Comments By TailGunner (Ken M)

I think he didn't make the connection...... Skateboard = Flatbed

Often, the amount of time recruiters take with a prospect is determined by how easy they think it will be to get you hired on to their company. Too many issues = they don't want to spend a lot of time with you. Kinda like a finance guy at a dealership wanting to spend a lot of time trying to get someone with a 450 credit score a loan on a 427 Corvette.

I'm not saying you have too many issues, but maybe for her the license/residency/mailing address thing is a lot for her to wrap her brain around.

I understand how you feel, and what you mean to say. But it all hinges on LIABILITY. Because of this, the insurance companies can dictate to the trucking companies who they can hire. That is why there is disparity in the hiring requirements from company to company... it is their insurance carrier that "helps" them determine the experience level of their new hires. There are also requirements by some shippers, determined by their perceived or the actual value/importance of their product being shipped.

You are responsible for how you drive, but the carrier and insurance company are ultimately liable for your conduct while driving THEIR truck.

WEL has been recruiting in Kalamazoo. Live well, Drive WEL.

I've never been in that situation, but most job listings say they want "Recent Grads" from a truck driving school, or X number of months driving a semi. It may possibly be a detriment to getting on the road. I'm sure someone will let us know if I am out in Left Field.

It depends on your company. I always 99.8% of the time, have a delivery Monday morning. If I deliver far from home on Friday, I always know that I will reload nearby, be home later Friday night, and deliver close to home Monday morning, so I might not have to leave until Monday morning. If I deliver close to home Friday morning, I will reload for far from home for Monday delivery. But I will (hopefully) be home early Friday, and have to depart on Sunday to deliver on time Monday morning. But I usually get a choice of several loads every day, and can kind of control where I am going.

If you drive for a regional-type flatbed company, you get a lot of loads that you pick up one day, and deliver the next morning, because they don't go more than 300-500 miles. But you can get some longer runs also.

I rarely have a scheduled pick up/delivery time. Mostly, it's show up in the morning and get unloaded. If I do, it almost always has something to do with steel of some sort, and it's not a big deal. Also some job sites have scheduled times to offload roofing insulation or Firestone rubber roofing rolls with a crane right up to the roof.

So what you haven't told us yet is if you were in a private trucking school, or at an actual trucking company learning to drive from their company sponsored training. Who is "they"? Whose truck broke down? Is he a trucking company driver/trainer, or an instructor at a trucking school? This is all good information needed to help advise you. Thanks.

Congrats Daniel,no van driver will ever understand the thrills of tarping a load in the windy city like a flat bedder ,never mind the satisfaction of delivering that load safely and dry thru deluges of rain showers for a thousand miles ,getting drenched countless times while adjusting strapps and bungees....and the immense satisfaction where upon arrival at your destination ,the crane operator unloading your load ........drops it into the biggest and muddiest mudhole on his lot.... ;-)

That's too funny. I can totally see that happening. =-D

In this case it was total truth .Picked up a piece of machinery from a closed factory ,was being shipped to a company in Texas to be refurbished and put back into service in Mexico eventually. There were many times I was required to tarp a load that really didn't need it ,but the shipper is paying for it so you do it anyway.

This is all true. I have picked up lumber in Windsor, Ontario that they pick up out of a mud hole with water 2' deep, all covered in snow and ice, and I have to tarp it, then the receiver in Middlebury won't accept it unless they see it tarped before you take them off. Then they take it off and set it outside in the weather. We speculate that maybe it has something to do with road salt/grime/oil/grease. It's a fun game all the way around.