Profile For Patrick L.

Hey Patrick - why are you looking at one school in KY and one in TX?

I currently live in Kentucky and originally thought it would be easier to get my cdl up here since I already live here but after doing some research I think it will be much easier getting it in Texas not to mention cheaper. I also need to get a TWIC card if anyone knows anything about that

By the way I didn't back out this time, tomorrow is my last day at work and in about two weeks I am moving to Texas I have sold most of my stuff up here and am just about ready to go.

Hello I'm back again, I am wondering if there is anyone on here that is or has driven in the Texas oil fields? Mostly south Texas. I am reading on the net about big paying jobs down there but can not find much information on the subject. I have called a few companies and their first question is do you have a cdl, there second is do you have any experience? How hard is it to get in down there I am originally from that area so I have been calling friends to see if I can get my foot in the door.

Hello Patrick, my dad lives out in west texas ( Colorado City) west of Abilene about 75 miles. There is a new shale out there called the cline shale. There just starting to punch holes to see if there really is 30 billion barrels of recoverable oil? You can research. I was out there about 3 weeks ago and they were looking for water haulers for fracking. Im interested in this but am just getting my cdl and will have to go over the road for a while. If this doesn't work go west to midland / Odessa? From what im seeing the cline looks like the real deal? Remember im not a professional when it comes to the oil business. Good luck

Thanks man

I have dug into it enough That I decided to take my CDL Classes in Texas. I will take them through a community college down there. Its funny what doing some research and making phone calls will do. example-

The CDL school I was looking at in Kentucky only teach for CDL, they told me absolutely they would not mess with haz-mat and If I wanted endorsements I would have to Let them know ahead of time so they could set it up with the permit test. I think this school I was looking at is state certified but still not positive on that one. 4 week course $4000.00 cash if you finance They want you pre hired and the price goes up to around $6000.00.

The CDL school I am looking at in Texas is a community college. They are state certified and will cover every thing haz-mat included, all endorsements included. You receive a certificate for whatever good that is. It is a three week course and is cost $3500.00 cash or finance. The class days are long but that's so you can be done in three weeks and get to work.

My research on the jobs down there is that there are a lot of high paying driver jobs but being that it is tanker and haz-mat the companies are looking for 1-2 years experience. I imagine that is for insurance purposes and they just don't want their equipment tore up.

Thanks Guyjax

Thanks Brett, so now I have another question I live in Kentucky but I am looking very shortly to move back to Texas to work in the oil fields (hopefully driving a tanker). In yalls experience would it be better for me to wait until I moved to Texas to get my CDL with tanker and hazmat or can I get it out of the way up here and then move down there?

Hello I'm back again, I am wondering if there is anyone on here that is or has driven in the Texas oil fields? Mostly south Texas. I am reading on the net about big paying jobs down there but can not find much information on the subject. I have called a few companies and their first question is do you have a cdl, there second is do you have any experience? How hard is it to get in down there I am originally from that area so I have been calling friends to see if I can get my foot in the door.

Just my opinion but my thinking is the more options you have in life the better off you are. Since you have some one willing to pay for college take that opportunity and run. No employer ever looked down on a degree. College is very time consuming and expensive so get it done and out of the way, I believe you will regret it later if you walk away now. Besides once you have finished college, if you decide to go into trucking its a months worth of school and then your out driving. I believe trucking is and will be a great career for most anyone but you just don't want to make it your only option.

So to clear up the question (I'm not real fast sometimes). I smoked in the past, way past like 12-13 years ago. When that question comes up do I-

A. Lie about it and absolutely keep that fact to myself from now on or

B. Tell the truth and hope they don't hold it against me?

I'm thinking B is the correct answer but I am fully aware of how the past can bite you and sometime the truth does hurt.

Ok, let me ask you this - why are you looking for "reviews" of companies from anonymous knuckleheads at places like TheTruckersReport? Let's take a company like Swift for example. They have 16,000 trucks and several hundred dispatchers. Because the turnover rate in the industry averages nearly 100%, that means Swift will go through nearly 16,000 drivers every year. They will probably go through a one or two hundred dispatchers.

So you go to TheTruckersReport and JimmyTrucker2107 says Swift is great, JohnnyBigRig243 says Swift treated him like crap, and BigBobMotherTrucker says avoid Swift at all costs. Now you have three anonymous "reviews" from people you've never met, you don't know if anything they say is true, and you'll never hear the other side of their story from Swift. Three reviews out of the 30,000 or so drivers who had 3 of the several hundred dispatchers that will work there this year alone.

What good does that do you? None.

The only people to talk to about life at a company is the company's current drivers face to face at a nearby truckstop. That way you know who you're talking to and you know you're talking to someone that's out there doing it successfully for that company right now. That will give you a much better idea of what life is like at Swift or any other company.

But I'm telling you - you're totally wasting your time fishing around for reviews. Compare the quantifiable qualities - types of freight, equipment, home time, pay, benefits, number of different divisions to choose from, and things like that.

Great drivers are happy drivers pretty much anywhere they go. Lousy drivers are miserable anywhere they go. These reviews you're getting are rarely any kind of reflection on the company at all. It's more of a reflection on the quality of the driver giving the review.

In 15 years I worked for about 5 different OTR companies:

2 were 48 states dry van with 5,000 and 6,000 trucks respectively

1 was 48 states dry van & refrigerated with 3,000 trucks

1 was Eastern 1/3 of U.S. dry van with 1,500 trucks

1 was 48 states tanker with 11 trucks (that's not a typo - 11)

At some of those companies I worked in different divisions like dedicated and regional, getting home on weekends.

So I've driven for all different companies hauling different types of freight in numerous different divisions over a 15 year period and I was happy everywhere I worked. Why? Because I was a kick a** driver who never got in an accident, wasn't late for an appointment more than once or twice a year, and ran as hard as I could. I'd take every last mile they would give me. I took good care of the companies I drove for and they took good care of me.

Every company in the U.S. has plenty of freight for their top drivers and they give the leftover scraps to the lousy ones. Every company will do small favors on a regular basis for their best drivers but the lousy ones get very little slack. So the ones doing the complaining are the ones who aren't getting the miles and treatment they expect. So you have to ask yourself, "Why is that???"

When I would sit at truck stops and a guy would start complaining about his company, my first question would be "What did you do?"

They would look at me puzzled for a minute and say "What do you mean?"

I would say "Why don't they want to give you good runs? You know they have plenty of great freight available so why aren't they giving any to you?"

95% of the time it was the driver that was the problem. The other 5% of the time it was either a lousy dispatcher, a slow economy, or some major change at the company like new load planning software or the loss of a major customer.

But it was never, ever, ever a "bad company". Even bumps in the road like software issues or the loss of a major customer is very short-lived. Life goes back to normal very quickly.

These trucking companies you're reviewing have been around successfully for decades. They know what they're doing. You, on the other hand, will have a lot to prove. People tend to get the order of things confused. They think the company has to prove itself before they'll give their all. Well if a company has been around for 50 years I'm pretty sure they've proven themselves. So go out there and show them you're an awesome driver and you'll be happy with the company.

This kind of info is exactly why I like this site and I cant say it enough thanks to Brett and everyone involved on trucking truth for the work and the thought that goes into this site. I know the type of person I am I will be successful in trucking per the info on this site, but had I not found this site and only had the other sites to go by I would have avoided this industry like the plague strictly because of all the negative information out there. I appreciate the high road program and I will take advantage of the other learning tools you have on here. Also thanks to the regular posters and veteran drivers that are willing to share their knowledge with us that don't know anything yet. I truly believe it will give someone a leg up once they are in the industry and are putting miles behind them.

OK, well I found a company that has a pet policy and they are only an hour from my house. My new question is, does anyone on here have experience with PTL? I read a lot of bad about them on another page but I also talked to a friend of mine that worked for them years ago and he said they were fine. Seems their pay is more or less in line with everyone else and they have a pet policy, and they are close to home, so far they are topping my list. The reason I even ask this question is I read they are tough on there home time and their trailers are garbage.