Former Cop Looking Forward To A New Career.

Topic 18952 | Page 1

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Gibby 's Comment
member avatar

As I mentioned, I am a retired law enforcement officer and thus I'm use to driving and working 12 hour shifts. Over the years, I've missed out on many family events and thus home time is of essence. I'm about to attend Roadmasters in Tampa on my own dime and have been cleared to work for Cypress Truck Lines out of Jacksonville. It's flatbed, pays more (but I draw a pension so not my priority) and mostly drop and hook as they predominantly haul pre-tarped sheet rock I narrowed my search to them as they have everyone home every weekend after training (confirmed by a friend who previously worked there). Now my goal is to get a year in and then attempt to get a local job, allowing me to be home daily. Is this a correct/reasonable path? I'm seeing companies which hire rookies without a CDL or even recent CDL holders are slim down here and allowing decent home time. I assume I'll somewhat be in a decent situation as I won't be tied down to a contract, however my buddy liked working for Cypress. Any advice or insight will be greatly appreciated.

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.

Dm:

Dispatcher, Fleet Manager, Driver Manager

The primary person a driver communicates with at his/her company. A dispatcher can play many roles, depending on the company's structure. Dispatchers may assign freight, file requests for home time, relay messages between the driver and management, inform customer service of any delays, change appointment times, and report information to the load planners.

Drop And Hook:

Drop and hook means the driver will drop one trailer and hook to another one.

In order to speed up the pickup and delivery process a driver may be instructed to drop their empty trailer and hook to one that is already loaded, or drop their loaded trailer and hook to one that is already empty. That way the driver will not have to wait for a trailer to be loaded or unloaded.

OWI:

Operating While Intoxicated

Parrothead66's Comment
member avatar

Welcome aboard. A would say that sounds like a reasonable path. Don't know 1st hand about Cypress but a lot of regional flatbed will be home weekends as a lot of your receivers don't take or aren't open on weekends. Stick with them a year and you should have plenty of opportunities available then. And thank you for your service.

Regional:

Regional Route

Usually refers to a driver hauling freight within one particular region of the country. You might be in the "Southeast Regional Division" or "Midwest Regional". Regional route drivers often get home on the weekends which is one of the main appeals for this type of route.

Old School's Comment
member avatar

Welcome Gibby!

We've actually had quite a few retired LEO's come through here.

You'll do yourself a big favor by getting started on our High Road Training Program. That worthy effort alone will put you at the head of the class at Roadmaster.

Cypress is a fine flat-bed company, and you are correct that you'll be hauling a lot of pre-loaded, pre-tarped sheet rock loads.

There are a lot of helpful drivers in this forum, so feel free to join in our conversations, or ask as many questions as rise up in your thoughts. We will help you if we can.

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.

Dm:

Dispatcher, Fleet Manager, Driver Manager

The primary person a driver communicates with at his/her company. A dispatcher can play many roles, depending on the company's structure. Dispatchers may assign freight, file requests for home time, relay messages between the driver and management, inform customer service of any delays, change appointment times, and report information to the load planners.
G-Town's Comment
member avatar

Welcome Gibby.

Take a look at this thread: Hauling Drywall

Might offer a glimpse into your future.

Reading Brett's book, Becoming A Truck Driver: The Raw Truth About Truck Driving will also help you build a good base of knowledge and reasonable expectations.

Good luck!

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