Comments By Rob T.

all the time and effort I put in is wasted I feel drained and all the determination I had at first is completely gone and I have no other options it ****es me off that he will get away with doing this and I am just not sure I ever want to take that test again. If this is how I am getting treated now I can only imagine it would get worse and I have absolutely no one to turn to to get some semblance of justice from the way I have been treated

You're right. The time and money I'd wasted but not for the reasons you think. Its wasted because you're allowing it to. another member, Moe, failed his backing test 5 times. He ended up needing to transfer his residency to a neighboring state just to be allowed to even attempt to test again. He stuck with it and is now a proud CDL holder. The issues the school is facing due to coronavirus is out of their control. These programs are designed to be completed in 160 hours. They cant just tell other students their practice time is going to suffer because you struggled with a maneuver. You failed your first attempt, big deal. There are many people, even some of our highly respected members here that took multiple attempts to pass the test. This is one reason we feel so strongly about Paid CDL Training Programs.

What "justice" are you hoping to achieve?

I'd get them. Much easier to do it now than trying to find time once you're on the road. I wouldn't want to spend my precious hometime in line all day at the DMV. With the exception of hazmat it's a one time test and you have it for good. If freight is slow do you really want to be sitting somewhere even longer because you don't have an endorsement that load needs? Also you never know what the future holds. What happens if you find what seems like a perfect fit for you but they require one of these endorsements? You're not supposed to be in your homestate for another 2 weeks so you can't go take that test. Will that potential "perfect fit" be willing to wait or will they go with a different candidate that already has them.

Most of the mega carriers haul some loads that require hazmat endorsement. It's not all extremely dangerous, explosive materials. It could be something like household bleach or automobile chemicals but due to the quantity it would harm the environment if the load were to end up in the ditch.

There are far too many variables to give you an accurate number. Most drivers earn between 35k to 45k their first year. It all depends on how quickly you catch on to managing your time and getting on your dispatchers good side. For instance freight is slow and you have multiple drivers in the same area that can pick up this load. Driver A is constantly complaining, late or having accidents, Driver B is always showing up early, taking every load with a positive attitude and being a safe driver. who do you think will get that load?

I'm not OTR, but I haven't noticed too much of a difference in how the general public treats us. I had a few people come and shake my hand while unloading at stores but that's been about it. All over social media people are thanking drivers but unfortunately after all this is done with we'll be forgotten. I'm willing to bet that the general public will go back to thinking we're lazy uneducated scum that can't do anything but sit on our butts. Delivering to grocery stores has been so chaotic, we are currently exempt from ALL HOS regulations while hauling store loads/backhauls so my employer is allowing us to run as hard as we want but they want us to still take our 30 minute break and 10 hours off to avoid fatigue. Last week I had 65 hours in 5 days despite 2 of them being 9 hour days. About half of my hours are currently spent sitting at shippers waiting to get loaded as many warehouses in the food supply chain are busier than heck and possibly running with reduced staff.

All weigh stations I've been past in Iowa, Minnesota and Nebraska have been closed since the pandemic started here. It's been probably 2 months since I've been scaled. The DOT has partnered up with local restaurants a couple times to cater several hundred meals to truck drivers as a way to say thank you at some scale houses. Many shippers and receivers no longer allow us inside their facility to use the restrooms. If we're lucky they have a porta potty for us. We're also asked about having been in contact with anybody who has tested positive and our temps taken. At first traffic levels were significantly less but it's starting to feel more normal if you don't count peak rush hour times in the large cities.

Way to stick with it and overcome the challenges you faced getting it. Have you thought about who you'd like to drive for or what type of freight?

Thanks for coming out of hiding and joining the conversations after 5 years and 8 months If you're able to get started now jump on in. Some members here have been waiting for their state licensing offices to open so they can obtain their permits so there may be a delay there. As long as you have a relatively clean criminal and driving records and can pass a DOT physical theres no reason you can't get your CDL.

Rob, you look like the younger brother of the guy in your profile pic. Lol Packrat is unrecognizable without his Harley tshirt. Hehehe

Wait a minute........I must've met an imposter if he didn't have the harley shirt!

It's a good learning experience, great job getting out of it without creating damage. Just imagine if the parking lot was full Our ELD is an android tablet that uses Google for GPS which isnt good but atleast I can see the satellite view. I only started doing that after it randomly saying I arrived despite being half a mile away.

When I was waiting on my load this morning another of our drivers was talking about picking up a backhaul near Columbia MO in some amish community and the GPS took him to a random USPS big blue mailbox. He said it was hell trying to find somewhere to turn around.

I'm here with hazards on

Warehouse got me out late, ETA to Colfax 0430. Got a big red trailer today that says Hyvee with a black daycab can't miss me!

Sounds good! I'll post an updated ETA once I know for sure my load going east is ready on time. Latest I should arrive would be somewhere around 0415 as long as everything goes as planned.

Time to hit the sack for a few hours!

I just finished the drop in Chariton at HV. As soon as my Dumb-Dumb break is finished, I'm heading to my fuel stop at the Flying Hook in Altoona, I-80 @ MM 142.

I may stay there until 0430 tomorrow?

That would work too, I could be there between 0330 and 0400

I have to run a trailer in town first but I have a load leaving about 330am headed to Iowa City should be near the williamsburg area about 5am. Not sure what time I'd be headed back because of a backhaul.

Getting loaded now with that HV load.

I don't anticipate being in Chariton at that DC before 1545 this afternoon.

I'll try to take a route going out east tomorrow and let ya know sometime around 1500. I'm not sure how early you usually get rolling but I'm usually passing Williamsburg by 3am, depending on the stores I could be passing by again headed back about 6 or 7 am. If nothing out east is available I may head north and hope the timing would work out to meet up closer to your delivery. I know we have a route that delivers in Forest City around 9am but it's only been available for me once. I'll keep ya posted

FWIW, Sysco is also a Teamster shop, but I think they mostly do local... which I'm not necessarily opposed to.

Sysco has union and non union DCs. Are you familiar with what Sysco does? If the idea of unloading 20,000 pounds or more of food every day by hand using a 2 wheel dolly interests you then go for it. Most of your day will be spent in the back of the trailer stacking product to run up and down a ramp into restaurants. Many of those companies pay really well but you can make similar money OTR or other types of jobs where driving is the primary duty without tearing your body up. As others have said you're really limiting yourself by focusing on primarily union companies. I'm a local driver and report to work on time, don't have complaints against me and I mind my own business and am left alone. I talk to office staff once a day when they call me to pick what route I want the next day or occasionally I'll call them to see if they need anything extra done if I have an early day. We have OTR drivers here that go weeks or longer without actually talking to their management. I'm paid a very nice wage, great benefits and quarterly bonuses as a non union employee. 1 of our DCs is union and they actually make less than we do. I'm sure part of it has to do with cost of living but it's a big enough difference we have a couple guys that live 10 miles from that DC but drive an additional 45 miles to come to our DC. I'm not anti union by any means but the ones I've been part of didn't seem to offer anything special. The raises we received were the typical 3-5% yearly, and benefits were similar cost to what I've paid elsewhere. The couple times I had an issue with something that was supposedly against the contract I received no help resolving it. It very well could have been lousy stewards but I'd rather my supervisor be able to tell me I F'd up and coach me rather than needing a room full of people just to review a drive cam video or how I handle myself in public while representing their brand.

That is awesome! The problem is you're setting this future dispatcher up for disappointment when he realizes not every driver can manage their clock as well as you

Have a look at this thread Daniel B posted a couple days ago about Getting stuck. Many times local drivers need to take roads that aren't truck friendly to deliver at businesses (or houses!) That makes you scratch your head how you're going to do that. As Old School mentioned make sure your wife and children (if old enough) are involved in the decision making. 1 year is a small amount of time in the grand scheme. It'll be difficult to support your family if you have a loan out for CDL school and get terminated for hitting something multiple times. I was 1 of maybe 4 members here that got lucky starting local and making it out unscathed. Getting 1 year OTR will help set a solid foundation for your career but also make you a more desirable candidate than a freshly minted CDL. Depending on the job local work could very well only be off work 10 hours. I recently moved further away from work. I usually only have 10 hours from the time I clock out until I clock back in but its 45 minute drive each way. My 10 hour break is now down to 8:30 Shower, eat (dinner and breakfast) I'm down to about 7:00. Now I'm stuck with the decision of going to sleep or staying awake to see my wife and kids. Need to stop and grab something from the store on your way home? Even less time. Lately I've been getting 4 to 5 hours a night when I work then take an hour nap during the day on break.

YIKES! That's brutal. Great job getting out of that without damaging anything that's impressive. Doing foodservice it wasn't uncommon at all to drive on routes marked no trucks but thankfully never dealt with anything like that. You handled the rock much more professionally than the milk guys around here. They seem to just run them over and either get the tandems stuck on top of it, or drag them out to the middle of the roadway requiring a tow truck to pull it back in place.

I'm sorry to hear you're going through those problems especially when your stress is already super high due to being a newly solo driver. I'm not sure if there were problems before you got started trucking or not but what's done is done unfortunately.

I understand the difficulty of staying focused on the road when you're going through difficult times. I had an extremely bizarre thing happen to me that was difficult to push aside. I took a load near where I grew up and about 4am I received a call from my dad saying grandma passed away. Despite being 10 miles away I couldn't stay up there to be with my family due to being a home daily driver (I was 230 miles from home). When I finished unloading that store I pulled off to the side in case another driver showed up I wouldn't be in their way. I was able to control my emotions until someone approached my truck (430am) and asked to pray for me despite them not being aware of anything. I sat there for about 10 minutes trying to regain my composure. It's extremely important we stay focused at all times. All it takes is a split 2nd for things to happen. Being that you just finished training I doubt you're eligible for hometime but take some as soon as you're able to. Treat yourself to somewhere that interests you.