Profile For Pacific Pearl

Welcome! As someone who drove over I-80 across Wyoming every week (past Cabbage Hill, too) for years, I can tell you that you have a lot more to fear from other motorists than you do from the weather. Always trip plan, download the apps, keep your ears on and ALWAYS be prepared to make executive decisions.

Trip plan - You know winter conditions make things tricky, so don't plan on covering 650 miles a day if you're going through Wyoming in the winter. Accidents, weather, construction, DOT actions (road closures or restrictions) and other wild cards will all have more of an impact going through snow country than I-10 in the summertime. Plan accordingly.

Download the Apps - Most state DOT departments have their own apps advising you of driving conditions. Road closures, heavy snowfall, high winds, accidents are all important information. Wyoming 511 is the one to have for Wyoming.

Keep your ears on - Everyone thinks a phone app is all you need these days. There is no substitute for having a C.B. radio on to hear about what's up ahead. You can see plenty of videos on Youtube of 100+ vehicle accidents in I-80 where one truck after another slides into a pile because they can't stop in time. This is a two-parter - have your ears on and broadcast any road hazards you come across to other drivers.

Executive decisions - Know when to shut down and know when to change your route. If I'm going westbound on I-80 through Nebraska, I always pull over at the Love's in Sidney to check the road report on Wyoming 511. If I-80 is closed in Cheyenne, what's the point in continuing? When I get to Cheyenne all the parking spaces will be taken, then I'll have to back track several miles just to find a place to park. I can shut down in Sidney and have a shower and coffee waiting for me in the morning. If I-80 has reopened by morning I can proceed, if not, I can look at taking I-70 or I-90 to continue.

I've NEVER had my truck go off the freeway due to snow or ice. I've seen several trucks get in trouble going too fast for conditions and quite a few cars doing 360-degree spins down hills though.

While entertainment is an important consideration while driving, information needs to part of that. One of the things about driving OTR - it's difficult to keep up with what's going on in the world. While you don't need a news feed 24/7 it's important to keep up with current events. All the places your hear about in the news scattered all over the country matter a whole lot more when you're driving all over the country. You don't want to find yourself in a civil unrest situation surrounded by protestors or rioters. You don't want to take an exit and become the next Reginald Denny or Bogdan Vechirko.

I'm also a tech refugee. I was a Business Systems Analyst before entering trucking. I was forced out by H1-B visas, not AI. Your problem is one of supply and demand. Employers are being very picky because they can be. There's more than enough drivers to haul the available freight. A combination of low freight levels - (the US's freight in 2024 was about the same level as it was in 2015, problem is that there are 70,000 more trucks and drivers on the road than there were in 2015. 2025 Freight is on track to be 15% lower than 2024 levels) - plenty of qualified CDL drivers and a flood of non-domiciled CDL drivers have created a bad situation. I know drivers with 10+ years of experience, no tickets, no accidents, no incidents who apply for dozens of CDL jobs on indeed and don't hear back from any employers. That would not have happened 5 years ago.

Rather than lobby every trucking company in the industry to change their policies you might better spend your time finding another path to getting your CDL:

Dock to Driver programs. Most of the LTL companies (ABF, Estes, Old Dominion, R&L, RXO, TForce, etc) offer dock to driver opportunities - you work on their dock loading and unloading trucks and after 30/60/90 days (varies by program) they will train you to become a CDL driver. They're less picky about hiring dock workers than CDL drivers.

Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA): Provides job training (including CDL training) at government expense. Visit your local America's Job Center of California (AJCC) branch for details (https://edd.ca.gov/en/Office_Locator/).

Your local community college. Many community colleges have CDL licensing programs for a fraction of what it would cost you at a private school. Not as good as free, but better than full price.

Welcome, Kenneth.

While every driver training program is a little different, they all have the same goal - getting you trained and in a truck. These schools process hundreds of students every year so they have greased the rails on getting you through. We can be more specific when you narrow down your list.

I'm a Washington driver. I got my CDL in Colorado. My company sent me a list of things to bring, a list of things not to bring and a Greyhound ticket to Keenesburg, CO. The school had two, three-bedroom houses to put us up in. Each bedroom had several bunk beds. We were given $70/wk for groceries and spent each day in a truck or a classroom for 3 weeks. When I got my CDL, I was given a rental car to drive to Oklahoma City, OK for orientation. I was put up in a hotel room with one other driver. We got two free meals every day - the hotel's breakfast and whatever restaurant they ordered lunch from at the terminal. At the end of orientation I was issued a company ID and a fuel card. I spent the next 28 days on my trainer's truck before getting my own truck.

Washington is trickier than most because they will only issue you an initial CDL if you went to a CDL school approved by the WA DOL. When I went to CDL school in Colorado, they had their students sign leases for the three weeks we would be staying at the school. The lease was our proof of residency in Colorado, so we were issued Colorado CDLs. While Washington wouldn't issue me an initial CDL earned in Colorado, they had no problem exchanging my Colorado CDL and $212 for a WA CDL. The gal at the counter asked if I moved to Colorado. I told her I just went to CDL school there. She didn't even ask me for proof of WA residency, just exchanged my CDL.

I was concerned about exchanging my CDL because your initial CDL in Colorado is just a temporary, paper license - they mail you the laminated one later. They would mail it my address at the school, and the school would forward it to my home but I was on my trainer's truck, so we couldn't chase down my license. I called the WA DOL to ask if they would be able to exchange my CO paper, temporary CDL for a WA CDL. They told me, "It depends on which agent you get. Some will, some won't". I got lucky.

You're in the best position to find out what's going on between you and your employer. I can tell you that now is not the time to be looking for a driving job. Imagine jumping ship, being promised the moon and finding out you're only working 4-5 hours a day! I know several drivers that has happened to several times. Now they didn't just jump ship - they didn't want to work part-time and couldn't pay their bills on $600/wk. After that happens a few times, good luck getting anyone to seriously consider hiring you.

Some key data points:

Freight volumes in 2024 are about where they were in 2015. Problem is, there are 70,000 more trucks and CDL drivers on the road since 2015. That's just regular CDL holders. Since 2022, our government has seen fit to relax the requirements to communicate in English and issued another 300,000 non-domiciled CDLs to folks who aren't US citizens. While the current administration is working to reinstate the English requirement, they've only taken 1,500 drivers off the road as of July 31st.

Freight volumes in 2025 are trending at 5.6% lower than they were in 2024. While the industry is in one of the most protracted freight recessions on record the ATA is still claiming that there's a, "driver shortage".

We're just at the beginning of a once in a century change - similar to the invention of the steam engine or electricity. Millions of jobs are going away permanently with existing AI technology. If you go to a Wendy's drive thru you're ordering your meal from a computer 70% of the time. College recruiters report that they're hiring 37% fewer graduates this year because the entry-level jobs they were doing are being replaced by AI. Uber drivers are being replaced by autonomous vehicles. Basic data entry, computer programmers, proofreaders, financial analysts, travel agents, translators, tax preparers, entry-level bookkeepers and accounting jobs - all going away. Some estimates are that as much as 30% of the world's jobs will be eliminated.

Hard to see how that many people losing their jobs will increase freight volumes. On the other hand, they will be looking for new jobs. The ATA will continue claiming that there's a, "driver shortage" - luring vulnerable workers into a saturated market. Right now, they're busy lobbying congress to reduce the age for interstate CDL driving to 18 years old!

Those autonomous trucks we've been hearing so much about? They're coming too. One outfit is running trucks from Laredo to Dallas another Dallas to Houston. Their freight volume is negligible today but as they figure out the details every year will see more freight moved that way. Linehaul, the driving you do, is the most vulnerable to this threat. Autonomous trucks are quicker (no breaks) and cheaper (no driver and less expensive insurance). P&D will probably be the last to go. Trucking isn't going away anytime soon, but I don't see many bright spots between here and there. The model T was invented in 1908. Horse-drawn delivery wagons were a common sight in New York City until the 1960's

Things will have to play out for a while yet, maybe a few months to a year, but if they continue to crack down on non-English speaking CDL holders and immigrants, things will swing back in the favor of drivers again.

It'll be a while. The DOT announced that as of July 31st they had placed 1,500 drivers out of service for not being able to communicate in English. Since 2022, they issued 300,000 non-domiciled CDLs, so that's 1/2 of 1%. Just 298,500 to go!

The two big drivers right now are lower freight levels and too many drivers. In 2024, freight levels were about what they were in 2015. The problem is that there are about 70,000 more CDL drivers and trucks on the road today than there were in 2015. You could park 1,400 trucks on the side of the road in every state and still be able to move the available freight.

The figure in the above paragraph is for regular CDLs. There's something called a non-domiciled CDL not included in that number. What's that? That's a CDL issued to someone who doesn't live in the state where the CDL was issued. As a Washington resident I can't just get a CDL in Oregon or Idaho, they'll send me packing back to Washington BUT if I were in the country and NOT a US citizen they can't send me back to Haiti or Ukraine to get a US CDL. Normally, there aren't too many of these because of the pesky must speak English requirement. The previous administration relaxed that requirement and trained a few of these drivers at government expense. How few? Try 300,000 non-domiciled CDLs issued since 2022. Normally, there would be less than a tenth of that many. The new administration has brought back the English proficiency requirement and allows DOT officers to place drivers out of service if they can't communicate in English. They still have a ways to go. As of July 31st, only 1,500 drivers have been placed out of service for this.

Finding a driving job isn't a problem. Finding a full-time driving job is, at least in the PNW. I've heard several stories from drivers who apply for a full-time job, get hired and run 50-60 hours a week for a month. After the month, their manager will take them aside and tell them some silly story why the run they've been doing without issue for the last month is no longer available, but don't worry - you're a good driver, a safe driver and we like having around because you're easy to get a long with - so we've got another run for you. The problem is the new run is only 20-25 hours a week!

I'm also seeing new things in driver job ads. Things like, "no more than 3 employers in the last 2 years" or, "no job hoppers". More, "on call" driving jobs (even for company drivers). One driver told me he was hired by a temp agency for a small outfit that was going to to ramp up from 6 to 100 trucks a year by year end. Two months later the temp agency let him go because the company wasn't paying them.

Your mileage may vary. The most important job is the one you have. Looking around, things are far from normal and won't be getting back to normal any time soon.

I'm wondering what program is considered the best.?

The one that gets you a CDL. There is no Ivy League of trucking schools or training programs. I would recommend the program I went to, but the courts ruled their driving training practices, "predatory" and, "unlawful" so they no longer train drivers.

Some considerations that you may want to think about :

Where's their closest terminal to your home? Your truck will require maintenance from time to time and your dispatcher will usually route you to the terminal closest to your home. If you live nearby it's almost like free home time. I didn't know about this. I live in Washington. My company's closest terminal was in Riverside, CA. My dispatcher would tell me, "Good news - we're sending you in for a PM so you can have a couple of days off". Drivers in the Los Angeles area would get to go home for those days. I'd get to walk to the 7-11.

How long will it take to complete your obligation? It can take anywhere between 8 months and 2 years. My deal was 10 months. I stayed longer because I liked the job but it was good to know that I was working towards my goal and counting the weeks as they went by.

How many terminals does the company have? That gives you more parking options when you've been driving all day and need to shut down at 1 am. My company had 4 terminals, Schneider has dozens. Terminals have showers, wi-fi, laundry and sometimes restaurants. You don't usually have to struggle to find a parking space at a terminal.

What other opportunities does your company offer? My company also did dedicated runs. My dispatcher handled the Caterpillar account so I could fill in for a dedicated driver for Cat and do the same run over and over for weeks instead of wondering how long I was going to sit idle waiting for my next load. Now, as an experienced driver, they have some dedicated accounts near my house so I'm pre-approved if I want to drive on one of their dedicated accounts.

Most rookies just look at the rate of pay. You have to look at the whole package, not just CPM. What's their breakdown pay? Do they have a guaranteed minimum? I've spent weeks broken down (at $39/day!). I've spent many days looking for an empty trailer to drop at my pickup. One time I drove across FIVE states trying to find an empty trailer (at $0).

If I were starting over today, I'd consider:

Veriha - I like their program because they have the highest average starting salary for first year truckers. On average, first-year drivers at Veriha Trucking earn about $77,000. They also receive a weekly minimum pay starting at $900, along with various bonuses and benefits.

Prime - They take great care of their drivers and their terminals have more amenities than most. Many drivers at TT got their start at Prime. One of the better companies, but also one of the pickiest. Many are called, but few are chosen. Not the end of the world if they won't take you - somebody else will.

Good Luck

I got called into the Ridgefield, WA scalehouse last month. The trooper performing the inspection told me that nationwide, 4% of CMV drivers were using a FAKE CDL.

Under 49 CFR § 391.11(b)(2), all U.S.-based CDL holders must be able to speak and understand English well enough to:

Converse with law enforcement

Understand and respond to traffic signs and signals

Complete required reports and paperwork

The law has been on the books since 1937, but largely ignored the last few years.

In April, President Trump signed an executive order (Effective June 25th, 2025) requiring CDL holders to demonstrate English proficiency. If a driver cannot effectively communicate in English during a roadside inspection, they may be placed out of service immediately. Inspectors will assess English proficiency with a brief conversation and may ask about traffic signs or safety instructions.

The determining factor is how old is the DUI? The longer the better. Five years for most companies, but there are a few with shorter waits:

Trucking Companies That Hire Drivers With DUI