Profile For FliteRisk

There certainly is a different vibe as a local driver.

Got to agree with Daniel, though. Hauling fuel, we are both overweight and hazardous. If we followed the rules, half our stations would be unreachable. I’ve put 117k pounds down five ton roads, gone through non hazmat tunnels with a placarded load, have pulled hazmat through residential areas, and broken all kinds of rules, simply because that’s the only way to reach a station. “Local delivery” will forgive a multitude of sins. Really, the only restrictions we’ll pay attention to are bridge weights, for obvious reasons.

Yeah, its sort of the nature of the beast. When I was OTR I had no clue how outlandish local driving can be though I thought I did. Its definitely not something you want to get into without a few years on your back. Props on doing fuel there sir. I did it for 2 years and wasn't a big fan.

LTL driver also. I 100% agree. Some of the places i have taken my daycab in the back woods of West Virginia... SMH!!!!

Its not a question of me wanting to be a truck driver. I definitely want to do this. I guess it's just the life change fear to get over. I have only had one job my entire life and I gave that up after 21 years. I'm ready but nervous I guess. Leaving a world where I controlled everything and was the expert is a little more scary than I thought. I will get over it. I definitely don't miss the other job. Thanks for your comments guys.

I respect the straight forwardness and the truth that I get from you guys.

Good Morning,

I have the trucking bug and I have pretty much left my corporate desk job. I am scheduled to start with my mentor soon. The problem is that I have been offered another management job with high pay and only about 3mins from my house. I want to drive a truck and I have already planned ahead for the lower pay that comes with the first year rookie status. I was thinking that I could try the other job for a few months just to see if it is something I could do. It's just that every time I see a truck now, I get this warm and fuzzy feeling on the inside. Have any of you ever been through this type of situation. I welcome all opinions and thoughts.

Thanks

I got hired with CRST in August of this year since getting hired I have had nearly five weeks where I haven't made money because of circumstances. There was the first week where I had to go home handle getting my CDL license and going to the CRST terminal in California to get officially hired. The second week was spent convincing people I was actually in California not Iowa Because of a computer glitch I kept being listed for cedar rapids. Week 3 was a combination of days during training when we sat because we kept getting rerouted to pick up loads only to be told that the load was cancelled or had been picked up. Week four was waiting for my first co driver. Week 5 was going home for unwanted home time and trying to get a replacement co driver. Now I have been sitting for four days because of mechanical issues that were fixed but also because I don't have a co driver so I am limbo till Monday when I speak with my DM to figure out what to do.

That’s pretty rough. You don’t get paid while waiting for a CO driver?

FliteRisk, I think everybody struggles somewhat during that first year. The way you manage your loads and your schedule has an inseparable relationship with your gross pay. This is one of many reasons you'll find people complaining online about so called "starter companies" not paying well. In trucking we measure out our own pay. We get paid for how productive we are. Greenhorns have issues being super productive, that's to be expected.

Look at your rookie year as a learning experience. Focus on getting the most accomplished as you can. We're here to help you when you're struggling with how to make it happen. Don't even concern yourself with how much your CPM rate is. I made right at $50,000 my first year with a starting pay of a whopping 27 cents per mile. I knew I was getting low-balled because I came in with no intrinsic value to the company. That's how each of us gets started. I set out to prove to both them and myself that I could be a top producer.

Today I'm making top pay and still operating at the highest levels of productivity. According to my manager, I continue to gross twice as much as some of the other drivers in the dedicated fleet I'm in. You don't have to settle for less in this business. If you can produce it, they are happy to pay it. There's a symbiotic relationship between the drivers and the folks who are planning and dispatching loads. Producers are rewarded.

Very well put. Thank you!

You nailed it with the 30k-50k gross. Somewhere in that range for your first year. Second year figure should be 50k-60k after that 60k+. As an example my second full calendar year I am on pace to gross 70k. I started trucking in Sep ‘16.

Good to know. I can’t wait to get behind that wheel.

Hello everyone,

I got my CDL through Swift and I am about to remove myself from the corporate world. I have a high paying job right now and have plenty of savings to supplement the pay change. I was just wondering if there was a industry ball park like 30-50 thousand a year or sum thing like that. I signed up for OTR Dry Van. I know part of it is how much you run and how you manage your clock. But with me being a “4 week expert super trucker” I’m almost 100% certain that I won’t be out there maximizing my clock and getting everything right for some time. Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

I agree bobcat, but after 2 of them in a row, I just won't be bothered anymore. It bites for the ones who are genuine, but they can thank those 2 lol. I've trained plenty of nonsmokers in the past and most said they couldn't tell I smoked in my truck.. yep I keep it that clean and fresh. smelling.

We have added a couple more nonsmokers to the ranks of trainers, so at least there's that.

I wouldn’t be the whiny type. I just had the vision of me getting the one trainer that likes to smoke with the heat on and the windows rolled up. Lol. If I knew that I had a smoking trainer that smoked out the window like you said, I would be cool with that. I respect everyone’s choices. I just didn’t want to inconvenience someone in their own truck/home.

My student has been waiting for over a week for me. I have been stuck due to lack of freight movement over Thanksgiving weekend. I feel for you.

Yup. I figured it would be kinda slow this week. It didn’t help that I am a non-smoker either.

Try to be patient as best you can. I had to wait for a non-smoking Swift Mentor for 7 days and required another bus ride from PA to Greer SC.

I’m cool. Just anxious. I HATE the bus though. lol.

That's cool that you're getting paid! Hope they can get you out there ASAP. Keep us up to date and good luck! =)

I hope so too. Thanks

Hey guys and gals!

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving. I’m sitting home waiting for my company to find me a non-smoking mentor. They are paying base training pay while I wait. It’s already been a week. I wanted to have my 200 hours done by Christmas.

FliteRisk - it says "Blue October" (and "write your own song") =)

Haha. My bday is in October!

SO scary!! Glad you're okay and so sorry that happened to you guys. Take care of yourselves!

Does your tattoo say something about October?

I totally forgot about the non animal. No smoke and no pets for me.

Anyone know if you can request Non-Smoking Trainers at Swift? I talked to Jackie in Arizona, but forgot to ask if I could request a Non-Smoking Trainer for on the road time. I do like the idea of still driving as solo while out with a trainer. I will be training out of Fontana, CA. and have a home terminal of Lathrop, Ca. for now.

You can. I’m starting my orientation on Monday. They asked me smoking or non-smoking mentor.

You might check with the training facility also to make sure they've done their part.

Thanks Old School. I did check with the testing facility and everything is good on their part. I guess i will just have to wait. I worked so hard for that little piece of plastic. I just wanted to feel it in my hands today. LOL!

It stands for "Reporting Out Of State Test results". I went to my WV DMV this morning tho get my CDL that i passed in Ohio on Thursday. I was told that it is not in the system yet and that it can take 24/72 hours after my test for the ROOSTr system to update.

*SIGH*

Congratulations. Mission accomplished and you now have a CDL-A. Trucking School accommodation certainly is never the Taj Mahal and nobody should expect that. As you discovered, people show up so ill-prepared for the experience that delays are common and the failure rate is high.

You, Sir, persevered and now the real learning begins.

Again, congratulations and we'll done!

Thank You all for your comments. After re-reading my post, I did kinda sound like a Diva complaining about the hotel. LOL. I cant wait to get back into a truck.

This was not the best experience in the world. The hotel was crappy and mold infested. My recruiter told me this was a 17 day class including weekends. It turned out to be a four week course not including weekends. Some people were not prepared for this. The first week of class was map training and log books by a teacher that was clearly overwhelmed. After a lot of a teacher that was MIA and telling us to read chapters while she was gone, I aced the test with no problem. This allowed me to proceed to the driving range on the second week. The driver training consisted of handing us some papers that showed us how to perform the various parking moves. After about a week of little to no supervised practice, i was evaluated on my skills. I passed but several people didn't. The third week was road training for about 1.5 hours a day with 3 other people in the truck taking turns. Within three days, I had to learn to turn, double clutch, up-shift, and down shift. The fourth day i was evaluated on what i had learned. I failed the evaluation due to coasting through an intersection when i couldn't get into gear after a failed attempt to downshift. This was the day before tanking my state test. They re-evaluated me the next day (on the way to my state exam). I passed the evaluation on the way and was trying to mentally prepare for the state exam that i didn't think i was ready for. I was the only one in my class that made it this far. I was raining super hard, traffic was terrible and it was time for me to test. I was raining so hard that i asked the tester to stop me as soon as i had enough points to pass the pre-trip test. He did and i stopped a little after the in-cab and air brake test. I breezed through the maneuvers with no points. I got the straight-line back, blind-side offset, and blind-side parallel. I took the road test and passed. I am now a proud owner of a CDL. I want to thank this site and everyone who answered my questions here. The high road was awesome as well. I will test for my Hazmat tomorrow while I am picking up my CDL from the DMV.