Comments By ChosenOne

The question is, after deductions your taxes should have been the same. Making trucking gets a pass, but my Tax Attorney tells me the IRS only allows me to take the standard deduction of $56 per day, unless I itemize and can provide receipts showing I exceeded $56 per. Of course if you are only out 1/2 a day, the $56 gets gets cut in half for that day. If you think about it, you should be able to adjust your withholding taxes to a lower rate if you take the $56, then you would get the $$$ up front, and the company would have to pay SS, Medicare, and disability at the higher rate. I am surprised the IRS allows a cpm deduction that exceeds the maximum amount without receipts.

Hope I am not hijacking it, but I am in California and being trained as a WIOA Grant recipient. I am unemployed IT Manager that worked my way through the ranks, but I never attended a college or university, so I have no degree. All the IT Management jobs I ran across required a degree, and and when I applied for entry-level positions I was told I was over qualified for the position, and the mid and senior level positions all required a degree, and I would get the thank you but you don't meet the minimum educational requirements for the position. 20 years of experience does not count these days.

My experience was a bit different getting the grant. In the County I live in you don't visit EDD, I had to visit a Job Training Center of California (JTCC), the local EDD Office may have information on where to apply, but I would Google search WIOA and your county name, that would probably be faster, we don't have a local EDD Office, and they have limited phone hours.

Once I found where I needed to go, I walked in, was told I needed an appointment, made one, but it was 2 weeks away. When I finally had my initial interview, they filled out a form to see if I qualified for WIOA based on family income, then had to schedule taking the tests mentioned above (Reading, Math, Comprehension). Looking back, I should have asked for the interview and test appointments for the same day, the JTCC is not local, but a bit of a drive. Then I waited for a response, asked for a status when I was at 4 months of unemployment, and was told to wait longer.

When I exhausted my unemployment benefits and living off savings for 2 months, I was brought in for a second interview, and given a Grant Application, which was 12 pages. The first few pages were my past job history, then I had to write why I needed to be trained, and why it would benefit me. After that, I had to list the schools I had visited, who I had talked to, and I had to interview 2 people that are driving today. At that point I had to hand in my Grant Application and wait yet again.

It took another month, but I was told my training was approved, and it was at that point I found out they use the schools you visit, the first one I listed was the one they made the voucher out to. They gave me the start date, as well as who to contact at the school. My school is not local either, but a 30 mile drive each way. I am lucky as the school starts you out with computer based learning and practice tests, they allowed me to do those from home, so I did not have to commute. When I went to DMV they paid for the permit, as well as my DOT Physical, not all schools do this, so you need to ask when you are visiting the schools you want to attend.

Good luck, I see you are in Joshua Tree, you will probably need to go to Victorville or San Bernardino for testing and interviewing, or that would be my guess.

RV's must have a seatbelt for each passenger in the majority of states, there are a few that have not caught up with putting it on the books. There are different laws for different buses, transit buses in all states are exempt from seatbelting in their passengers, but some states require non-local transit buses to have them and riders use them, but I doubt you will see it enforced, and most non-local buses built in the last few years have seatbelts in them as standard equipment. School Buses, different beast all together, and I can't think of 1 state that mandates use, not sure why, just no one has mandated it, yet.

I am not a fan of 1099, but I just took an employer to small claims court and won almost $5k they refused to pay. This was an IT job, but it was 1099. As a 1099 you should have a copy of the contract you signed, it should outline what you are responsible for, how you are paid, and when you are paid. If they are not paying and cite an exclusion/penalty for payment that is in the contract, they need to document it and give it to you in writing. If you are abiding by the terms of your contract, and they are not paying you and not citing a contract violation, you will most likely prevail in court. There are probably a few Attorney's in your area that will give you a free consultation. Use it, see what they say.

If the amount is under the small claims amount, file a small claims action in court, and have him served. You probably won't get anymore loads from the place, may get your contract terminated, but if I were being shorted I would be looking elsewhere. I am not sure if your circumstances allow you to move to another company easily or not.

What they really need to do is clean up the TSA and CPB processes. A prime example is someone who crosses the border frequently. You can get a GOES Clearance, which is more indepth than any of the TSA Clearances. The TSA will accept a GOES ID as a valid ID to board aircraft, and enter areas without using your drivers license, yet they will not use it to clear for you for HME, PreCheck, or TWIC. The bill should go farther and include GOES Clearance.

I wonder how much weight the batteries will add? Then there is the recharge cycles, how long will it take to charge, and how far will it go. So far they estimate they may be able to go 600 miles on a charge with the Model S, but it is at 24 miles per hour. Since they can't get the mileage and speed needed from any of their other models, I doubt the tractor trailer will have much distance, unless the trailer is all battery. Then comes the recharge, they would have to build it into the truck stops, which will take a bit of time.

Thank you all for the replies. Recruiters being Recruiters seemed to be really interested in selling me on a shorter training period. When I would ask about the what if I need a bit more time, they would tel me it was a great program and no one does. I am glad to hear you can ask for more, I would hope my trainer/mentor and I would discuss anything I needed to work on and address it earlier than later, but it is always nice knowing the option is there if needed.

Yeah, JP and wil-trans base their training off of primes. But from my understanding if you wanted more training they would help you out in any way possible just to make sure you're ready and safe out on the road.

Thank you, very helpful. I am not sure either will accept me, I am one of many applicants, and if they don't, there are others on my list.

When they told me I was surprised, and when I asked, what if I don't feel I am ready at 30 and want a few more miles, the Recruiter said it was up to my mentor, not me. I would hope we would both discuss it. Does Wil-Trans/Jim Palmer do the same? I want to make sure if I make the cut I choose a place where I get what I need to be successful. I don't think anyone wants to jump to solo without all the tools needed.

I forgot to add, what if they are right, someone tests, and instead of the 30k they want you to do, you feel like you need the 40k, or at 30k you feel you need more miles, can you ask for more?