Comments By David

Are you looking for flatbed companies that have their own CDL training? Are you planning on getting your CDL they a private institution first?

Companies that have their own CDL training and are flatbed. Roehl, Prime and Maverick come to mind.

Flatbed companies that hire newbies straight out of school: Melton, McElroy, TMC, Western Express, Maverick, Roehl, Prime.

Swift, Werner, and Schneider have flatbeds as well, I believe.

I hope this helps.

pretty much sums it up in a nut shell.......

if you don't think going to a private school is financially possible... Do take a look at Paid CDL Training Programs as mentioned above; Swift, Werner, Shnieder and Prime have flatbed divisions that will take you to their facilities, train you to drive, help you get your cdl and then employee you at the end. You just sign on the dotted line, and agree to stay employeed with said company for a minimum of 1 year and that basically pays your schooling. nothing comes out of pocket..

Theres quite a bit to read here,

• Truck Driver's Career Guide
• Brett's Book: The Raw Truth About Trucking (free online version)
• High Road Training Program

Truck Driver's Career Guide

• Trucker's Career Guide: Choosing A Truck Driving School

Forgot to say, the above is just from my experience and what i've been told..

IF your company allows off-duty driving, it will not start you 14hr clock... this is considered "personal" transportation.. and again depending on the company, you either get 30min or an hr... if it's 30min then you need to get to the TS in 15min and be able to return to the location you went off duty driving too within the remaining time of 15min (15+15=30)

so if you are in say Kansas City, KS and you know theres a truck stop on the other side of the boarder 10 min away... you drop to line 5 (Off Duty Driving), send a message to your DM "hey, im off duty drivng to the TS 10min away to get food/bathroom whatever, while i wait for a load.." then you head out.. your QC unit will keep you on Off Duty while you drive.... when you get to the TS, go to line 1 (Off Duty) always make sure... then go about your business.. make note of the time it took as it should be close to the same to get back... (10 + 10 = 20 with 10 min to spare)... when you get the load as per DOT, you have to return to the start of line 5...so drop to line 5 again, send DM message " got the message for load, heading back to previous location to start clock" and head back.. when you get to the very start, goto on duty do pre- trip and be on your way....

line 5 is a great tool when you use it right... but the thing about it is, you CAN NOT be under load with it. must be MT or BT... always check with DM too..

Had almost the exact same experience a months or so ago at an Americold in City of Industry. Gave them my appointment confirmation number, they said no good. Got my FM on the phone, told him the number didn't work. He got hold of the CSR she gave him a different number for me to try. Gave the clerk that number, and that worked...sort of. It showed an appointment for exactly one month later. Got my FM back on the phone and told him, he got hold of the CSR. The CSR spent the next 7 hours trying to get a reply from Americold, who went complete radio silence and refused to return her calls or emails. I had arrived at 7. The planner finally surrendered at 2:30, pulled the load, and gave me a different pickup at a different location for the next day.

Oh, and did I happen to mention where I'm heading to pick up from tomorrow morning? 😂😂😂😓🙃

Did i miss it or are you waiting for someone to ask where at?

my guess would be back to Americold.....

... Running water and a German Shepherd

I love German shepherds.

and now i have to do this....

His names Beau and is 2yrs old. Yes White German Shepherd....

I feel like I've been in CR forever. I needed to come in for routine service, an alignment, new tires but also my bunk ac has been on the fritz. So they sent my truck over to Truck Country for the routine service and ac work. They got my truck yesterday morning. Thought they'd found the ac problem by 5pm ish and didy oil change.. realized bunk ac still wasn't working right, kept my truck overnight, brought it back late this morning. Bunk ac still a no go. Our shop manager had them come back to get my truck and it's over there now. Sure hope they get it fixed as I'm completely bored. Supposed to go home this weekend, but I've been here going on 2 days and thinking.. why bother going home now.. already itching to be back on the road.

CR = Cedar Rapids, IA? im over in Des Moines.. i drove for Heartland Express last year, was not impressed with Truck Country there in Cedar.... they tend to take their sweet time.. Had to have 2 sensors on the engine replaced and pretty much sat there..... did do a few "local" runs with a day cab but was only 100-200Mi trip so it was mainly to keep me occupied ...

Good luck there...

Where are you mounting said antenna? If it's suction cupped to windshield or door Windows, could be that it's not up high enough and gets nocked out everytime a teuck passes by... id try getting it up hogher, maybe suction cup ot to the outside roof of truck...

Depending on the truck you drive, it could be as simple as grounding the antana with a wire to the frame.. if you have like a frieght liner, then Good luck.. damn trucks are mostly fiberglass now.... trying to ground it it is a pain.... i just get one of those antana mounts for the mirror;

and it grounds pretty good IMO...

I favor rest areas over TS... I like the feeling of sleeping in "nature" when at a rest area.. there are some really nice ones out there. for example, i5 in Dunnigan, CA has/had? a rest area that was surrounded by trees, couldn't really see the highway. one of my favorite place's to stop when in the area. its been awhile though, not sure if it's still operational. I try to avoid TS's except for fuel and i'll shower on my 30min break. now if a TS is like within 50mi of a stop and there's now rest areas, then i'll stop at the TS but park as far away from other trucks as i can. i dread having to back between two refers... =D

Thanks for the advice! I appreciate it. Any advice for the confidence factor when driving? I don't feel super confident yet and it really bugs me.

Hello, I just started a truck driving program and my trainer and I aren't getting along very well. The on yard week was filled with me driving around trying to learn to do stuff on my own because he was sleeping or on his phone. I'm nervous about driving the truck because I'm new at it and I don't feel very comfortable about driving in the city with him if he doesn't care about my training. He has also already set up my cdl test for this week and I will only have 12 hours of road time by that point. How can I learn everything I need to know in 12 hours?!? Any suggestions or advice?

Bad trainers, or it seems in your case, instructor's, suck. Unfortunately they're out there, most of them just for the extra $$$. When I went through company sponsored CDL training I was there for ~4 weeks. From day 1 getting my CLP to the day I tested and got my CDL I might have had at most, 6 hours of actual road-time driving. That being said I knew going in that this was going to be a sink or swim program, pushing ~30 people a week into a program isn't smart business in my opinion, but it isn't my decision. The first day I started driving at the yard and practicing backing was the end of week 1 after I got my CLP. I don't consider myself extremely intelligent but I made it a point from the beginning to soak up as much info from each instructor at the yard that I could. That helped immensely, I sifted through all of the information they gave me(some good, some bad) and found what worked best for me. Don't let yourself get overwhelmed, take it one step at a time and if you don't feel safe with that instructor, speak up and talk to someone above them.

TL;DR - 1. Speak up to that instructor or go to the next link in the chain if they aren't instructing/helping you. 2. Focus on soaking up any information possible. 3. Don't let yourself get overwhelmed, breathe and focus on the task at hand.

Confidence comes in time. the more you drive, the better you get, the more confident you will be. Its a right of passage for most drivers. Just don't get over confident, thats when **** happens...