Comments By Damon L.

No worries I'm soaking up all the information I can lol

RP,

Yes, I'm still a linehaul driver - probably will be till I retire. I love it. Hoping to retire with OD. We have a terminal near Eighty Four. Old Dominion also has a driver school where you can be paid to earn your CDL. You should inquire about that. Not sure if PIT sends drivers to HAR (our Carlisle terminal) for the CDL school or not.

I went to a private CDL school and spent 5k. Wish I would've known about the OD school. But we get paid so well that I had my schooling paid off within a few months after working at OD, all while my wife retired and became a stay-at-home-mom with our kids.

If you can get in with the PIT terminal at Eighty Four, you'd have it made. Most runs are Penna Turnpike (about as gravy as it gets), or west on 70. I've actually thought about transferring to the PIT terminal, but I'm too established at HAR with seniority.

Check out these links, and ask me any questions you'd like about OD. It's a fantastic company.

Damon, sorry to hijack your thread. You should check out OD too since you also inquired about local trucking. LTL Trucking: My linehaul job

The Local Thread

I love paying it forward. I hope the info helps.

Yes in school there was lots going on you had to concentrate on shifting, you had to clear every intersection and side street by saying road to the left or right clear or not clear, of course watch the road for your signs, and checking your mirrors every 5-7 seconds while the instructor was yell8ng which road to turn on sometimes talking to other students and telling you at the last minute.

The trainer I had was telling me about a couple people that he had, that just didnt listen to him, or ignored him when he told them to do something that was in regards to saftey. They are there to teach and help you become a safe driver which i know you know already. But those are a couple if things that he told me he couldnt stand sometimes about students. Figured that may help a bit for you.

Thanks for the reply! Ill definitely have not problem with safety concerns has last thing I want to do is hurt myself or someone else.

don't read the road signs, and pass weigh stations (because they didn't read the road signs lol). Hope that helps.

In school I noticed I was so focused on shifting and out the windshield that I missed signs. But it improved as I got more comfortable.

Things that bother me are the things that are harder to change, disrespect, swearing, knowing everything when you know nothing, or invading my personal space. Which on my truck is very little.

When I was in CDL school my 4 instructors had over 110 combined years between them so as far as I was concerned I knew less than nothing, wish I could have spent more time with them as the 160 hours goes by fast.

A there any local Companies that hire Student drivers to drive local.

This is awesome as I haven't started my career yet I come to the forum everyday and get experiences and advice from the different post I see daily!

I just graduated the 3rd of this month. Driving was pretty steady but the backing maneuvers didn't click until the last week where I could put it in the box everytime by myself. You'll get plenty advice from all the instructors and they all are good but your just going to have to stick with the advice that's more relatable to you. So as someone said above just be patient and take your time don't be in a rush.

No I have a few months until I'm retired then I'll be going out but have heard alot of horror stories on this site and others of course I'll make my own determination when I go out but your absolutely right I know I'll be a guest I can respect that.

So you haven't even gone to an orientation, much less company training and you're talking about trainer's from hell?

Seriously dude, most trainers aren't that bad. Just remember you are a guest on THEIR truck.

I've heard plenty horror stories about Trainers from hell. Boot camp style training which I won't mind much putting pressure on me which I won't mind much but I can do without the yelling. Of course us newbies want to weather the storm to make it to the end. I know they say if yourself and your trainer don't get along you can get a new one. The way my mind works is I could get a new trainer but the new guy could be worst and it's going to slow up my training and I wouldn't want to make this any more painful then it has to be. Thinking positive I like to focus on the optimistic and just think that I'm going to get a great trainer that just wants to get through this just as I do. We'll go our separate ways and both be happy campers.

Thank You

Deja vu today lol. I'm with Maverick currently. Not a ton of difference between the 2 companies. We have maroon auto freightliner and they have black Petes manual. I hear they're buying autos as well but not sure. Pay and home time are about the same I believe, freight lanes are similar as well. I'd give the edge to Maverick because I work here obviously. Also depends on where you live and what you want to haul.

Whose worked for them and which is the better company to work for or are they pretty much the same?

Which do you perfer people that have driven both and why?

My Unit had a driving mission and we're down a few 88M so asked me could I help them out since I just got my CDL. I was beyond hyped about getting a chance to get some experience. However they pushed the trip back until some Truck drivers because available. Apparently they didn't want to put me on the road because I'm not a 88M by MOS. I'm thinking well why did you send me to school. I'm trying to get any experience I can get before I retire and get with a Company.

This was a leaking Tanker apparently caught fire.

horrific crash

Stevens is at the top of my list as well. Stevens, schneider, or TMC

Hey Gary,

I'm with a trainer right now otr with Stevens transport and since I started school at Careers Wordwide in march I have had a great experience. The guys at the school are very knowledgeable and down to earth and helpful. Stevens seems to me to be a tight run outfit with plenty of miles for it's drivers and good equipment.

That about sums it up!

My motto for securement is "Overkill or be killed." So far so good.

If securing a load is anything like ratchet strapping it down I think I'll pass. I assume the equipment would be superb your dealing with though

Thank You! Yes I'll refer back thanks for the insight helps alot

Damon, no matter how much training you have you will not feel comfortable when you go solo. No one does, nor should you. You will have a long, long way to go from the time you go solo until you have strong driving skills and time management skills.

I spent two weeks on the road with a trainer after my schooling was complete before going solo. Some companies, like Prime, will have you with a trainer for months before you go solo. Honestly I don't feel the drivers from Prime are much better prepared when they go solo than I was. There's only so much you're going to learn with someone holding your hand and watching over you.

Learning to be disciplined, self-sufficient, and self-motivated are critical skills in this industry and you're not going to develop those traits during training. Learning to manage your time on the road by managing both your work life, and your personal life, are also skills you're not going to pick up while teaming with a trainer.

Even your driving and backing skills are going to take quite some time to develop, and most of that isn't going to happen while you're with a trainer. They take a lot of practice to develop. You're not going to learn very much through verbal instruction or by watching your trainer do it.

So most of your development will happen after you go solo.

I highly recommend studying the Logbook Rules and the Weight & Balance sections of our High Road Training Program so you understand the basics of how to load cargo, how to balance out a load across the axles, how to calculate the weight of fuel, and of course you'll learn the in's and out's of the logbook rules so you have a solid understanding of those critical areas. That will help quite a bit. Those are areas new drivers struggle with quite a bit.

I just got my CDL I'm 43 although I haven't started at any company yet. I plan to in the next year or so though

I work at a rest area and just wondering if truckers have any questions for rest area employees? I have a few about truckers, but I do not want to come off as offensive and may ask some later on. I am currently in the process of losing weight so I can pass my dot physical and hope to be trucking myself in a few years. I am 37 now. Is 40 too old to get started in this game?

I've been away from home quite a bit being in the military text messaging, phone calls, and video chat have done wonders in my life. It's so much technology out there now it's so easy to stay connected.

Hello everyone training is going well so far and it's the start of my 3rd week away from home. My question for you all is how do you deal with home sickness? The company I am training for said they get you home every 7-10 days and 14 at the most. But I had a week lomg orientation and didn't have a way home before leaving for training. I'm very very close with my mom and brother and being away for this long is alot more difficult then the driving itself. Any help would be appreciated

Right I normally like to formulate my own opinion but it seemed like they had more negative reviews then any other Company. They also said as a new driver you had to drive a straight truck for a year before you could drive a combination. I didn't get my Class A license to drive a straight truck so that pretty much ended my interest in the company.

I was thinking about applying to this company, They have OTR semi trucks & Class b trucks but I paused after reading some negative reviews like on ripoff report & other sites. Tempus Transport is fleet owner through panther. Panther provides the freight and tempus gives drivers trucks to move it. I know from this site not to trust all reviews.

Does anybody know anything about this company? I had no idea Straight trucks had sleeper berths.

I see some companies that look like they have awesome training programs for new drivers that pay less and I see some Companies that look like they pay a bit more with less training in the first month or so. My first time solo I would like to feel confident that I'm ready.