Comments By Cold War Surplus

Besides the obvious issues of putting medical information on DMV systems that aren't designed for it, vary by state, are controlled by the individual states and are in no way HIPAA-compliant your post didn't ring true. I scoured the tubes for more info and found none. Curious that what some random guy told you has no record whatsoever on the internet. Can you link any news or fmcsa site?

I used my Google powers to find the ad. The zip code there is 36871 if anyone wants to play at home. Here's what caught my eye:

It sounds like you'll be making 27 cpm, excuse me, "up to $.27 per mile". Up to $47,000 per year.

MWV is a packaging and office supply company, so lots of paper products. Paper products are heavy.

Night driving.

Driving a full truck, regional at night for ~$903/wk gross. You could do much better with intermodal or linehaul. Yes, it does sound like a day cab.

https://www.truckingtruth.com/trucking-companies/review/company-51/interstate-distributor-co

ABF is still one of the better LTL companies. Their best benefit is probably their retirement program. They put away $7/hr+ towards your retirement for every hour worked.

You would be lucky to get hired on there with one year of experience. You'll be competing with drivers who have years of experience, several who have years of experience pulling doubles and triples. ABF typically starts new hires out as, "Combo Drivers" - some dock work, some P&D, some Linehaul. What you end up doing depends on what your terminal needs and you're best at. The most recent pay info I found for ABF was $24.30/hr. and 61 cpm. You'll start out around 70% of that and work your way up to it in three years with raises every six months.

If you find that your local ABF terminal is ignoring your applications you should get some experience driving Linehaul for a few years then move over. 6 string mentioned Yellow. They tend to receive fewer applications than the top-tier LTL companies and are more willing to work with a less experienced driver. Their pay starts at $20.83/hr and 51 cpm. Depending on your region they may be called New Penn (Northeast), Holland (Midwest) or Reddaway (West Coast).

A few things leaped out at me when I read your post.

1. Lots of companies will hire you with less than 1 year OTR. Have you checked with local food (MacLeod, Sysco) and beverage distributors? I know a driver who worked for the Budweiser distributor in New Orleans right out of driving school! I can't make specific recommendations without knowing your location.

2. Many employers will pay for your D.O.T. physical. it's usually the next step after the in-person interview. Even if you don't get hired or choose not to accept their offer the long form is still yours to keep and submit to your local DMV.

3. I don't know all the details about your non-compliance, but I do know that in many cases a driver who doesn't qualify for a 2-year card can get a short-term card (1-year, 6 months, etc.). How long would you need to extend to take care of your compliance issue?

4. The other concern you should have is that after enough time has passed employers may no longer be interested because of your lack of recent experience. A CDL isn't a Twinkie that you can put on the shelf and come back to in 5/10/50 years. While it may still be valid with the DMV employers will demand that you at least take a refresher or even go back to truck driving school after enough time has passed. The cut-off I see most often is one year OTR in the last three years, but YMMV.

At CRST 25% of your time served is credited as driving experience. 4 years of service counts as 1 year of OTR driving on their pay scale. This bumps your starting pay from 25 cpm to 38 cpm!

http://www.joincrst.com/crst-expedited-military/

They also offer a Veteran Apprenticeship program to use your GI Bill benefits to pay for your CDL (no CRST contract) then earn up to an additional $13,400 tax-free your first year.

http://www.crst.com/2016/08/crst-offers-veteran-apprenticeship-program-drivers-using-gi-bill-benefits/

The two big dogs in the truck GPS market are Garmin's dēzl line and Rand McNally's TND line. Pricing is tiered according to screen size, not features like Bluetooth. You can pick up a Rand McNally TND530 (Rand McNally's 5" screen model) for $198.39 on Amazon or a dēzl 570LMT (Garmin's 5" screen model) for $299.00 on Amazon. Most months you can buy these models from Love's or Pilot/FlyingJ for the same price with significant rebates.

A GPS used with good judgement is a valuable tool. Not sure why you want to get strange with the change on your GPS budget, but there are some pitfalls you want to avoid. Garmin and Rand McNally have the bulk of the market share, have been doing this for years and aren't pulling out of the market anytime soon. They both offer free map updates and will for many years to come. There are a lot of other players who will sell you a truck GPS (ONE20, Tom Tom, Cobra, Magellan, Sygic, TruckMate, WorldNav) - but even if you combined all their sales together they wouldn't add up to half of what either of the market leaders sell. They could go broke or pull out at any time leaving you without map updates.

You might be tempted to buy a unit off of eBay for a lot less. These units were packaged for sale in a different country say, Mexico where a GPS sells for a lot less than it does in the U.S. You might think you're getting a deal because paying half of what the unit would cost new at Love's, but the manufacturers keep track of the serial numbers an know that your grey market GPS wasn't supposed to be in the U.S. so when you attempt to update your maps you will find out that your model doesn't come with lifetime map updates in the U.S. and you will have to spend another $100 or so to buy an update subscription.

This is a slippery slope. There is no shortage of, "good causes" out there. Once the do-gooders find out that they can force CDL holders to participate in their pet projects that have nothing to do with our job (safely getting our loads from point A to point B in a timely manner) the floodgates are going to spring wide open:

Organ donation - Thousands of people die every year waiting for donor organs. Hundreds of CDL holders die on the job every year so making organ donation mandatory for CDL holders will save thousands of lives.

Rest areas - Cash-strapped states are closing rest areas because they can't afford to maintain them. Making CDL holders take an orientation class then clean one rest area per week will make sure there are plenty of rest areas for all and ease some of the financial pressure on the states.

First responder - A truck may be the first vehicle on the scene of a serious car accident. Doesn't it make sense that they should be trained as first-responders? Even basic first-aid training and a few medical supplies could save thousands of lives every year.

Blood donation, litter pickup, reporting drunk or high drivers, reporting four-wheelers for minor violations (dead headlights, speeding, etc), take three weather readings per day - the list WILL NOT END!

I thank the Great Spirit that I don't have a CA license - I'm sure they'll be required to talk with someone about race issues or use a different restroom than usual to keep their CDLs if this catches on.

Don't let their pay scale for 19 days make your decision. Think long-term. If a company pays 70 cpm, but doesn't have the miles you will spend a lot of time parked at truck stops thinking about the 70 cpm that you're not earning. The cpm rate isn't as important as the average driver salary. I quit a company that paid me 50 cpm to go to a company that pays me 52 cpm but I earn twice as much at the new company.

It sounds like you're set on skateboarding. Roehl and Schneider are both excellent companies. Listing company names is o.k. here - just don't commit libel. TMC is also a great option, just stay off the grass! They're also Top 10 for average driver salary. Note: I use the figures from truckdriversalary.com; Brett gets his figures from another source. Either way it's easier to make $70k/yr at a company where drivers average $70k than it is at a company where drivers average $36k/yr.

Don't depend on others to tarp your loads for you! Driving flatbed is much more physical than driving dry van or tanker. Carefully consider whether you can handle the physical demands before setting out on a flatbed career.

While CRST is firm on holding people to honor their contracts and more specifically to the non-compete clause, they're surprisingly lenient on letting folks who have left early come back to finish their contracts. As long as you didn't abandon your truck, assault your co-driver or otherwise burn the bridge they will take you back. I've known drivers who have quit and come back after a year or more just to finish out their contracts.

You don't need to call Tyler to get back on board - any recruiter should be able to help.