Comments By Aaron Placencia

Hey everyone, I've been away since October. I left Jim palmer early October when my grandmother was sick. She passed away but I was able to see her one last time and talk to her about trucking, and at the time my daughter who joined us on this earth Tuesday, march 7th at 10:13 pm.

The reason I took time off was my wife was put on bed rest, and the pregnancy was turned into a high risk pregnancy. 3 doctor appointments a week. During the time we spend several days in the hospital while she was hooked up to an IV just to try and help keep the fluid levels high for the baby. I live here in Maine and winter was approaching, and with long discussions with my family and my wife I figured it would be best to take a step back and help her through this and not be away.

I have been in contact with a few companies and still talk to my recruiter and Jim Palmer from time to time. Prime has approved my application to join them when im ready. All I'll have to do is two months training then I'll be on the Walmart dedicated account in Lewiston Maine. I'm only 17 miles from Lewiston so my recruiter said it would work out perfectly. Me and my wife have everything set up to where I can stay Otr or do the dedicated account. So I'm thinking of all my opportunities and just spending this month or so with my daughter and the wife.

Other than that, this year has been great, still having to do some checkups with my daughter, they just checking to make sure her jaundice levels don't increase and she gains weight.

Just wanted to stop by and let everyone here know that things at home are going good and I'll be back out on the road soon. Thanks and drive safe everyone and I'll be back with more updates as time goes on.

I believe the year mark will be when you got your license. Training you're not hired on with the company but when you pass everything and are licensed, you are hired on with the company and start making a paycheck.

I got a question, when does your year contract start? I'm good either way but just curious. Does it start when you start training or once you go solo?

That would be correct. Mine has been a little slower than normal, once I got my license. Me and my trainer took home time, and now I'm on home time again. Some will finish earlier than me. But it roughly takes two months from the time you get your license to knock out the 30,000 miles. It goes pretty quickly.

Aaron, have really enjoyed reading your experience with JPT. From the start of the thread it looks like you've gone from orientation to A seat in roughly 4 months (including your upcoming solo week). Is that correct? It's difficult to know based on the forums thread dating.

And from A seat you would have the 60 day probate period before you would be allowed riders?

Just a quick update, I'm home with the wife. Have this week together. I believe they plan on getting me to Missouri, they have a few trucks at the Springfield yard st prime. That's where I'll start the solo week. Once that is complete. I'll officially be done with training, and upgrade to an A seat. Me and my trainer have talked about teaming during the winter months. But depending how much I enjoy the space, and being to myself I may just run the winter myself. I'll keep you guys updated.

Also everyone who has been accepted to Jim Palmer, congrats. They are strict on who they bring in so it's always a good feeling when you make the cut. So just stay positive, show up to learn, you'll pass with flying colors. The ones I seen struggle were the ones always inside watching tv. I always tried to be around the trucks. Pre trip a million times. Watch people back. It helps. I'm sure you'll all do great. I hope to see you guys on the road or at the terminal. Stay safe and take care.

Awesome, I believe the best things to do is just share the experience. To just help anyone who is looking to join a company. You should definitely do the video blog on YouTube. I don't believe anyone has for the training aspect of things. I'll def stop by and read your blog. As always stay safe and I hope to see you around sometime. Take care.

Hey Aaron...thank toy so much for your thread...I've not only enjoyed reading it, but have learned enough from it to apply at Palmer! I spoke with my recruiter today and he is trying to get me on 10-24-2016...just under two weeks from now! Looks like I'll be taking that bus ride from hell...from Texas to Montana...in late October!! I'm going to create a thread similar to yours to document all this...even thinking about keeping a video log and posting on YouTube...we'll see how all that goes. Anyway, thanks again, be safe, how to see you on the road sometime and share a cup of Joe.. God speed!!

Yes sir, after this vacation, I'll be getting my truck. So I'll blog that expereince and I'm sure I'll have questions to ask. 😂 But yeah. It'll be exciting, and scary all at once.

Good for you Aaron. Looking forward to reading about your experiences in the General Side of the forum.

Hey, if I could do it.. so can you. I had zero experience being around these trucks and all I did was show up with the right attitude and tried to learn everything I can. I'm still learning, and my next step is doing this by myself in my own truck. So it does have me nervous again. But I just gotta take the tools they've taught me and just do it. You'll love it, and congrats on getting accepted. Take care.

Congrats Aaron, hopefully I can be successful like you! I start on the 24th.

Awesome! You'll do fine. Just stay positive and show you want this. The trainers in Missoula are pretty good. Hopefully I'll see you around sometime. Stay safe. Take care.

Congrats on getting to your final week! I'm sure you are excited and ready to get your own truck and go off on your own.

I finally got things lined up and have a tentative start date with Jim Palmer in December - nervous about it as I have never been in a truck in my life but excited to get started. Going to go back through this thread and work on what I can before then. Please continue to post once you are in your truck - still following along with you on this end!

That is unfortunate, I'm sorry things went that way. They do go through hundreds of apps a day but I still would feel frustrated as well. Just keep your head up and the right job will land in your lap. Don't be discourage because of this. You'll be trucking in no time. if you do plan on calling and asking for someone else, I'd recommend Alex. She is pretty dang awesome. Good luck in your search and I hope you get things squared away. Take care.

I'm glad to see others are having good luck with the recruiters.

Bad luck here, the recruiter I got apparently didn't care to read over my application too well.

I had checked best method of contact - cell phone. She called my landline (home phone) so naturally I missed the first call.

Happened to catch the second call the next day about 6 p.m. my time, she said there must be some kind of connection problem because she'd been trying to reach me - lol, ya think.

I blew it off and tried to talk to her, but she instantly seemed to want to talk me out of OTR driving.

(been interested in trucking for several years now - lots of folks seem to try and discourage it)

I mentioned I had a wife early in our conversation ... then she asked if I had kids??

After that it seemed she was more concerned with talking me out of a job vs. recruiting me as a driver ??

I dunno, I have apps in other places too, (so I'll keep searching for the best fit for me) but if I do end up reaching out to Jim Palmer again - I'll be requesting someone else.

Just disappointing I guess :( ... JP was on the top of my list.

Been with my wife for 18 years, its a stable relationship .. my career path isn't going to change that, I'll carry on my search :)

Well for the final week, we did a total of 6240 miles. As being a B student and making .14 cents a mile, I can say this was my best check to date. Pretty cool feeling knowing the hard work you put in that you can make good money. It wasn't like we were always go go go. We had a day off and relaxed in Nevada. But other than that we did good.

We are heading to Wisconsin, a Walmart DC. About 200 miles away, we just gonna shut down tonight and get some rest. Have a pretty big window on this load so why not get some good rest when ya can, right?

Other than that, my buddy dalton finished his B seat training and is doing his solo week. I believe he starts tomorrow. So I'm pretty excited and proud of him for sticking with it and getting to this point. I knew he could do it.

But yeah, things been going great, can't wait to get back to Missoula, hopefully soon. Couple weeks I'll see the wife. So I'm pretty content with everything.

Take care everyone and I'll see ya guys next time. Goodnight.