Comments By Mike D.

I don't think there would be a problem. But the recruiters you talk with would be able to answer that for you I am sure. Good luck.

I just want to chime in here in just say that our moderators really are great. Some very sound advise IMO.

If you are going to attend an out of state CDL school you have to have the permit, your permit has to be issued by your home state. As far as age and peeing, I would recommend while on the road with a trainer/mentor you drink less. Not to the point of dehydration but don't gulp down 8 gallons a day either. Most don't have a problem stopping for pee breaks but if you have to pee every 50 miles that could be an issue. When you are in the team driving portion of training the problem you are going to have is the truck is almost always moving. You will be driving 60-70 hours a week. You will need to be able to sleep enough to drive safely . You will be sleeping while moving, he is listening to the radio, slowing/stopping with traffic, rough bumpy bouncy roads fuel stops etc. and he is sleeping while you are driving. I am a light sleeper also and am having a hard time sleeping while moving but it's only for a short time then I get my own truck and I sleep when and how I want in a non-moving truck. Earplugs help while training. Other than some OTC sleepaids most are not allowed. If you can handle it for the training period, you are golden! Good luck!

Hey Michael B. Any suggestions in regards to team driving during training and trying to get some sleep while the truck is moving? I am also a very light sleeper. Thanks.

An unfortunate sequence of events no doubt. All the best.

So to finalize here. Trinity Medical called right on time that I was slotted for. Just a quick run down over the form I had filled out online yesterday. Budda bing budda boom. All is good and cleared for take off. Like I posted earlier, I think this a huge help just for the peace of mind's sake or to catch something that a newbie like myself would not know any better that would be specific to the industry. I highly recommend asking your recruiter if they provide this service if you should have any medical concerns or under a Doctors care for a condition. They will more than likely want a letter from your Doctor stating you are clear to drive a truck.

So I got a call today from my Prime inc. recruiter (great guy) and he sent me a "task" to complete. Basically an agreement to sign regarding medical information which I did. Then received a questionnaire from Trinity Medical to fill out and then booked a 10 minute phone call for tomorrow. I really like that Prime has this option because recruiting is unable to answer medical questions. It just saves some of the worry before getting on the bus and not knowing what meds or anything medical that might become a problem and then be sent home. Fwiw.

If the company pays dividends every qtr. You will get a few extra for what you have on hand. New issues on the mrkt are hard to gage because there is no chart to go by. I would bird dog it. Sign up on a for like Seeking Alpha and put the cusip in to follow and they will ding you if anything comes up right away. That's what I do. Rather than watching a ticker symbol all day long.

I haven't seen anyone advocate leasing on this forum. Not sure it will be any different this time around. Having said that I leased a truck through Prime right out of training and my experience was favorable. You are certainly adding extra things to contend with besides just driving as a newbie though. The big one is taxes of course. You're your own business so you'll just be dumped with a pile of money every week that looks nice, but out of that, you need to save the appropriate amount for the tax man. If you don't get benefits from a spouse or somewhere else, there is that to consider too since it won't be coming from the company.

The amount they charge for the trucks is very high. By the end of the lease, you have not only paid off that truck but bought the company 2 brand new trucks on top. It's a nice racket the company has going for itself. The toughest part about how high the cost is is it makes going home no fun. At least for me. Say the base amount you'll need to pay that week is $1350. You can get a load or 2 that gets you home to cover that, but by then you've worked half the week making enough to just not go negative that week. Now you're at home for 3 days and the pay week ends and a new one begins and you're responsible for that $1350 again. Not planning on the right times to get home or how to get loads to cover the payment is how people end up going negative. I combated this by just not going home really. I would stay out for 2 months and get back for 3-4 days because I couldn't stomach having to pay to be home. In the year I leased a truck I never went negative, but it can happen.

Another situation you could find yourself in as a lease driver is a breakdown where you're out of service for the majority of the week. You still need to pay for the truck and could find yourself starting the next week negative.

There are really only a few "perks" that being a lease driver gets you over being a company driver, at Prime at least. The first is no forced dispatch. So instead of being given a load and that's that, I was sent a message with a preplan and my dispatcher asking me if it worked for me, and I could accept or deny it. It's really not so much of a perk because you will get yourself nowhere denying loads for most reasons. At the end of a week that crappy load you may have denied for greener pastures would have set you up for something much nicer that you didn't know was waiting. I only ever turned down one load so I didn't even notice a difference between leasing and company in that regard and it was because I literally could not find the place anywhere. The qualcomm couldn't find the place, google maps couldn't find the place, and they wouldn't answer the phone. All that in a tight pickup and delivery window I just threw up my hands and said nevermind. Being asked if the loads worked for me, and letting me check it out first, made me feel more in control of my destiny though for what its worth lol.

Sort of tied in with that is you can route yourself. Instead of having to use the route that their navigation sends you on you can get there by any means as long as it's there on time. This is something I used a good handful of times. Like if they wanted me to go over the GW bridge in NY but I could go over the Tappanzee and still make the appointment I would do that regularly. Or heading west if they wanted me to go over the mountains in Colorado but it made sense to just go 80 I could do that. Prime gives you the route they give you for a reason though, being that it usually has the cheapest fuel. So it doesn't behoove you to ignore it because you know better because you'll just cost yourself money.

In summary, I would say I enjoyed leasing for the most part with the one caveat being you are tied to that truck. Sure you can go home at any point but you are literally paying for the privilege. If that's something you can stomach the rewards are not that bad. Is it good enough to justify it? That's for you to decide. Many weeks I would take home checks where, after I take out my taxes and expenses, were double what a company driver could make on their best week. And then other times I would average out my pay per mile and it's on par with a company driver would have made. I'm not advocating for or against leasing. You can easily do very very well as a company driver with no need to add any other stress on yourself, as evidenced by most of the people posting on this forum. Hope I don't get lambasted by the company driver majority, just giving my experience as brief as a year experience is.

Thanks Derrick.

There are 2 schools near where I live that I am considering going to. I will be taking a tour of one on Monday. I am obviously new to the industry and was wondering if you guys and gals can give me some advice on what questions I should be asking.

I am new here too I could pay for my schooling and then seek a job. But why? When you have top notch carriers that will pay for your training and get lined out with just a one year contract. TheY will take care of you and have plenty of forgiveness in the mean time being new to the industry?

U.S. Xpress began trading on NYSE this Summer. They now offer employees a chance to purchase shares at a 15% reduced rate. I'm wondering if anyone here has an idea of how well trucking companies stock historically perform on the market. I assume they rise and fall with the overall economic performance of the country. What are your thoughts?

You can sell it right away once it is available or hold it and let it ride for long term. It works out to an extra pay check a year just by taking the percentage rate. My company is a max of 20% per pay period. But that 15% is a sweet discount especially if the issue has been trending upward and you can just let it ride. No short term capital gains tax under one year.