Profile For Pianoman

Most jobs I’ve applied to in the past had a requirement of one year of experience in the last three years. Some will also say you can have two or thee years within the last five. The problem is you fall perfectly through the cracks on both of those.

Before you ditch the cdl, I would just call individual companies and straight up ask them if you would be hireable with a refresher course and how many hours the course needs to be per their insurance. That is 100% exactly what I did when I lost my cdl several years ago and I got the answers I needed. My situation was different because I had only been out of the truck for exactly 2 years so I still had enough recent experience to qualify as an experienced driver according to most insurance companies but I had to get my cdl over again. Because of my situation I didn’t have to go through a course. You’ll probably need to go through a course to be insurable but only the trucking companies themselves will be able to tell you how many hours the course needs to be to satisfy the requirements of their insurance.

Lol I was just asking because you kept saying US Xpress and I was pretty sure it was Western Express 😂

Fingers crossed man. Looks like all good signs to me.

Just to clarify though, your offer is with Western Express right?

Sorry to hear man.

No, you’re not blacklisted for life or anything nearly that drastic. Something you got to understand about the trucking industry is that it is ruled by insurance companies. And something you gotta understand about insurance companies is that they’re not all the same. What’s a disqualifier for one may not be at disqualifier for another and sometimes the differences can be weird. For example, I applied to EW Wiley, a flatbed company, and was rejected because I didn’t have enough recent OTR experience even though I had Flatbed experience. A friend of mine also went over to EW Wiley, who had zero flatbed experience, but they accepted him because he had years of OTR experience. Obviously, that’s a more mild example, but I ran into a lot of similar examples when I was applying for companies after incurring tickets several years ago. There is a reason we encourage you to apply absolutely everywhere, and the reason is that you never know whose hiring criteria you might meet. I have personally been rejected by companies that I had no desire to work for and accepted by other companies that I actually liked and wanted to work for. I say all this to hopefully encourage you that although we use the term “Second chance company” To describe certain companies, all that means is, there’s simply a higher likelihood that you would be hireable by them. It really just comes down to finding a company where you meet their specific insurance requirements, and the only way to do that is to apply everywhere.

I agree with NaeNae about looking at class B jobs. I also would encourage you to apply for other jobs like construction jobs because they may see that you have a class A cdl and want to use you for that. Not all companies have the same insurance requirements that OTR companies have. Most local class A jobs will require 2 years experience or at least 1 year but, again, there are nuances.

Good luck

Oh yeah that’s pretty straightforward lol. Weird

I’d just call them tomorrow first thing. Idk about that company specifically but most bigger companies have a bunch of recruiters answering phones all day usually so you shouldn’t have any problem talking to someone tomorrow

It does seem weird it was scheduled for a Sunday. Did they specifically say Sunday? If not I’m wondering if they got their days mixed up and actually meant it for Monday

Hey all. Just wanted to give a quick update. I've got a phone interview with U.S. Xpress tomorrow at 11. Anyone know anything about them?

I know they’re about to be your savior lol. Congrats on the interview, fingers crossed it goes well!

They’re a well known OTR carrier. Brett worked for them years ago for a long time and I believe Knight owns them now.

Mesa, AZ? Looks like there’s a couple truck stops and dirt lots around there on Trucker Path that wouldn’t hassle you about parking there for a few days. If you don’t have the Trucker Path app I highly recommend it. It’s free (you don’t need the paid version) and it shows tons of truck parking areas. It’s not completely foolproof but I can generally get an idea what I’m getting into beforehand by checking the reviews for the location on the app and checking out satellite view.

Does your company have any terminals or drop lots in the area? That could be another option

Thanks pianoman! Target annual income is at least 90,000. I can stay out 8-10 weeks as long as I can get home on the days I request for home time. Would like to drive tanker but willing to drive dry van, flat bed, reefer, car hauling, hazmat, port. Not much I am not willing to drive. Talked with BK yesterday about Helwig and Talking with Marten, Ashley, and Ryder. Ryder is local, doesn't pay much, about $1200 a week. I need to make $2000 a week which is why I am looking OTR. Is that realistic? Whatever I need to do to make that happen is where I would like to go and what I would like to next. Thanks for the reply. Any help I would greatly appreciate.

I apologize in advance as I didn't look up hiring criteria and hiring area for most of the jobs I'm about to list.

Well I was going to suggest SPD and EW Wiley but I looked up the requirements for SPD and they require OTR experience and I'm pretty sure Wiley requires it too. So nevermind there.

Did you apply for Prime and Schneider? They have tanker jobs. I don't know if they hire in your area for tanker but considering they take newbies I'm wondering if they'd take you for tanker even though you have no OTR experience.

Does American Furniture hire near you? I worked for them in Colorado years ago and did OTR with them and they were fantastic back then. I know they built stores in TX.

I'd also try pneumatic tanker jobs if there are any near you that do regional/otr. I'm sure you already know this but it doesn't count as tanker technically since it's dry bulk but it's a fun job and pays all right.

I don't know where all you've tried but I'd probably start my search with all the companies that train new drivers. I would imagine at least some of them wouldn't require otr experience. TMC comes to mind for flatbed but again Idk if they require otr experience. Penske Logistics usually pays well and depending on the location is either flatbed or dry van (they might even have some reefer but idk).

Honestly if you're really wanting to hit that $90k+ mark I'd probably look into reefer more than anything else. Everywhere seems to be getting hit hard with the freight recession. My company was doing so well and now this last month we've been feeling it too. At least with reefer you know people always need to eat so you should be able to keep the wheels turning consistently.

Sorry that wasn't as helpful as I was hoping but hopefully at least something in there helps. I had a bunch of great ideas but didn't realize how many companies require otr experience, hence your post lol. Good luck

Hey man, you’re obviously going through a pretty tough time and it’s ok to rant. I sincerely hope things turn around for you. You’re doing the right things and they will pay off.

I don’t mean to sound rude by asking this, but is there a reason you can’t just find a temporary job doing literally anything so you don’t lose your apartment while you search for trucking jobs? Could you find a job temporarily at a store or a fast food place? Better yet, maybe you could even find a local driving job driving class B trucks or non-cdl vehicles? Again what Im suggesting is temporary but depending on what you pay for rent it could potentially keep the lights on while you continue to apply places.