Comments By Jeff W.

Jeff most companies will allow a driver to take their assigned truck home with them. However, most require the trailer stay coupled to the tractor so you'll need to have ample space to park both as a single unit.

That's not a problem. What would be a bigger problem is having to drive from Columbus or further, and then back every time home time came around.

Swift has a yard over in Martinsburg, WV. They have flatbed, but I can't say much being that i am a dry van driver.

Martinsburg is 4 hours from me. Columbus is 3 hours from me.

What is Swift's truck take home policy?

Roehl would not hire me right out as a flatbed driver because of the area I live. So I went van & was told 30 days after I am out of my training status I could switch - So that is what I did - with Roehl the second training there is no OTR training all local witch is nice as yo see more loads is a shorter time. Roehl also pays you during all training... Any questions please ask

I can't even get past Roehl's pre-qualification part of the application process, which doesn't even give me a chance to choose between FB or van. :(

You can apply to several companies that offer paid CDL training for flatbed right here on TruckingTruth, including Roehl and TMC. Check this out:

Apply For Paid CDL Training

I've used the Apply for Paid CDL Training link. I've put in full applications with Prime, TMC, Jones Brothers, Swift, and working on one with Western Express right now. Roehl and Cypress say they're not hiring from my area.

Who else do I need to apply with? I'm in north-central West Virginia, about 3 hours south of Pittsburgh.

That accident is the only hangup, and it's from 1995. I've got a clean MVR, clean criminal background, clean credit report, and at least until August I have a good employment history.

How about CRST? I just got another text from them while I was typing this reply. I know they're mostly teams with their van division. What about their FB division?

So I'm in the process of trying to find a flatbed carrier that hires from my area and has driver training. Prime sounded like a good fit for me so I applied to them. Everything looked great until I talked to the recruiter today. Apparently the trucking accident twenty-two years ago that brought my trucking career to a grinding halt my first time around still matters to Prime.

The recruiter told me that since I was terminated from my last truck driving job because of an accident, that Prime couldn't do anything with me until I had a year recent OTR experience. Can any of you Prime folks weigh in on this? Is this actual policy or is this just a recruiter being ridiculously cautious?

Does Melton or Jordan provide CDL training?

I put in an application with Jones Brothers but I imagine it might take a minute for them to get back to me with the holidays and all. I'm really interested in Melton as well because I see a lot of their trucks around here, which means they should be able to get me home pretty often.

This thread reminds me of a story from my first attempt at being an OTR driver on one of the darkest days in American history.

The date was April 19, 1995. I don't think I had been out with my trainer a month. I was really green and my trainer was an ass with some serious anger management issues. We were heading east on I40 in Arizona when, out of nowhere, came a pretty good little snow squall. It dumped a measurable amount of snow on the ground in a very short period of time. My trainer was asleep. After seeing where several other trucks had lost control and ended up in the grass, I decided to stop at a truck stop in Gallup, NM and give them a chance to get the roads cleared up. I went inside and I think I ate breakfast or at least grabbed some coffee, and when I walked past the driver's lounge I noticed that there was an awful lot of people in there for that time in the morning and everybody's eyes were on the TV. So I stopped to see what was going on, and it was the Oklahoma City bombing.

I watched the news for a bit then went back out to the truck, only to get yelled at by my trainer for not wanting to drive on slushy roads. Whatever. I didn't get us killed.

Nope the date for the end of paper logs is TODAY!!! 12/18. That's right guys and gals, if you are pulling out a pen and graph paper, you're wrong. I wonder how many job openings there will be come tomorrow?

Awesome. Because I definitely don't miss that part of the job.

I remember reading a forum post somewhere (not on this site) where drivers were complaining about e-logs saying that they couldn't make any money because of them. I guess it's harder to fudge your HOS with them but that's okay with me.

I started driving in '93 and the industry has changed very, very little. A few tweaks to the logbook rules and a few more electronic gizmos in the trucks. That's about it. Otherwise, it's still trucking. The days are long and challenging, city traffic is awful everywhere you go, ice is still very slippery, and the limits are still 80,000 pounds gross and a maximum 53 foot trailer.

You're definitely starting the training from scratch, no question about that. Don't sweat it, that's just how this industry is. We normally recommend checking out the Paid CDL Training Programs. That's an excellent way to get started.

I can tell you that TMC Transport is an awesome flatbed carrier that hires out of West Virginia and can get most of its drivers home on weekends. I don't know what their rider policy is, you'll have to look into that.

You can apply to TMC Transport and a bunch of other Paid CDL Training Programs right here on our site:

Apply For Paid CDL Training

There's no obligation but you'll get a chance to speak with a bunch of recruiters to learn more about what they have to offer. It's certainly worth looking into.

Yes TMC is definitely one of the companies under my radar, along with Cypress, Roehl, Boyd Bros., and Prime.

I understand that paper log books are completely going away after 12/31, right?

I looked a bit for an intro thread but didn't find one. So feel free to roast me if I didn't look hard enough. :)

I'm Jeff, and after spending the past 18 years working in information technology, I've found myself unemployed after the company I was with for the past 14 years went bankrupt. After being gone 21 years, I've decided to try to make lemonade out of the lemon and move back to my home state of West Virginia. There's only one problem: There's not a whole lot of demand for system administrators and network administrators in this state, and most of the jobs I see that need my skill set require a security clearance (that I do not have.) Furthermore, I don't really know if I want to do this any more.

Back in the mid 90s I went to a local truck driving school, got my CDL, and drove very briefly for a now-defunct refrigerated carrier based out of Canonsburg, Pennsylvania. Does anybody remember CDS Lines? I can't even find pictures of their trucks online. I have no idea now why I chose a refrigerated, primarily team company when what I really wanted to do was solo flatbed, but I did. Nowadays I find myself thinking about giving up on the desk job and putting on my training wheels again. However, I have a whole bunch of questions:

How much has the industry changed since 1995?

Is there still a lot of steel and aluminum moving between Pennsylvania and West Virginia out to Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois? I remember seeing truckload after truckload of it on I70 back when I drove. Most of it was going to auto part manufacturers in Indiana.

Y'all have automatic transmissions now? Do you like them? How do they work on steep grades?

I seem to recall Prime trucks being some of the fastest fleet trucks on the road back in the 90s. Now I get the impression that they're some of the slowest? What happened?

What kind of goodies do most fleet trucks come equipped with nowadays? We didn't even have Qualcomms at CDS, much less APUs or inverters.

I used to see a lot of covered wagons on the road. Now they're rare as hen's teeth. When did this happen? What happened to them?

Ideally I would like to find a flatbed carrier (with a training program) that a) Has a good bit of traffic up and down I77 and I79 so I can get home. b) Doesn't do forced NYC and c) Will let me bring a girlfriend without being married to her. I had some other stuff that I was going to put down here but now I've forgotten what it was.

Also, I'm having trouble finding an "official" point of contact with my last employer to verify my last 14 years of employment. I do know that these trucking companies aren't going to like that. However, I do have contact information for both of the people that were my direct bosses during those 14 years. Will that be enough for trucking company HR departments?

Hopefully I'll remember the other questions I was going to ask in due time.