Comments By Leeva804

So basically I recently got my cdl, to make a long story short I got into 3 preventable incidents within a 2 month period. I got a copy of my Dac and on the eligibility for rehire it says I need a review. After calling recruitment, they told me it would be at least a year before I could get a review. I am interviewing for aaa cooper transportation next week( not a driver). I’m basically asking what happens for a review? What is the possibility of me getting rehired? Is it best for me to just stick with aaa cooper transportation and just work my way up back to driving or should I go back to Werner? . If I do go back to Werner, I would only do teams

Three incidents in two months? What were they if you don’t mind me asking. I’m a rookie and my trainer always told me you’ll likely get one accident eventually in your career. I have none right now but I’m surprised you have three in two months.

What a ride it’s been. 7 months solo experience at U.S Xpress Walmart dedicated Gordonsville, VA! I’ve learned in the trucking industry especially at U.S Xpress it takes true patience and a lot of sleep to overcome the stress you’ll deal with on this account.

The last time I talked about this account I had three months experience. Walmart dedicated is a mixed bag. Sacrifices have gots to be made to make it week to week on the account.

If any drivers who’re new decide to venture over to this account know this. Not many last more than two months. I’ve spoken with countless new hires who I have exchanged numbers with only to see them quit before even three months hits.

Seriously, the account has a very high turnover rate. Honestly nothing was more shocking than a driver I knew named Jeff quit last week. He called me only to complain about his pay was screwed up by the company and how it was to much time being given to the job with little time off.

Time is definitely a factor on Walmart dedicated. You’ll definitely be at 60-70 hours a week and expect to max your 14 hour clock daily. Also expect to add about 8-10 hours more to the drive to work on top of that if you live 40 minutes away from the DC. So normally 12-15 hours days. Six days a week.

I’ve ran consistently for the last five months six days on 34 hour reset off. You’ll blink and be back at work so no home life other than maybe four hours a day when you get home to see your family or girlfriend.

I suspect drivers quit for the following reasons.

Being put on standby. Which means you drive to the DC and wait 4 hours in your car until dispatch gets you a load and you’re paid $25 an hour while you wait. Most times you don’t get a load so you lose money but if you do get a load there is an option to make good money. It’s rare though.

Slip seating. Lots of uncleaned trucks and that is a big deal breaker for a lot of drivers. **** left in trucks and gum on cameras!

Routes that pay under $200 a day for 13-14 hours worth of work. Lowest in the industry and once you do a couple days a week making nothing it cripples your motivation.

I’ve on track for $70,000+ this year. This is without a doubt because of my work ethic. I’ve never made $70,000+ a year before and I’ll likely do better next year but I’ve slaved to get this income. Including the drive to work and back plus adding the drive I max my 70 hour every week. I’m pulling 83-85 hour weeks dedicated to the job.

I’ve come to just take the hours because the money is so good for my first year. I love driving and I actually like the office staff and the drivers on the account. The reason I’ve not quit is because I make decent money and knew I could not afford to quit another trucking job.

So I made this account work. Dispatch gives me a garbage load fine! I’ll do it. Because I know I need my checks to keep being $1300-1600 gross a week. I take any and all loads no matter what. I’m paying my dues.

If it’s a 343 mile backhaul from hell I’ll do it and come back and do another load. You’ve gots to hustle on this account. You’ve gots to maximize your entire 14 hour clock.

Things tend to go wrong weekly on this account. I guess that adds to the stress. More stress than I’ve ever had in my life. Trailers not working the moment you pick them up. Which means instead of a 12 hour day get ready for a 14 hour day.

Reefers malfunctioning on a weekly basis or bi-weekly. Backhauls that have damaged trailers when you arrive to pick them up. The stress is unreal how often this happens.

After a while you just learn to squeeze a stress ball and go with the flow. Any day I come to work now I just assume I’m doing a 16 hour day.

The pay is great for a first year. I’ve paid my car off and I’m on track to have about 20K saved up in the bank by March 2021!

I thank the job for this alone. I’ve recently talked over the last couple of months with veterans on the account with tons of experience. A few are making $1800-2000 gross training on the account. Some actually get two days off a week instead of 1.

It’s Amazing and I think that’s good income. Lots of veterans have told me to become a trainer and get a sleeper. But I have to decline their advice.

I’ve decided on fuel hauling with Pilot after one year experience and I’ll go their to prepare for hourly pay. I think hourly will fix a lot of issues I have with the pay-scale at U.S Xpress. After all there has been so many days I’ve spent countless free hours working for free.

It’s how it seems to go when you’re cents per mile. So hourly pay is the only way I see to fix this.

Maybe I’ll add more but so far there are way to many negatives to even consider to stay on this account longer than one year. If any new drivers come to the account know you will have all these little things to deal with. But if you max your 70 hour you’ll make good first year money and be home daily.

I had a recent license suspension for failure to appear. It was from a $50 dollar ticket I forgot to pay and that ticket was from my registration being expired. (Yes...im very mad at myself and I've done beat myself up enough over it) I also have 2 at fault wrecks and 2 speeding tickets (last 3 years) on my record. I applied for prime 2 years ago and was accepted to the truck driving school. Everything was clear and I was supposed to pick a date to go to school. Well life happened and I ended up not going. Now I really want to do this more than ever. I want a career and I know I'm a fast learner. I've spoken to so many family members, friends and aquaintences over the years who work in the trucking industry and they all love it. I just recently got a job that has me being in contact with multiple truck drivers throughout the the day and I don't know. It's like the more time I spend taking to them the more I get my motivation/inspiration back to jump into it. But now I feel like my driving record is holding me back :( I'm also known as the one in the family that can't drive...so my sister always makes fun of me when I talk about how much I want to start truck driving and that just kills my belief in myself. I've also been ghost following this forum/site for YEARS. I just finally decided to make this account though. I also know you guys preach about not listening too much to others when they give their bad opinions about certain schools because one bad experience for one could be a good experience for someone else. A truck driver I befriended at my job told me NOT to go with CRST. BUT idk. I think I'd enjoy team driving. Aren't you getting paid more and more home time than solo drivers? She didn't even give me a reason why she said don't go with them...she just said they have a bad reputation. But so does CR England, Knight, and Swift. Out of all of them...I feel like CRST is my best chance to get qualified again. I also have read articles on here about this and the best advice was saying to just apply everywhere and go with whoever takes you. I don't want to do that and end up hatng it :( I guess I just need a little more advice/motivation.

Sorry it so long and I keep jumping all over the place. I just want to finally do something and finish. I was in college for 8 years right out of high school and I did some things that caused me not to graduate from x-ray school :(

Not looking good for you

I can’t believe on Oct. 30th was my one year anniversary. Talk about time flying. So question, when do I get awesome at backing?? 🤣😂

I just figure as long as I don’t hit anything or anyone, or make anything get cracked bent or broken, I am doing ok.

But with my one year. I need to figure out my next move and will need to be dropping my FM an email. I will say, I absolutely love driving for Prime and love otr. That said, family health issues is pushing me toward absolutely needing to be home more. I don’t really know what options to consider cause I planned on doing otr for a few years and maybe train. I have been on a daze for the last couple weeks cause I wasn’t aware of how bad things are.

Any advice would be appreciated

Thanks Liz

Nice I’m right there about to get my 1 year in 5 months

And the advice we always use here for brand new drivers is to go OTR for a bare minimum of one year with the same company, before trying another platform such as a local driving job.

Any driver will learn significantly more in a couple months OTR than is possible in a local driving job. The knowledge gained is invaluable for any platform, once a new driver learns the basics of becoming a safe and efficient driver.

And there’s nothing wrong with that. Of course, I’ll be local my entire career and I’ll never go OTR. Not worth it in my opinion. Unless you like seeing the open country.

I personally would go to prime OP if I did go OTR. They’re great in my opinion

I am in CDL classes , now. I have been contacted by Stevens for a Pre Hire. Thoughts? I have been building houses for 30 years. Changing careers, wanting to make sure I am going to the best place possible, to start my new career. I know I need atleast a year experience.

Hey man went through classes just like you and was deciding on a company. If you want to check out the open road there is plenty of options for you that’re better than Stevens transport.

Personally I would look for a home daily position doing Walmart dedicated or target dedicated in your area with a company. You’ll be home daily and off 1.5 two days a week. And likely make $1200-1500 a week depending on your work ethic. This is the route I took.

Does WM have a contract with a major carrier nearby to the OPs location, Leeva? Something where he can be home every night?

I would call companies and ask. I had covenant try to hire me recently with Target dedicated and I had no idea they had an terminal near me. Gotta call and ask.

The best part about what Covenant told me was the job is drop and hook only.

But since I’m performing so well on Walmart dedicated I turned them down. Just gonna get my year in.

OP call some companies and see if they have a walmart dedicated in your area. You would be surprised I’m on track to make $75-80K my first year 70 hour work weeks home daily.

Hey everyone,

Need some general advice. First my name is Chris and I am a new CDL holder just trying to find my way in trucking. I will humble myself that I am new and know barely anything about trucking but open to learning and trying my best. I finished with Roadmaster and was hired by Werner. I went with a trainer and he was a nice guy. I had a lot of problems with my backing (45) and my trainer let me back sometimes albeit not nearly enough in my opinion. I mostly drove straight down the interstate for my training for 4 1/2 weeks. I went back to the terminal tried to test out but didn’t do very well and was released (exact words used). I felt bad about myself and thought maybe I was hopeless. The next day started applying for jobs and narrowed it down to Swift and start their driver orientation training October 7th. My thought was will I ever be able to get the backing aspect of trucking technique? Werner was quick to dismiss me and I didnt feel good about it, however its not my nature to bash anyone and I take full responsibility as an adult that I need to get better. Does anyone have any advice for me going forward? I really want to do this job and open to do whatever it takes. Thank you all in advance...

This is not the end of the road for you my friend!!! Never forget that and don’t let being let go stop you. I quit TMC over my trainer and backing. I did far worse than you!

You have such an postive attitude about it. Just take this time to rest and go to swift and try again.

When I found my now company U.S Xpress I was more motivated than ever to get backing down. And I did. I argued with my second trainer I needed to practice alone by myself and while he didn’t like it. He allowed me to do my thing until I more understood the concepts.

Now I have been with U.S Xpress for 6 months solo walmart dedicated and I’m in the top 10% of drivers making as of now $1400-1700 a week gross. Has changed my life. Get back out there!

I am in CDL classes , now. I have been contacted by Stevens for a Pre Hire. Thoughts? I have been building houses for 30 years. Changing careers, wanting to make sure I am going to the best place possible, to start my new career. I know I need atleast a year experience.

Hey man went through classes just like you and was deciding on a company. If you want to check out the open road there is plenty of options for you that’re better than Stevens transport.

Personally I would look for a home daily position doing Walmart dedicated or target dedicated in your area with a company. You’ll be home daily and off 1.5 two days a week. And likely make $1200-1500 a week depending on your work ethic. This is the route I took.

Hey any pointers how to stay healthy out ther?? They got me goin over the road 35 days out 5 days off I dropped 22 lbs already so I was good an healthy for my dot test I would like to retain my health out there so hit me up with any ideas how thanks again JAMMER

That’s a long time to be out, damn.

I will start my very first load by myself on Tuesday or Wednesday, I am still having a little trouble with backing. While in training, my mentor always took over or they wanted me to hurry up and park because other truck was behind us. I thought we were suppose to take our time no matter what. So what should I do?

Just take it nice and slow. And G.O.A.L