Comments By Errol V.

What do you mean by "DOT Driver"? Are these drivers driving commercial vehicles without a current CDL license?

James what you dream about is a possibility, but rare. Generally, many trucking companies have their own school, but not near you. But if you are accepted at the company school, you will get a bus ticket and have a hotel room for the four or so weeks of school. The great thing about going company training is that you all but hired when they accept you for training.

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Finally, having a company truck terminal near you is not necessary. You will be traveling around, and when you are taking home time, you will be routed in a way that gets you home for a few days.

What Ryan says is true. I've been a CDL instructor for five years. Last year I called Walmart transportation dept, inquiring.

With no recent OTR experience I would not be classified as experienced enough to get a fat bonus and a higher mileage rate.

Jack supposes:

[Trucking] would allow me plenty of time to read at shippers and receivers, and just looks enjoyable in general...

OTR trucking is based on miles driven. There no money in waiting for loading/unloading. But the time waiting for the shipper to get your trailer ready is something you must keep track of.

As for "enjoyable", joy in trucking depends on you. It's a lonely job, you have weird work hours, and more, but then you don't have a boss looking over your shoulder and there's plenty of highway travel. (You realize I can't put a full discussion here, but you can check out the famous book by Brett: Becoming A Truck Driver: The Raw Truth About Truck Driving)

Arejay wonders:

Huh? Did they actually tell you that you didn't meet a minimum income requirement?

There's no "minimum income" requirement. All companies want to make sure the applicate hasn't spent the last two years in Margaritaville.

Third party (Pastor, Doctor, etc.) statements that you were full time caring for your Dad in his last days will work.

Hey Brett! I asked Jimmy™ this question:

Can another person do a truck pre-trip for a driver?

There was no answer, the text box just reverted to "Submit".

I asked this about 5:30 am. Maybe Jimmy™ hasn't finished his coffee yet

Commercial aircraft are always pre-tripped. But it's not the pilots who do it, the ground crew does. Yes that are trained for that job.

Do you have any training for doing pre-trips? (We have lots of info & help here.)

Errol sagely suggests:

Pepsi will require you to wear steel-toed shoes on the job, so get shopping!

I have nothing more to add. I just wanted to sound as cool as Errol by responding in his trademarked style😉

Welcome to Trucking Truth, Michael!

I taught a CDL class at Pepsi's Knoxville location last year. (I'm not looking at a map, so I don't know if Knox. is near you.)

The in-company transfer is going to be a PepsiCo policy thing. That's a question to ask in a job interview.

Pepsi will require you to wear steel-toed shoes on the job, so get shopping!

Most larger companies actually expect li'l fender benders in your rookie year. Expect a chat with the Safety Office. Be sure you say you learned more about how long your trailer is. Never use the words "I thought" or "I assumed" in that meeting, they can be nails in your trucking career coffin.