Comments By Matt H.

A company school should be at the company's expense, so no need for a loan. You get hired with them once you pass their school, so even if it is a poorer school, you have a job when you are done. If you don't make it very far with that company though, leaving or being let go withing a few months, you could have some difficulty being hired.

For FAFSA loan, you need a Nationally Accredited School as I understand it. When looking at schools, if they don't specify openly on their website, ask them what their accreditation is. It works just like colleges and universities. If they are accredited, it means that they meet some level of requirement for education that is satisfactory to whoever does the accreditation. There are other financial aid programs available through the government also, and the school should be able to list those and help you figure out if you are eligible for them.

Now if the first thing out of their mouth at the school, after you ask about financial assistance, is that they offer a great low interest loan to pay your tuition, you might want to start heading towards the door. That should be what they talk about after government programs and after going and getting a loan from your bank. Loans through a school are typically going to be in the teens, or even up near the state limit, for interest. I am pretty sure all schools have some sort of loan program setup internally through a lender, but that should be the thing that they start talking about seriously after you have crossed all the other options off your list. Unless it is at or below bank loan rates, it should be something that they only recommend once you have exhausted all other options.

Your own feelings can be a good indicator also. Once you find out if they are accredited, start asking them some basic questions. Then head on over to visit them in person. They should sit you down, have you do some preliminary paperwork so they can get things rolling on their end, ask you some questions about your goals from both trucking and their school, and then walk you around a little to look at and talk about their program, facility, and equipment.

For myself, selecting a school, I did look for online reviews but I ultimately chose a school that fit criteria that I had laid out for myself. I looked for a school that was close enough to commute. I wanted a school that had state certified skills testers as their instructors. A real big one for me was also a school that didn't sit me down to be lectured at a lot. I know some things require a lecture, but I wanted a school where I could come in with having studied the manual on my own and be able to get the most value from them. I can pick up a book and study it, whenever. I cannot hop into a Freightliner and be instructed as I am maneuvering and driving, whenever. When I found a school that hit all my points, and required me to have a CLP and know the manual so I could get right into a truck on day 1, I knew I had the right one.

When you said 32 cpm in your first post, my mind immediately went to wondering if you were with SuperService, just because I have seen their 32 cpm a lot while I have been looking through the companies that have expressed interest in me.

Others have already advised that you give it more time. Really look inwards and ask yourself if you are working as hard as you could be and putting in the most effort to get every mile you can. If you are sitting a lot, it could be a communication problem with your DM, lack of. Simply asking what you could do to help your DM get you more loads could really change things around for you. If you haven't at least tried talking to your DM and expressing interest in sitting less and moving more, then you are cheating yourself.

To be clear, I am not saying that you are a bad driver, or that you aren't getting screwed over by a bad DM. I am just of the opinion that everyone who is having issues with anything in their life needs to stop for a second and really do some reflecting on themselves so that they make sure they are doing everything they can to positively affect whatever is going on. Once you have done that, honestly done that, then it might be time to jump ship.

If you have looked it over and thought about it honestly, but find that you think you are doing all your can and that your rookie time management skills aren't to blame, and your DM is just refusing to schedule you effectively, find out how to get 5 minutes talking to someone higher up at the company. Let them know that you are unhappy as you find yourself sitting a lot, that you have talked to your DM and gave them at least a month to turn things around in their scheduling, but that you are still not getting enough of your driving hours filled.

You obviously want to have as many miles available to you as possible if you are hard working, but what about your raise? Do you have a 6 month raise coming up soon? How much is it? It might not seem like very much, but making it a point to get to 6 and then at least give it one more to see how things keep going might be enough for you to see a change in how much work you are getting.

You mentioned "thinking of going to another company". Have you selected some companies that you think would be better? Have you put any applications in to see who would be willing to take you and find out from a recruiter what your starting pay there would be? You could spend the next month or two still working at Super Service to see if things get better while taking some of that free time you have really looking hard at what companies are out there, which ones would want you, and what they can offer you.

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Now a question for you, if you would be so kind. Coming from a private school (I assume 160 hours), what training did Super Service have you do before they let you go solo?

You did not specify so I assume he will be going with an OTR job.

You should be able to get the specific CPM from the company he is signing with, but a lower example would be 30 cents per mile. Figure an average of 2000 miles per week, a reasonable ask for a new driver. That is $600 weekly. That is the same weekly pay as a $15/hr job working a 40 hour week.

Obviously he will not be working just 40 hours per week in trucking, but those are rookie numbers. He has nowhere to go but up. A couple years from now he could be making a considerable amount more.

Even being a rookie, keep in mind that in trucking he has that option to work more hours. He doesn't need overtime approval, he just needs the loads and the hours on his clock to push for more miles each week. You should also make sure to find out when raises happen as some companies will give raises after just 3 months. There are also quarterly bonuses for safety and fuel to consider, along with potential bonus pay for hazmat endorsement.

He will be working more than he would in a 40 hr/wk job, but he has a much bigger upside with trucking as he gains experience, gets better at time management, and starts seeing pay raises. If he was capped at $15/hr before, as long as he takes well to trucking he shouldn't take long to start earning more per week than he was capped at before.

OOIDA is a good place to start when it comes to learning about leasing or owning a truck:

OOIDA website

I guess maybe I was not clear on what I was asking. I am specifically curious about what software/app some of the TT drivers use to help keep track of and manage their personal finances (or personal + business finances in the case of lease/owner op).

Thanks for the link through Brett. That one is getting a bookmark for reading later.

If you're already using quickbooks - keep using at for now.

Thanks for the reply and info Rick. I have used Quickbooks in the past and may very well use it again once I get through school and signed on with a company. I have been looking around though for other options, hoping someone could share experiences using other software/apps that I have not looked into yet.

Hazard endorsement will definitely take more time. Not just the extra studying, but you need a federal background check from the TSA. You will need to go to one of their federal offices (could be quite the trip depending on where you are) and get fingerprinted, then wait for the all clear on your background check (which can take over a month).

Hazardous, Passenger, and School Bus endorsements are the only ones where you have to do something other than a written test (aside from your core CDL + Air Brakes skills test of course). The other endorsements you can get just from doing a written test so you can easily add those onto your license as needed. If you have the time now though, there is no reason not to get them from the start though. Just keep in mind that you don't need to rush when it comes to extra endorsements that only require a written test.

If you only see hazmat tankers, you must not be in dairy country. There are a lot of tankers running the roads that are non-hazmat if you get to the right areas.

Non-hazmat tankers also suffer from the same ailment as hoppers. They don't tend to need to travel long distances so if you aren't looking in the right areas it can be hard to find them. Their origin tends to be close to their destination because of how impractical it is to carry the materials normally hauled in them over long distances by truck.

Raw milk for example in a non-hazmat tanker would typically travel only a short distance from dairy farm to a nearby processor where it is bottled or turned into cheese. Grain in a hopper will typically travel from farm to another nearby farm, or to a nearby grain elevator and then later out to another nearby farm. Hopper loads like stone from a quarry typically move to a close destination or to/from a rail yard or port.

Just the nature of what gets hauled in hoppers and non-hazmat tankers can make them hard to find on the open road. A hopper or tanker driver may never see an Interstate as part of their job. This also makes non-hazmat tanker and hopper jobs something that you usually don't see bigger companies getting involved in. Many of the companies that run those loads will be smaller companies, with some not being trucking companies but actually just being part of another company like a farming co-op or a construction company.

Make sure to read through the stuff that Kanelin linked if you haven't already.

Sitting here with an extra week on my hands since class start was delayed until next Monday, I ran out of other things to think about and started thinking about finance. Coming from being self employed for a long time, I am used to using software made for small business. With trucking though, I am strongly leaning away from the temptation to try and lease a truck right away, instead planning on getting my feet under me as a company driver before I consider lease or O/O. I am curious what is being used out there and what features might be overlooked outside trucking that end up being necessary or at least strongly appreciated by drivers.

What are you using to track your finances? Why do you like it? Are you using it as a company driver or a lease/owner op?

If you can make it a few feet with it already, then just some repetition (aka doing your job) and making sure you are getting enough to eat, especially extra protein, should have you dragging it around without issue a few weeks in. People who look at something heavy as if it is like moving a mountain because they never pushed themselves before just have to make that decision; do I trust what science tells me and fuel my body more and keep at it to build the muscle needed to perform the task well, or do tell myself that my body cannot do what it was designed to do and just quit before starting?

Watch out for the wind on your first windy day. When you are opening it, make sure you are holding tight, but only to one corner/side at a time. You don't want it ripping your arms off because you held onto it like a sail when it caught a big gust. Some of the experienced guys can probably share some special tips on how to deal with the tarp in wind.

Bring a poncho and extra socks.

Double and triple check your load. You don't want something falling off or shifting around a corner because you forgot to make sure a strap was tight. I know that from hauling stuff on a 10 foot trailer behind a pickup, but I am sure it transfers just fine to the big stuff.

Beyond that, there are a few experienced flatbedders that pop in here on TT. Hopefully you get one of them in here later today to give you some advice.

Hope your special day is wonderful, that first day you hop in the seat, fire her up, and get rolling. Hope your wedding is nice too.

I do not know how often you need to schedule a doctor's appointment. How about as frequent as once a month? You could probably swing that without a problem. As Brett said, schedule home time to be a day or two before the appointment. You schedule your appointments and your company works around them. With the amount of notice you can give them, you should be fine. Just make sure you let the recruiter know what you have coming up in the next few months already so they can make sure that any training/schooling time will work with it and then double check once you actually get started to make sure the recruiter didn't screw anything up.

Since your home time will involve a doctor's appointment, and you can have it set up over a month out, I don't foresee you having any issues. The people who complain about not getting home when they wanted, when they share the details, often were springing something just a week or two before, or requesting home time that was nowhere near a terminal. Either find a company that has a terminal within a couple hours of Ann Arbor, or be prepared to travel back to your doctor's location with enough time to do it in, from wherever the nearest terminal is if things just get messed up with scheduling on your company's end. I can tell you from experience applying just last week that, while I didn't apply to any companies that had terminals on the east side of the state, there are multiple companies actively recruiting new drivers/students right now here on the west side, in the Kalamazoo/Muskegon/Grand Rapids areas where you would be more than close enough to Ann Arbor to make things work out for you.

The most important thing you can do when you actually start working is to keep in contact with your DM or FM. No matter who else you talked to, they are your scheduler once you start running. You need them to plan things out including your home time. Any standing appointments when you are coming in, let them know. Explain your situation and let them know that you need home time for medical reasons. You don't need to tell them the specific day/time of the appointment because the wrong DM could take advantage and schedule you too close to it trying to squeeze as much out of you as they could at a risk to your short term driving future and health. Just tell them when you need home time to start (day or two before appointment) and when you can be back to work.

Medical reasons will get you priority home time, or whatever the company labels it, which means they should not screw with it. Just remind your DM of upcoming medical home time frequently, like a weekly ritual. If you ever get a temporary DM while yours is out sick or on vacation, or if you get a new one all together, let them know right away that you need your upcoming home time for medical, it cannot be shifted or rescheduled, and that you need to make sure you are where you told them months ago that you needed to be when the time comes. You may even want to talk to their supervisor, with them being a new DM for you, and ask the supervisor to make sure to mention it to them so that the new DM is very clear on the importance of home time that is for medical reasons. Once you have been on the road a bit, you should have a good idea for how loads move with your company and be able to see when time gets close if something seems off about how they are routing you. Just double check if something seems off.

Because of the nature of your situation, as long as you keep informed, take your own responsibility to stay on top of making sure you get home time, and are always clear that this is a requirement for your health and for the DOT, you shouldn't run into a problem. If you ever do come across a DM that doesn't seem to want to be "with it" on the matter, remember that unless you are talking to someone with the title of Owner or CEO, there is always someone bigger than the problem person to go to. Since we aren't talking about you just wanting to get home here, I couldn't imagine any of the bigger companies causing an issue for you. Even with your situation, you should be able to apply to any of them and not run into a problem if they have hired you after you disclosed your very reasonable need.

That was a bit longer than I originally planned, but I tend to do that. For the fridge though, I can keep it short. You can always idle a truck if it does not have an APU, as Brett said. As Brett also said, you have batteries. Big trucks have big batteries, and a few of them. You can double check the power draw info on the unit to be sure, but a single 10 hour period shouldn't run a risk of draining your batteries beyond their limit for a normal mini fridge.

You could also just pick up a refrigerated travel cooler. You can get 12v ones for under $50 so no need for an APU or even a power inverter. Get one that is insulated well and it can keep cold just sitting overnight not plugged in if you didn't have working batteries or an operable engine/APU. Plugging it in for a short time will get it cold and it should stay cold for quite some time. They are small and convenient for something like insulin, and could be a great idea to keep one in your truck even if you do have a fridge in case your fridge dies and you can't get it serviced right away. Plus you have something then where you can move it with you if you get swapped to a different truck that isn't set up the same or need the mobility for some other reason.

As long as your in your truck you should be safe unless your truck is directly grounded, your tuck is insulated from the ground thru your tires otherwise. Be sure to not get out of your truck if there are downed powerlines near or around your truck, call 911 if there are and ask for assistance.

100% agree on power lines. Tires keeping you safe somehow is a myth though. It is your vehicle acting like a Faraday cage that keeps you safe inside. And as for being directly grounded, that again has no effect on your safety from electricity while inside your vehicle. Being grounded would probably increase your chance of being struck by lightning, while tires would help decrease it, but either way your vehicle acting like a Faraday cage is what keeps you safe when lighting does strike.

http://www.lightningsafety.com/nlsi_pls/vehicle_strike.html

Some great info here.

Since you mentioned German, I wanted to add in that I have a buddy who learned German from Duolingo. He really liked their setup.

https://www.duolingo.com/course/de/en/Learn-German-Online

I like the YouTube idea. That would be a nice supplement to "book learning".

Check around (Google). There are various websites where you can hook up with people who natively speak the language you want to learn. You basically become a pen pal, writing back and forth and chatting on voip/Skype. They help you learn their language while you help them work on English. There is no shortage of people out there who are trying to improve their English and are looking for some way to do it without paying a tutor. Great opportunity to not only get better at a language, but to get the tips that you won't find in books or language courses.