Praying This Goes Through And Well!

Victor, let me share a piece of experience that echoes Old School's response. I drove OTR for 3 yrs then took my dream job. I work for a Granite company not a trucking company. We have 6 semi's and 2 10 wheel trucks. We are crazy busy. Our customers are cemetaries and funeral homes. I just thought I had been in some really tight spots before.

How much training time do you think I got???? I had never pulled a flatbed before, nor did I ever handle granite. Oh and we have cranes on the trailer to unload with. Small companies just do not have the luxury of putting that much training time into someone.

I had 2 hrs of training on the crane, and sent out with a 44k lb load with 16 stops on paper logs, and no tracker on the truck. Which translates your on your own to find the right places, and get the job done. No qualcomm with customer directions, no nothing. Oh and I had never tried turning a spread axle trailer either. All my experience was with tandem axles.

It sounds like you have minimal experience, not that 3 yrs was a tremendous amount by any means. I struggled, and struggled, and struggled some more. After a year doing this I still struggle at times. The point is you have a lack of experience. You are setting yourself up for a big failure.

I waited 3 years to get this job, 2 to satisfy the insurance req and 1 waiting for a position to open up. Had I done this sooner I would have failed. It's that difficult negoating extremly tight spots.

Old School is spot on with his analysis of your situation.

Best of luck however you choose.

Victor, is it good service delivering to restaurants and such? That's the position I'm in. Performance Foods sent me to a school, paid me a $600 salary while in school, plus about 2k in hotel expense. After that i spent with another driver that's been doing this sort of job for 40 years. I honestly feel that I am LUCKY that I have not had any accidents, or backing incidents. I have had numerous close calls while backing, or even just pulling straight into an alley. The rate of accidents for brand new local drivers is MUCH higher than for new drivers doing OTR due to the nature of the job.

I have been doing local food service since August....been on my own since November and ill be honest I still struggle with some places. Not only do you need to figure out how to get your truck into that tight spot, but you need to hurry with it because you still have a ton of groceries to deliver. I know that you have some experience but you struggled.

I'm in a small market (compared to most big cities) by being in Des Moines. If it indeed is something where you're unloading your own truck is HIGHLY suggest you check out my diary in the training diaries section. I included some pictures of what I deal with on a daily basis to help.

Once my new phone comes I plan on snapping more pics of the places/placement I need the truck in. As I said, I still struggle and feel LUCKY I haven't been involved in anything. Incident rate in local food service is so high that PFG (my employer) made it a requirement....FROM CORPORATE.... That all new drivers they put through school to get CDL have 3 months of training...NO EXCEPTIONS.

I heard from numerous transportation staff of the new drivers hitting cars, backing into buildings, hitting low bridges, etc. With a small company how many incidents will they be able to handle before they have to get rid of you. This job works for me and my family, I'm happy with it.....I just want you to be aware of what it's all about.

If you have any specific questions (if it's what I'm doing) feel free and I'll help you best I can, although I'm still pretty new. The moderators here definitely know what they're talking about.

Victor, I think it wise to read all of the entries in Rob's Food Delivery as a Rookie Diary.

This is likely what your job will entail.

Victor, I just want to say that we're all just wanting to make sure that you're aware of what that kind of job entails. Were not saying you arent capable of it, but with the struggles you had with swift(?) It may be better to hold off on something like that for now. That kind of job will always be there. We just don't want you to have an accident and be let go and all of a sudden absolutely nobody will touch you.

Victor, I'm not sure if your still reading this.....if you want to see some of the places I had to put my truck today I put some pics up in my diary. I'm Not trying to say your not capable of it as I have no idea of your skill set, just want you to go into it knowing what would likely be expected of you.