Starting Soon (been Lurking)

So im more or less just starting things, ive drove for amazon prime for a year, moved to fed-ex ground for another where i ended up being the guy that drove "the monster" aka the largest fed-ex delivery truck for my contractor. all with the plan to eventually get enough driving experience to get a OTR company interested in me... and now im finally sitting here with a date to start my CDL training. im happy to have finally gotten through it all. i know im coming in as a complete green horn, my expectation is i know ABSOLUTLY nothing and as far as anyone else is concerned im a complete idoit, but im still excited as hell.

TBH i did have a standing offer from another company when i finished with amazon but i felt like driving wise i was still to inexperienced to make the commitment. im already used to driving 12+ hours each day.

the only things that legit freak me out about jumping in a semi truck is i know NOTHING about manual unless its a motorcycle, and i know thats nothing compared to a semi.

backing up, and i understand that takes years of practice and everyone has bad days...

and big citys as i know how tight and complicated things can get in the north east aka citys designed before cars.

the company im with allows pet's once i get my own truck so planning on leaving my cat with my buddy tell then if he hopefully accept's her. aside from studying the manual whats some tips and heads up yall can give, i know this is a completly new monster that ive never dealt with before.

Sounds like you have a great attitude that will serve you well. Maybe the handle "DEADMAN" might not be the best. LOL.

I wanted to drive a manual transmission rig, but my company put me in an auto-mated rig and now I wouldn't want to go back. Go for auto if you can. It eliminates a complication and lets you focus on more important things like, please excuse this, like not becoming a dead man. Or hitting things with the truck.

Sounds like you have a great attitude that will serve you well. Maybe the handle "DEADMAN" might not be the best. LOL.

I wanted to drive a manual transmission rig, but my company put me in an auto-mated rig and now I wouldn't want to go back. Go for auto if you can. It eliminates a complication and lets you focus on more important things like, please excuse this, like not becoming a dead man. Or hitting things with the truck.

lol it's a OLD nickname i got from my father due to a knack of surviving sitation's unscaved that as a military vet and police officer of several decades dumbfounded him often. i would use my primary nickname but its... rather unique and right now tell im legit in a truck id rather try and keep off anyone's radar on who exactly i am.

sadly with the company im going with, i dont belive auto is a option, and im weird... even though i may never use em, my goal down the line is to get every endorsement i can.

Hello Deadman! That feels awkward typing that, but whatever!

We're glad you are here. I've got a question about this statement...

with the company im going with, i dont belive auto is a option

That is highly unusual in today's climate. I am assuming you don't have a CDL yet, and are starting your career as an OTR driver. Most companies hiring rookie drivers are using the auto-shift transmissions.

I'm not trying to pry, but would you care to share with us where you are making this start? Practically the only companies that are still hanging on to the manual transmissions seem to be the LTL companies. Those are not really OTR jobs, and it makes me concerned that you are starting at a small company. That is fine if you think you have some connections or something like that, but for the most part we would typically encourage a newbie to avoid starting their trucking career at a small company for a host of reasons.

There's nothing wrong with making sure you don't have that automatic restriction on your license, but it is not that big a deal now days. I was just curious about where you are getting a start that will be using manual transmissions.

Hello Deadman! That feels awkward typing that, but whatever!

We're glad you are here. I've got a question about this statement...

with the company im going with, i dont belive auto is a option

That is highly unusual in today's climate. I am assuming you don't have a CDL yet, and are starting your career as an OTR driver. Most companies hiring rookie drivers are using the auto-shift transmissions.

I'm not trying to pry, but would you care to share with us where you are making this start? Practically the only companies that are still hanging on to the manual transmissions seem to be the LTL companies. Those are not really OTR jobs, and it makes me concerned that you are starting at a small company. That is fine if you think you have some connections or something like that, but for the most part we would typically encourage a newbie to avoid starting their trucking career at a small company for a host of reasons.

There's nothing wrong with making sure you don't have that automatic restriction on your license, but it is not that big a deal now days. I was just curious about where you are getting a start that will be using manual transmissions.

lol dont stress it, once im fully in i 100% plan on changing the name to my normal nick. im starting with prime, went with them knowing they have the extremly long training time. sorry i guese that i would automaticly be placed with a manual was a bad assumption comboed with info from a buddy that is with em.

Thanks Deadman!

I think it will be highly unlikely you would be issued a manual transmission truck at Prime. It is possible that you could be trained in a manual if you end up with a Lease/Operator as your trainer. It's just hard to say. I guess you could request being trained in a manual truck, but that might put an additional wait time on you for a trainer. That may be something you don't want to throw in the mix.

Thanks Deadman!

I think it will be highly unlikely you would be issued a manual transmission truck at Prime. It is possible that you could be trained in a manual if you end up with a Lease/Operator as your trainer. It's just hard to say. I guess you could request being trained in a manual truck, but that might put an additional wait time on you for a trainer. That may be something you don't want to throw in the mix.

honestly as someone just starting, thats somewhat of a relif. down the line, ya i do wanna learn the manual side, but as it was mentioned before, allows me to focus on other things.