell you.

I personally know that each of these companies has hired people out of Texas who have been on parole within 5 years of being hired.

As for going to company sponsored training for your CDL...

That is by far the best route to go. Unfortunately, there are some of us who are not able to be hired by any of those companies. None of the companies I listed offers company-sponsored training, to my knowledge.

I am not going to tell you to use the federal program to get your CDL for free, but I will say that I did it that way. It was a long, hard slog to get a job after completing CDL school. Ultimately, I achieved my goal, even after every training company that hires out of my area said no. Only you know what is the best route to go for you. This site has a wealth of information to help you. Use the resources here. Most of the drivers here went through company-sponsored training. It's a proven system that works. Once in a while, someone comes along like me who has to take a different path.

Coming up on 4 years going strong for me. You can do it, too.

Like Turtle said, you are required to list everything you take (and been diagnosed with I believe) on the DOT med card form. Others please correct me if I'm wrong but lying or withholding info on that could make it invalid making your Class A invalid. Get in an accident, the lawyers are gonna dig everything up and it's not a pretty picture. If you go into this, go into it honestly.

It can technically be a chargeable federal crime, namely falsifying a federal document because that form we fill out is a US federal document. We sign it, and upon signing it, we are affirming that all the information is correct. The document itself states that knowingly withholding information or providing false information on the document is subject to potential criminal penalty. Doesn't mean that this instance being discussed would lead to a criminal charge, but it could.

Didn't we have a conversation a few weeks ago about this? The Hazmat isnt going to matter if you cannot get hired.

Most likely you will NOT find a company to hire you until 10 years AFTER the end of your parole. You asked TSA... did you ask any actual companies about your situation? You could go through all of this deliberation and CDL school only to be nom hireable.

Research companies to get hired. Do so immediately

That's not true. Not saying that it's easy, but not every company requires 10 years post supervision. I got off parole in March 2020. I was hired by a company just over a year later.

Yeah, the newer trucks are awesome. I have an older one though.

However, the numbers of our particular trucks aren't really the point. I am wondering if a vehicle can legally tow a trailer that is rated higher than the towing capacity of said vehicle so long as the actual weight of the cargo and trailer together don't exceed the towing capacity of the vehicle as stated by the manufacturer. Let's assume for the time being that the trailer's GVWR is under 10,000 lbs so that we aren't falling under commercial driving regs.

You said this isn't CDL territory, so there may not be an applicable law here. If you are talking about hot shot loads with a pick up truck, then you are in CMV territory, even if no CDL is required. Be under the manufacturer's specs in every aspect of the numbers.

Let me put it like this:

A combination vehicle has a GVWR of 80k lbs. Trailer axles and tractor drive axles have a legal limit of 34k lbs. It's possible to be under 80k lbs, yet overweight on either one of these with no room to move the tandems. Doesn't matter that the overall gross is legal. All the weights have to be legal.

Now for your situation:

Don't think that you are good just because you are within the limit on the gross weight. There are mechanical reasons why the various weight limits exist. Don't exceed any weight limit. With smaller trucks, it can pose significant problems for things like your transmission and your suspension. Those trailer axles on smaller trailers are not capable of remaining mechanically sound when the manufacturer weight rating is exceeded.

I am about to enter a school for my CDL A, however I am nervous to continue and pay for the schooling due to the fact that I have a drug possession felons as of June 2022. I'm pretty sure it's possible to still get work. Is there anyone who can confirm this please. Thanks so much. -J

It's going to be next to impossible to find a company worth working for that is willing to hire someone with felony drug possession that's 2 years old. Keep in mind, employers consider the conviction date — not the offense date — when determining whether or not a charge is disqualifying. If your offense date was June 2022, then your conviction date is probably much more recent, making the idea of getting your CDL right now a waste of time and money.

You need some years beyond the conviction date, as in a minimum of 5 years. Even with 5 years, you are going to struggle to find an employer willing to hire you for a commercial driving job.

Why is this the case? There was a point in time when truck drivers didn't have much in the way of regulation. Even when the legal requirement for log books was created, it was easy to run a fake log book to present to authorities. In order to stay awake when running with little or no sleep, some drivers relied on drugs like methamphetamines. There was a problem with drugs and the trucking industry.

A current problem in the trucking industry is the trafficking of drugs with commercial vehicles.

These are the reasons why the industry is not going to put someone with a recent history of possessing drugs into a CMV. To the trucking industry, you are viewed as one giant liability, and since you have no experience, you are that huge liability without being any sort of asset.

You need to be pretty sure that no trucking company in their right mind is going to touch you with such a recent drug offense.

Do warehouse work, construction work, anything adjacent to transportation so that in 5-10 years you have a solid understanding of the customers the trucking industry services. Then you will be in a position to look at a career transition.