Comments By Phil P.

Thanks for all the info and advice, I am leaning towards going to one of the companies here on TT for training. I have spoken to one of their recruiters and they said I would have to go thru training with them. The only advantage I would have could be that the on the road training may be shortened. I went through a company training in 2000, that didn't give much training at all. Eleven days classroom and pad training and two weeks with an on the road trainer. I had other choices and chose this company because the others were about 6 weeks of training and I thought I didn't need that much training. (Big Ego) At my age now, and knowing what I know now I should have taken the longer training. I have stories about how the lack of early experience and training almost had horrible endings. (Only by the grace of God.) I became an on the road trainer for that same company and saw only a small portion of my students that I recommended to go forward. Scary.

You have a cdl...A mrs with an income..and your retired. Sounds like a good candidate for Reohl . They have great home time options.... and a shorter training time a lot of other companies .

How long ago was your last felony? Is it true that the DAC only goes back 10 years?

The only difference is you won't be taking the Combination Vehicles exam. Getting a Class B is a cake walk.

How long ago was your last felony?

The only difference is you won't be taking the Combination Vehicles exam. Getting a Class B is a cake walk.

2007 full time. I did a little part time for about 60 days 2 years ago.

I need a little more info.

Exactly how many years has it been since you were a driver?

I have been retired for a number of years, and still have my CDL class A. I have 2 years OTR and 2 years driving a transport tanker. I am bored and have been thinking about driving again for 2-3 years until my girlfriend retires. I am 69 and in pretty good physical shape. I liked the dedicated over the road driving I did, but hated the hauling gasoline in the Washington DC area. The companies were great, hated the traffic. I am fishing for comments, Two years ago, I was hired as a part time short haul driver, but I had some issues with the system and never went to work. I know there is a lot of advice in this forum, thanks ahead of time.

I just want to say AMEN to this and a few other comments. I am an Baby Boomer and can see the US vs Them attitude that exists so much in today's population of younger people, the entitled expectations that can be so unrealistic at times. Never taking responsibility for themselves, or their actions, blaming others. Enough said, too much beating this dead horse.

OK before I start so that everyone reading this will understand what I am about to flame truck drivers over go to the original link to the video in this thread and read through the comments section. You will see me near the top having a one sided conversation with Abe,the guy that posted the video, and Trucker Josh and a few other YouTube truck drivers. It's all at the top in the top comments......

I am about done with the ignorance in the trucking industry. Spent more than a few hours dealing with YouTube comments about this video. While the company was wrong for pushing the guy into driving the extra 160 miles to a swap NO ONE and I mean NO ONE can see that Abe has a lot of responsibility to accept for this. Everyone on his channel has the "Us against the big compnies" attitude. OH MY FREAKING GOD!!!!!!

No one wanted to hear about a drivers responsibilities when it comes to dealing with your company. For one when you accept a load you are agreeing that you have the legal hours to run the load safe and legal and that includes THE APPROPRIATE AMOUNT OF SLEEP BEFORE Accepting a load.

This guy knew he had been a wake the prior 10 hours (2nd 10 hour break) and he accepted the load therefore saying he was rested and legal to run the load. But NO! Everyone want to only talk about what the company did wrong, even though the guy forced it on the company, and totally discount what the driver did in the first place. Are most drivers out there that blinded by the "US against Them" attitude that they fail to see their own short comings even if they are hitting them in the head with a freaking sldgehammer!?

While I know it's only a few ignorant people on YouTube I am beginning to wonder if it's not more wide spread than we thought.

How can a group of grown adults that drive trucks take such a childish attitude and throw person responsibility completely out of the window. I say this without hesitation that if the "Modern American Worker" ,to barrow the phrase from Brett, syndrome continues to spread the trucking industry is in for a very bad time in the future.

While I am totally against the government stepping in and regulating us to death ,which again is our fault, then I guess I can not complain when they throw more regulations at us just to make sure we are doing a job we agreed to do but are failing at an extraordinary rate.

We have had more than 65 years of self regulation in the trucking industry and as recent as 1980 the government had to step in due to a number of reasons but to name a few.....trucks falling apart and never getting fixed and log books or 3 sets of log books being in alot of trucks. You know what the sad thing is and I don't get it. Ever year around June and July the DOT holds random inspections all over the country inspecting well over 30,000+ trucks every year and you want to know the top two violations EVERY year......faulty brakes and log book violations. We know our jobs yet we fail to or refuse to do it correctly every year even though we all know the inspections are coming around again. I say "We" meaning all drivers.

But I am getting off topic. I am dumbfounded by the level personal responsibility a lot of drivers have allowed themselves and other drivers to get to. The sad part is even when you try to do the right thing you get told to mind your business or to stay out of it even if you are non confrontational and suggest that there might be a better way. I know what I would like to do to some of these drivers when they act stupid but carrying a black jack is illegal in most states.

OK so I feel a bit better. Since I doubt a few people can change the entire industry we can only do our part here at Trucking Truth and help guide a new generation into trucking and teach them the right way to do stuff.

Just for the record what Abe did in the video is not the right thing to do. He should never have accepted the load in the first place therefore putting his company in a position to have to threaten him into do his job.

Let me be very clear about this. When you accept a load from dispatch you are agreeing that you can do the trip in a safe and legal manner and that you are well rested. If your are not for whatever the reason it is your job and responsibility to tell your company right then that you are not and then figure out something that will be better. If you don't then things in the video are bound to happen.

And yes I did type this out completely on my phone with just two thumbs as backup. Even my thumbs are angry.

I had a similar aversion to smoking as well to cursing, I can tell you it's not as bad as it used to be regarding smoking, however the language is another matter. I had to turn my CB off unless I needed directions or a question answered. You will get through it ok, buck up.

Unless you plan to spend your entire career wearing a respirator, you're either going to have to rethink your plans or adapt.

That's funny!

Unfortunately I have to agree with everyone above. You're going to be around it quite a bit I'm afraid. I mean, I guess as long as you don't have allergies to it where you get a serious reaction then you're probably are in the same boat as most people. It isn't pleasant to be around, but it isn't that big of a deal in short doses.

I have found that the best persons to take care of paperwork are those that have some degree of obsessive compulsive disorder, they are so organized that they know where, when and how much was done while they were working. AND if something is out of kilter the least little bit they have a fit. Couple that with a little authority and you may find trouble. Not a sermon, just a heads up. Know your audience!!!

The things with these big box stores is that can receive it early but can not enter it into the computer until the day it's supposed to arrive and the lady did not want to kept up with everything till the next day.

Wow, I mean is this a "modern American worker" problem or what? What a bunch of soft, lazy crybabies people are anymore. Oh, you mean she has to set a piece of paper on the "to be entered" pile instead of the "entered" pile? OMG someone call the paramedics. Nobody could ever survive such a traumatic ordeal.

Lazy, Selfish American crybabies. That's all we produce anymore.

Let's look at it from her view. It's like you going down the road and have a flat tire but instead of sending someone to change the tire they send someone with the tools to do it and give them to you and say Now you have an extra duty to. Change your own tire or wait till tomorrow.

No it isn't. Not at all. Setting a piece of paper on one pile instead of another is not at all like getting out the tools to change your own tire. It's 10,000 times easier and takes no thought or effort whatsoever.

Lazy, Selfish American crybabies. Drives me insane. I came from a long line of steel workers, auto workers, farmers, mechanics, and brick layers and I've had a long list of hard labor jobs myself. The idea of telling someone to go away for a full 24 hours and give up a full day's pay so that you don't have to set a piece of paper on one pile instead of another is the saddest thing imaginable. I guess we've finally reached the point that setting a piece of paper on a pile requires more fortitude than the American Worker can muster.

China, take the wheel. We quit. We don't even have the drive and character to be pencil pushers anymore. We'll just collect unemployment and live in our parent's basement.

I might suggest looking closely at the Trucking Truth's company's that offer training and look for a couple that offer mostly dedicated routes These will allow you to get closer to home and do it sooner than OTR companies that lack a lot of dedicated routes. TT has most of the research for you. Those companies don't need to be near your home, just have freight lanes near your home.

Steer clear of NYC? Pittsburg is way worse. But anyway why focus on just companies with terminals near you? You are eliminating about 98% of the companies out there. I drive for Werner and they have no terminals any where near my house Where you live only plays a 1% into your ability to work for a company. The rest is up to you. If your concerned about home time then don't be. It does not matter if you live 10 feet from the terminal or 500 miles. You home time will be the same. Every 3 to 6 weeks on average.

Either company will be a great company to start with and even stay with. Though SNI has more divisions you can get good miles with either company. The main deciding factor that makes and breaks a driver at a company is attitude.

Thanks for your response. I have my reasons for looking for companies that are close by w/ terminals. One of which is because for the long term, I am not interested in OTR but more regional or local - preferably a dedicated account if available. SNI requires that you live within a certain distance of those terminals / cities where dedicated or regional jobs are offered.

I started with Schneider in 2000 began with a dedicated account PPG that was over the road included Canada, I liked it well enough, however I had the opportunity to switch to a Wal Mart account in Bedford Pa, that was the best driving job ever. You delivered to Super Centers and Sams Clubs (new buildings with lots of room to back into docks). I know they have built new distribution centers so I can't tell where the delivery lanes are now, (from Bedford) but there is plenty of miles and the people then working for SNI were great, it was like family. That was when Schneider was doing in house training.

Hello everyone! After 3 years of research and just plain old timing, my family and I are about to start our life in trucking. I start evening classes (8 weeks long) in May. I've done plenty of research into trucking companies with orientation and terminals near our home. Needless to say there are LOTS of trucking opportunities around Carlisle, York, Harrisburg and Lancaster PA.

At this point we've narrowed it down to Crete/Shaffer or Schneider. Both have orientation and terminals within a 1/2 hour drive of our home. Both seem like great companies. Still not sure about whether I'd be interested in dry van, reefer, or tanker. SNI seems to offer more opportunity, Crete/Shaffer have their positives. Anybody out there familiar with these outfits, especially where we live? It seems that opinions fluctuate due to whether or not drivers get their miles, and it seems that we live where a lot of freight is available. Just trying to steer clear of NYC ;) Both Crete/Shaffer and SNI have dedicated and regional accounts in our area. Thanks for any input! Bill