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?