Days Off
Topic 1110 | Page 2
Tim, your plan is a solid one...and if you want to "travel" a little more on your time off, there are little motorhomes you can rent !!! So as long as you have a permanent address, and a cdl in the same state, you are good to go !! And Swift is a fine company.... Now go out there and start your Adventure!!!! and keep us up to date on where you are, and what you are doing...AND be sure and do the High Road Training Program so when you go to school, you will be ahead of all the others..and you won't feel pushed...its a great relief.....
CDL:
Commercial Driver's License (CDL)
A CDL is required to drive any of the following vehicles:
- Any combination of vehicles with a gross combined weight rating (GCWR) of 26,001 or more pounds, providing the gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) of the vehicle being towed is in excess of 10,000 pounds.
- Any single vehicle with a GVWR of 26,001 or more pounds, or any such vehicle towing another not in excess of 10,000 pounds.
- Any vehicle, regardless of size, designed to transport 16 or more persons, including the driver.
- Any vehicle required by federal regulations to be placarded while transporting hazardous materials.
Tim, your plan is a solid one...and if you want to "travel" a little more on your time off, there are little motorhomes you can rent !!! So as long as you have a permanent address, and a cdl in the same state, you are good to go !! And Swift is a fine company.... Now go out there and start your Adventure!!!! and keep us up to date on where you are, and what you are doing...AND be sure and do theHigh Road Training Program so when you go to school, you will be ahead of all the others..and you won't feel pushed...its a great relief.....
My ambition is to drive OTR. I really believe it is a lifestyle I will love. My research along with advice on this website has led me to believe that the company I go with from the list of them that offer low cost training is not that important. Swift is a good fit for me for several reasons. I really am not that crazy about going with a company that only covers certain areas, as I really want to be able to see every state and even Canada. Swift will certainly be good for that.
I finally got halted on the High Road. I took too much time off and forgot some of the material. I am reviewing now and will get going forward again.
CDL:
Commercial Driver's License (CDL)
A CDL is required to drive any of the following vehicles:
- Any combination of vehicles with a gross combined weight rating (GCWR) of 26,001 or more pounds, providing the gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) of the vehicle being towed is in excess of 10,000 pounds.
- Any single vehicle with a GVWR of 26,001 or more pounds, or any such vehicle towing another not in excess of 10,000 pounds.
- Any vehicle, regardless of size, designed to transport 16 or more persons, including the driver.
- Any vehicle required by federal regulations to be placarded while transporting hazardous materials.
OTR:
Over The Road
OTR driving normally means you'll be hauling freight to various customers throughout your company's hauling region. It often entails being gone from home for two to three weeks at a time.
As far as using the truck for your own personal use, I thought I read this somewhere before. It comes from our own High Road CDL Training Program.
Personal Use Of A Commercial Motor Vehicle
It is possible that occasionally you may use a truck for personal reasons and not for commerce. You may be moving your personal belongings to a new house or, as a hobby you may be taking your horses to a horse show. As long as the activity is not in support of a business, you are not operating in commerce. If you are not operating your truck in commerce, you are not subject to the hours of service regulations.
Now, looking at the down side. As guyjax said. I sure wouldn't want to have to fuel that big thing with money out of my pocket.
A video on youtube showed the use of a Qualcomm. I don't know if all companies are set up this way, but the one I watched had a 5th line for log book use. It was where you logged hours and miles for personal use of the truck.
Plus, from what I have talked to different companies, they have their own rules as far as personal use of their trucks.
Keep it safe out there. Joe S
CDL:
Commercial Driver's License (CDL)
A CDL is required to drive any of the following vehicles:
- Any combination of vehicles with a gross combined weight rating (GCWR) of 26,001 or more pounds, providing the gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) of the vehicle being towed is in excess of 10,000 pounds.
- Any single vehicle with a GVWR of 26,001 or more pounds, or any such vehicle towing another not in excess of 10,000 pounds.
- Any vehicle, regardless of size, designed to transport 16 or more persons, including the driver.
- Any vehicle required by federal regulations to be placarded while transporting hazardous materials.
Qualcomm:
Omnitracs (a.k.a. Qualcomm) is a satellite-based messaging system with built-in GPS capabilities built by Qualcomm. It has a small computer screen and keyboard and is tied into the truck’s computer. It allows trucking companies to track where the driver is at, monitor the truck, and send and receive messages with the driver – similar to email.Commercial Motor Vehicle:
A commercial motor vehicle is any vehicle used in commerce to transport passengers or property with either:
- A gross vehicle weight rating of 26,001 pounds or more
- A gross combination weight rating of 26,001 pounds or more which includes a towed unit with a gross vehicle weight rating of more than 10,000 pounds
When and if...and its a huge IF, you use a company truck for anything other than their business, you are required to put a "NOT FOR HIRE" sign on the truck, on both sides. And you still have to run thru the scale house. But companies are really tightening down, since their insurance companies are screaming. The worst accidents are with bob tailing trucks.....
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Swift is recently looking more and more like the company I want to go with, and one of the reasons is they are so large, they have over thirty terminals nationwide. One of the biggest attractions of the trucking lifestyle is to enjoy the travel. Today I spoke with my brother, and he has agreed to let me use his address as my permanent address. I have no wish to see him more than a couple of times per year, so with my time off I intend to get routed to the various terminals if I go with Swift, and rent a car and motel room to see the sites within the general area of each terminal. Swift would definitely be the best choice with this in mind I think. I am even going to sell my car, as I don't feel I will need one for the foreseeable future after going to work as an OTR driver. Even renting a car and staying in a motel at most anywhere I would want to go for three or four days every five or six weeks would be cheaper than renting an apartment and paying for a car with all the related expenses, and a lot more enjoyable.
Terminal:
A facility where trucking companies operate out of, or their "home base" if you will. A lot of major companies have multiple terminals around the country which usually consist of the main office building, a drop lot for trailers, and sometimes a repair shop and wash facilities.
OTR:
Over The Road
OTR driving normally means you'll be hauling freight to various customers throughout your company's hauling region. It often entails being gone from home for two to three weeks at a time.