Profile For John P.

Hello again all,

So with all my course work done, and permit in hand. I’m waiting to be setup in the clearing house, before starting my behind the wheel driving time. The school offers manual transmission driving or I can just learn on an automatic. A lot of the instructors have told me to just go with automatic as it seems a lot of companies are going in that direction, while that seems true when I check out Major OTR freight companies, it does seem like a lot of local based job listings for even big companies seem to still require manual transmission knowledge. So is learning on a manual worth it? I have been told it a lot harder to learn and test on, but will it open more doors when it comes to job hunting in the future?

Hi all,

After many years as a sales representative, I’m considering a career change. I’ve always liked traveling, but in the past few years since Covid most of my work is now done remotely and I just feel so cooped up. I’ve always been a believer in a body in motion, stays in motion and I miss the feeling of seeing the country. I don’t mind long hours and from the research I’ve done so far I’ve heard the first year of OTR can be challenging. I however think it might be exiting as well.

I do have some newbie type questions that I was hoping someone could answer. First off from what basic research I’ve done it seems like a lot of these bigger freight companies seem to have high turnover rates, and I was wondering if this is true and if so why?

I was also wondering how much control over my schedule I would have while on the road. Can I choose what hours of the day I want to drive (I’m a bit of a night owl) so how does picking up and dropping off work does it matter what time of day I drive as long as I get there on schedule?

Anyway thanks in advance for any answers.