Does Local Experience Count?
Topic 32545 | Page 1
After only six months, that would be most likely your best course.
Buy your own truck and lease on a carrier...why?
No, I believe you miss read that, I was saying after my 6 months I was going to leave the food delivery business for flatbed and be there for a year or two before getting my own truck
Why? have you ran a business of your own before? The climate for owner/lease op's is in the crapper. After all expenses, and the associated headaches that come with it too. You can actually make MORE as a company driver, without all the added BS, and stress. Many here HAVE, owned and, ran their own businesses and advocate the same, go company driver.
But hey all ya can do is give it a try owning your truck, win or lose, you can say you gave it a shot (in the foot) hahaha joke
DAC:
Drive-A-Check Report
A truck drivers DAC report will contain detailed information about their job history of the last 10 years as a CDL driver (as required by the DOT).
It may also contain your criminal history, drug test results, DOT infractions and accident history. The program is strictly voluntary from a company standpoint, but most of the medium-to-large carriers will participate.
Most trucking companies use DAC reports as part of their hiring and background check process. It is extremely important that drivers verify that the information contained in it is correct, and have it fixed if it's not.
Hey everyone, So my initial goal when entering the trucking industry was to get with a good flatbed company, gain a year or two of experience and then buy me a truck to lease on to a company however, since graduating CDL school I have only done food delivery, which is not bad the pay is great but there really isn’t any upside in it. So I’ve been looking at Flatbed companies to go to after my 6 months mark (January 2023) but they all require 6 months to a year OTR experience which I don’t have. Do I need to switch to a company that offers regional flatbed jobs to gain the needed experience?
Has the food delivery, you've done, been driving a combination truck or straight truck?
I'd suggest you get on with an OTR company, even if they require you to go through their training program, get your experience and then see where you are.
Don't worry about getting your own truck until you've done the OTR and gained some experience.
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.
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.
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.
I can only answer for Prime. Even if you do regional , you would still need to drive 6 states to be considered "having experience". Anything less and they put you through training.
A friend of mine had 12 years in NYC, NJ, CT, MA and he had to do half the training miles of a newbie.
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.
I have driven a 28’ft, 36’ft,48,ft and 53ft trailer doing food delivery. I don’t plan on just jumping into my own truck my plan is to go with a company for a while and then into a lease purchase more so to “learn” how to run a trucking company and to get an idea of what to expect and less about the money. The reason being is it will allow me the flexibility that I need and if I fail I would only have myself to blame instead of me complaining about working for a company and being under paid. My father in law and a friend of mine are both Owner Operators and they love it. Problems and stress comes with everything in life, I can’t let the potential “stress” stop me from achieving a goal of mine, if it don’t work the I can always work for a company
Owner Operator:
An owner-operator is a driver who either owns or leases the truck they are driving. A self-employed driver.
It varies from company to company. It also depends on how badly an individual company needs drivers, whether or not any given company is willing to make an exception on the experience aspect of hiring requirements. The best way to find out is to start putting out applications and ask that very question. There will be four possible results with each application:
1) Your experience is sufficient and move forward with processing your application.
2) Your experience is not sufficient, but the company is willing to bend on experience requirement.
3) Your experience is not sufficient, but the company is willing to put you through a short training period.
4) Your experience is not sufficient, and the company will not further consider you for hire until you have the required experience.
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Hey everyone, So my initial goal when entering the trucking industry was to get with a good flatbed company, gain a year or two of experience and then buy me a truck to lease on to a company however, since graduating CDL school I have only done food delivery, which is not bad the pay is great but there really isn’t any upside in it. So I’ve been looking at Flatbed companies to go to after my 6 months mark (January 2023) but they all require 6 months to a year OTR experience which I don’t have. Do I need to switch to a company that offers regional flatbed jobs to gain the needed experience?
CDL:
Commercial Driver's License (CDL)
A CDL is required to drive any of the following vehicles:
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.
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.