Comments By Canaan

Canaan ~ Have YOU made any decisions, yet? Tom's company is ALWAYS hiring in Ohio, if you don't want to go OTR, just have to get your CDL on your own. DML really IS a great Ohio company tho, too ~ I'll vouch for that!

Be safe, y'all!

~ Anne ~

Anne, I have a handful of companies that I would liked to get in with. Number 1 being maverick, followed by prime for their flatbed. The reason why I have yet to do so is due to health.

I'm stuck making trips to specialists at cleveland clinic trying to figure out what the hell is wrong with me. My Dr's and specialists on my side of Ohio have been 0 help and I have done nothing but gotten worse over this years time frame so far.

I pray I am able to get answers and heal up so i can get my butt in a drivers seat. And that whatever is wrong CAN be healed and cured/fixed and doesn't make me have to miss out on trucking.

Thanks for asking. Hope all is well in your side of the state! -Canaan

No confusion here, but thanks for the clarity, my initial comment was only to open the possibility of a "different" training style or learning opportunity. I see that you have also realized this. Look forward to reading the rest of your journey! Although It'll most likely be silently followed along -Canaan

I'm by no means a driver, yet.. (one day) but I personally think that your trainer may actually be doing a good job, it seems to me like it's kind of like a reverse training. He may want to see what you know and understand, and if you can utilize said understanding and knowledge in real world situations, and is effectively playing dumb so you "teach" him. At least that's my understanding from what you have posted so far.

Safe travels! -Canaan

I have thought about this and it definitely seems like this is what he is doing at times. His lack of understanding HOS is what has me believing that he just doesn't know what he is doing SOMETIMES. While I was driving, we were discussing the 34-hour reset provision. I made a comment about some drivers who stay for months at a time not doing a reset and running off recaps. He said that at the end of 70 hours you have to do a reset. I explained how a person can run 8 to 9 hours every single day and never have to do a 34-hour reset. He said that eventually recaps will run out. I tried explaining that at midnight every day you get hours back from the time logged 9 days before the day just completed. My trainer told me that he has never gotten any more hours back other that what he had left the previous day. Basically, he thinks that a driver has a bank of 70 on-duty hours and once that is used up, a reset is mandatory. While that is technically true, he is not grasping that the 8 days are rolling. He said that he understands this, but his commentary says that he doesn't get it. Every 8 days, if not sooner, he does a reset.

I definitely agree that my trainer is training me well. I am not so sure if I didn't understand HOS or how to trip plan that he would be training me well. But, my driving has gotten pretty good, as evidenced by some of the areas that I have had to drive without an accident/incident. My backing is steadily improving. I have only my trainer to thank for that because he is the one correcting me and giving me pointers.

I think i miscalculated in my statement here. I was wrong. It is 7 days before the day just completed. Monday to Monday is an 8-day block. 24:00 rolls around to become Tuesday and 7 days before Monday is Monday. So, on Tuesday, the prior Monday's On-Duty hours become available on 70-hour total. Sorry about the confusion I may have caused.

I'm by no means a driver, yet.. (one day) but I personally think that your trainer may actually be doing a good job, it seems to me like it's kind of like a reverse training. He may want to see what you know and understand, and if you can utilize said understanding and knowledge in real world situations, and is effectively playing dumb so you "teach" him. At least that's my understanding from what you have posted so far.

Safe travels! -Canaan

Okie doke. Short and sweet. A large carrier is not only going to teach you how to pass the CDL exam, they’re going to follow up with real world OJT, touching on the multitude of subjects you’ll deal with everyday and pay you for doing it. Their expectations in return will be to perform the job, do it safely and fulfill a small time commitment. If you can do that, the education and training are free.

A private school is only going to teach you enough to pass the CDL exam. They make no guarantee that you’ll find employment afterwards although many do work work large trucking companies.

Many smaller companies don’t like to hire brand new students whether it’s lack of experience or insurance reasons, they all vary and there’s a lot of small companies that you probably don’t want to work for.

As far as going owner op right out of the gate, I’ll give a simple example. I’m fascinated with rockets and space travel but I know nothing of the science involved to be successful. There’s no way I’m gonna make a huge investment to start my own rocket company, only to watch it fail. Trucking is an absolutely ruthless and cut throat industry with a horrid profit margin. The last figures I saw through OOIDA was 9% on the high end for profit (my body shop of 20 years turned a 35-40% profit margin in comparison)

Thank you for the answer, I got confused about some of the things you mentioned, a few of the places I was reading and doing research at, were saying more OJT from private schooling vs at company paid training, and other conflicting statements. It didn't make sense to me and I got myself all confused and stuff trying to make sense of it. I appreciate the clarification

-Canaan

Company paid training provides way more information than school. They teach you how to be a truck driver instead of just teaching you basics to pass a test. Sure, there's a contract involved, but it benefits you as much as it does the company. It also guarantees you a job upon completion. CDL school does not.

I'm not a fan of small companies. At a small company, the insurance company decides if you can work there or not. You also don't want the guy with everything invested in this business sitting an office watching your every move. It sucks. I couldn't care less about an owner knowing my name. I only care about the compensation package and the equipment. Large corporations out do small companies in both categories.

A small company will have a hard time keeping you on board in the event of an accident. I believe it was Moe that went to work for a small company. He forget to set the parking brake and the tractor rolled forward doing some damage to the tractor. The owner was livid and demanded he pay for the damage. Who wants to deal with that? And the guys at the inspection stations love pulling in those trucks with company names they never heard of. I get waved forward every time. They know FedEx maintains its equipment and they're not sending me out illegal.

There was one time I needed to have a tire changed on the side of the road. The guy fixing it didn't have the tire so he had to wait for it. Dispatch told me to leave it on the side of the highway and take the lead to it's destination. The guy changing the tire said "I'll wait here with it for the tire and a tow truck because of the name on the trailer. Otherwise, I'd say tough and leave".

Being an owner operator isn't all it's cracked up to be. You have massive bills to keep your business running. It makes it next to impossible to take time off because the bills don't stop. How much do you think FedEx paid that guy to sit with their trailer and the tow truck to pull it? I have no idea and I don't care, but I bet it was in the thousands. You'll make the make the same amount as an owner operator as you would as a successful company driver.

Actually, you'll probably make less when you consider everything you're giving up. Health insurance, workman's comp insurance, 401k etc.. Did you happen to read up on old schools eye issue? I wonder how much that would've cost him without his medical insurance from Knight.

And the elephant in the room, what happens if your insurance company drops you? You get a ticket for doing 70 in a 60 in your car. Your insurance company is going to want way more money. What happens if you can't drive because of an unforeseen medical condition? Now you're stuck with a depreciating asset you still have to pay for and you didn't really make that much with it. If I can't drive tomorrow, it would suck but it wouldn't be the end of the world.

Thank you for the answer, I appreciate the detail. And yes I have read about old schools eye troubles, (I actually made my account here roughly around the time his eye problem started, so it was really uplifting to see he recovered and is working again!)

I’m guessing that you haven’t really done much research on here because there are literally hundreds of threads dedicated to exactly the questions you’re asking

Yes, I wrote that I have read through the stuff, I was asking for explanation here though. I feel as though I am confusing myself with all the stuff, so I had asked for reinforcement on what's what.

Thanks for the reply! -Canaan

Hey everyone, Canaan here.

I was wondering if anyone could reinforce with me why Trucking Truth says go mega carrier and company paid training, vs private trucking school, or small company/ owner op.

I've been heavily researching and every where else I have seen has said basically the opposite. They all suggest going private school and going small company and even straight out the gate (as soon as you are able to) become an owner op.

I have read through the forums here and got an understanding. But I was wondering if anyone could reinforce it for me. And maybe even give insight on why I am seeing the opposite advice basically every where else I look.

Thanks! -Canaan

That's great news! You can feel the joy coming off the words

That's what I'm told, I only ever used them when I lived in phoenix

I am no pro or anything, but I know that T-Mobile bought out sprint. And supposedly some time in April if I read correctly they will be converting all the sprint data towers to T-Mobile towers, that would can we say double? Their coverage areas?. I currently have T-Mobile, and I can confirm that at least in my area of trumbull County Ohio, service here is pretty wonky for the majority of the time, according to my local tmobile store it's because they have been over loaded with the sprint customers and have been "diligently" trying to update their towers to better hold the load.

So, depending on what happens with the sprint towers in April T-Mobile might be the best choice, at least for coverage area. But don't quote me on it 😅

It will not double the coverage area because of overlap and because Sprint's coverage area is smaller than T-Mobile. What it will do is improve T-Mobile's service in areas where Sprint has been the more reliable carrier. I have heard from people that in the NE, Sprint is the best carrier to have. That's a key part of T-Mobile's acquisition of Sprint: the NE. This is an area that T-Mobile doesn't have near as many customers because the service is not as good. With the acquisition, T-Mobile now has a substantial piece of the NE pie, which is one of the most lucrative in the US.

Thanks for the better info, I was just tossing out what I was told. I do know that once I am ready to get to school and get on the road I'll be making the jump to Verizon myself. Had it in the past. Much more reliable, but also way more money than what we are currently paying

My personal opinion is that Verizon probably has the best coverage nationwide. I have T-Mobile right now and will probably be switching to Verizon once I start OTR with a company. The only thing that would keep me from switching is if I end up hiring on to a company that only runs SE because T-Mobile works just fine in the SE.

I'll tell you what, I'm originally a Pittsburgh guy. I'm not impressed with ohio so far, but I live right near a big truck stop area thing. It's hella fun seeing all the trucks from the different company's and seeing all the different trucks new and old. Brings me alot of joy. And reminds me of riding with my pap when he did trucking. (Pap is the reason I want to get into this industry. He cursed me with the desire to not sit in one place lol)

I am no pro or anything, but I know that T-Mobile bought out sprint. And supposedly some time in April if I read correctly they will be converting all the sprint data towers to T-Mobile towers, that would can we say double? Their coverage areas?. I currently have T-Mobile, and I can confirm that at least in my area of trumbull County Ohio, service here is pretty wonky for the majority of the time, according to my local tmobile store it's because they have been over loaded with the sprint customers and have been "diligently" trying to update their towers to better hold the load.

So, depending on what happens with the sprint towers in April T-Mobile might be the best choice, at least for coverage area. But don't quote me on it 😅

It will not double the coverage area because of overlap and because Sprint's coverage area is smaller than T-Mobile. What it will do is improve T-Mobile's service in areas where Sprint has been the more reliable carrier. I have heard from people that in the NE, Sprint is the best carrier to have. That's a key part of T-Mobile's acquisition of Sprint: the NE. This is an area that T-Mobile doesn't have near as many customers because the service is not as good. With the acquisition, T-Mobile now has a substantial piece of the NE pie, which is one of the most lucrative in the US.

Thanks for the better info, I was just tossing out what I was told. I do know that once I am ready to get to school and get on the road I'll be making the jump to Verizon myself. Had it in the past. Much more reliable, but also way more money than what we are currently paying

Canaan, we are Ohioans (Buckeyes,) also.

T'Mobile has never worked here. Morrow/Richland county. Our nephew bought a prepaid TM last month, and I set it up for him on my WiFi .. but self serving, it was bunk; even up at the local store. Ten years ago, I got a HELLA pkg for the fam, with TM, and we had to drive to the KIDS' SCHOOL for service.. Yeah, just what ya wanna do, on a 'snow day.' Glad we had a house phone too, haha!!

I have Verizon and so does our kiddo. Driver guy has Straight Talk, but it seems to work well for him.

The nephew that got TM, did AT&T this time, and it works okay for him.

Re: Verizon, I've been personally WITH them for so long, my data rolls over. Grandfathered in. Who does that anymore, guys/gals? When I get to driving; pretty sure I'll be good, haha!

Just my (our) 3pence!

~ Anne ~