Profile For DJames

Matthew, what year do you have in mind as that in which self driving trucks will start to displace OTR drivers?

Interesting. I 'd like to make a friendly bet on it.

Automated Trucks. It is coming. Sorry if that goes against"conventional wisdom. Tech is already out there and improving.

I'm sorry, but you've been snowed by the tech evangelists. Old School is right. Autonomous trucking is making billions of dollars for startup companies as the big corporations buy anything these fools put out. Why? They're afraid of being left behind. Self-driving tech isn't within 25 years of making an impact on this industry. At this point, it's a marketing gimmick. If we were serious about self-driving vehicles we would be installing the infrastructure needed to support it. No one is even seriously discussing such an investment, let alone building anything.

I wrote this article nearly five years ago, and every word holds true today:

Self Driving Trucks Are Not Coming Anytime Soon

Contact Good Sams Mail Service.

I will definitely take a look at them, thanks for the info Navy.

I know for sure because when my wife and I went full time rving we had nowhere to call home or an address to use as a base. We signed up and it works just fine.

Yeah, if things go the way I am planning I will find myself in the same situation in a bit here. Although TX is where I am probably going to wind up, one of these services could help save some cash and hassles in the short term.

In light of what Kearsey said, just to avoid the hassle, and since you're dead set on not keeping the apartment in Florida... I'd just use your parent's place. I don't like monkeying around with laws though and so unless I really need to see something happen I don't go looking for legal cracks.

As you mentioned it would probably be best to use my parents house as my permanent address. The transition seems like it would be a hassle either way though. As Cypress has terminals, a training center in Abilene and is hiring out of TX it seems I could start training in either state. It leaves the question of whether it would be best start in FL or TX.

I could get my CDL learner's permit in FL, go to training here in Florida, get a Florida CDL then transfer everything over. Or I could do the same in TX, except doing the residency transfer before going into training. It seems like starting in TX would be the best route but there is the downside of some unemployed time with no income while working on getting a DL and CDL learner's before being able to go into paid training.

Thank you for the information Kersey. It looks like the Michigan law is very clear cut on what they mean with regards to residence. The Florida laws however are ambiguous and don't specify residence as clearly as Michigan does. The Florida statutes state that it is a moving violation to not update your address within 30 days of moving but they don't specify what constitutes an actual address. The Escapees RV Club website and conversations with them indicate that their service does serve as an actual legal physical address in Florida which you can use to establish residency and obtain a FL DL etc. It seems that Florida and TX are very popular places for mailing services that also offer a domicile. This of course is due in part to no state tax, though several other states do not have state income taxes. I think one of the reasons Florida is especially popular is that the official residence definition is ambiguous from what I have seen.

What company are you working with? If they're large enough you could get a box (or any other flavor of mailing address) in basically any large city.

It is looking like it will probably be Cypress Trucking. I applied last year and was accepted and got a prehire, but delayed it a year with all of the uncertainty about the pandemic.

I am planning on starting my CDL training in late April or May with a company here in Florida. I can't see any point in continuing to pay ridiculous Orlando area rent for an apartment that I will barely see. I would rather put that money away towards a down payment on a house. I could always use my folk's home address in San Antonio but figured things would be much less complicated keeping my residence here in Florida (using a mailing service) at least for the short term while going through training and getting underway. My plan is to schedule my orientation a couple weeks before my lease expires and leave Orlando for good at that point.

I ask the following questions as I have read that some here are basically living out of the truck as I am planning to doing for a while. Is it possible to use a mailing service as an address for your CDL? I have heard of some using Escapees RV service for this sort of thing on other sites and wanted to know what services or arrangements members here are using for their addresses. I appreciate any advice.

Thanks,

-Don

RealDiehl, How long do you usually stay out at a time?

You should never ask a recruiter a speculative question. Stick with facts about the company or the specific job you're interested in. Don't try to get them to predict the future.

Have you ever seen a train without an engineer? I don't know why you should be concerned about a truck with no driver. Autonomous trucks are a long ways off. Driverless trucks seem unlikely for a really long time.

Yes and when you take into account that the ability to automate trains has been around since the 60s at least it seems to bode well for truck drivers.

Cold shower for students with big expectations :)

My total earnings includes Prime's TNT phase where I made $700/week. It also includes home time during TNT and some home time since I went solo in August 2020. All in, I am pretty happy with my pay to date.

That's good! Considering only about 5 months of true solo driving and home time as well.

I have been extremely busy. My last 3 months I've run a little more than 35,000 miles. I'm finishing this month with over 12,000 miles.

That is definitely encouraging to hear!

You get in there and prove to be productive, and you'll never be begging for loads. Ignore all the hype. Most of it comes from people who don't even realize they are not very productive. Those type drivers will get passed over for loads when times are tough.

Yeah, it seems that with all professions there are whiners and trucking is not an exception. These people are generally the last to realize they are the problem.

It doesn't matter if you're a rookie or an old hand - any solid driver will be treated differently than the slackers. Get in there and "git er done." You may never realize that freight is slow. I've actually never seen it slow down to where it affected my pay negatively. I stay busy all the time.

This is also good to hear, I currently work in the public sector where hard work is rewarded not with raises, advancements etc. If you are a hard worker in my current workplace, you can expect to doing the work that the slackers don't do with no added compensation, recognition, etc. It will be nice to get into a field where a hard work ethic is rewarded.

Thank you again sir!!

Cypress is an excellent choice. They run a great operation. I've reccomend them for years to people living in Florida. Go for it!

Oldschool, Just had a couple more thing to run by you if I might:

Cypress is still hiring and states that they have a very strong customer base. However I have been reading in some places that flatbed freight is being hit worse with the slowdown than reefer etc. I don't know if that is just with regards to O/O (to me O/O seems like a risky proposition at any time) or if this is affecting company drivers as well or if it is just a few anecdotal stories and there is no particular concern with flatbed. As a flatbed driver are you seeing any evidence of that?

I am looking at probably late May to Mid June to go in to Cypress CDL school at this point. I could always postpone that for a few months or even a year if necessary. Do you think now is a bad or risky time to go into flatbed as a company driver? As always your input is greatly appreciated.

-Don

Old School, I am guessing you were probably driving during the Great Recession? If so how were things as a trucker through all of that?

Sorry DJames,

I didn't know that you needed schooling from the beginning. Your looking into Cypress will be a good choice.

Thanks for the input, It is looking like it will probably be Cypress.

DJames,

Welcome to the forum. There is also CT, a division of Commercial Carriers located in Tampa and Jacksonville.

Hello Navy,

I realized that I neglected to mention in my post above that I would need schooling. I checked out the Comcar operation a while back but they said they were not recruiting inexperienced drivers at the time. I believe they did train at one point but now looking at their website I cannot find anything on training, possibly that has been discontinued?

Cypress is an excellent choice. They run a great operation. I've reccomend them for years to people living in Florida. Go for it!

Thank you! It seems that Cypress will probably be the way to go. I put in an application in January knowing that I probably would not be ready to make the move until May just to test the waters. I was approved and recieved a conditional prehire so it is looking lke the path is clear for me to Cypress, though I will need to put in another app given that 30 days has passed since my previous app. I also spoke with a recruiter there, Clay, who seemed was very informative and seemed to be a straight shooter. I just need to knock out the CDL learner's permit and get a DOT physical but I don't anticipate any issues there.

It looks like with TMC and Prime not hiring out of FL currrently that my best option is probably Cypress out of Jax. I saw a couple threads on them a few years ago but thought I would ask again in case there is someone out there who has direct experience with them. The only negative that I have found online were that they used to have old equipment but I believe that has changed over the years.

I feel like its already widespread, and isn't as bad as first thought.

I definitely agree that it is probably far more widespread than we have accounted for. We are just now getting a better picture with more testing....however only those that are having symptoms are being tested, which means that there is probably a large population of those that this ran through with no or possibly light symptoms. That could bring the CFR down considerably and possibly into flu or less than flu lethality. This thing has been running alongside the flu since late November but hasn't put up anywhere near the flu numbers as Brett pointed out. Here is a link to a research paper done in China that focuses on how heat and humidity affect transmission: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3551767 that I found that pertinent as we are moving into spring.

As somebody who currently runs 4+ miles every morning and goes to the gym every day, Flatbed was my only option/hope to be able to maintain any type of activity level.

Have you been able to keep up a fitness routine while OTR?

Not even once.

I ran all through orientation, but the moment I was issued my truck, that was the last time.

Put on 25lbs this year in the truck, and I can count on one hand how many times I ate at a truck stop.

That changes ~Feb 6th once I start my new local milk hauling gig. Can't wait.

Well, you didn't get the exercise in but you sure pulled the cash in....congrats on that! Hopefully you will be able to change things up a bit with the new gig.

As somebody who currently runs 4+ miles every morning and goes to the gym every day, Flatbed was my only option/hope to be able to maintain any type of activity level.

Have you been able to keep up a fitness routine while OTR?

Well, I gave Prime a call but unfortunately they are not hiring out of Florida at this time. I guess I will be looking around.