Short Term CDL Work?
Topic 33085 | Page 1
It'll take at least 2 weeks to get through a CDL hiring process. Take these 2 weeks to make sure all of your affairs are in order so you have no distractions. Congratulations on getting your CDL and good luck.
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.
There are temporary jobs in trucking just like there are in the non-trucking world. For a temporary driving job you go to a temporary agency that specializes in driving jobs:
TransForce (not affiliated with Dylan Mulvaney)
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.
I can understand the excitement and need to make money. There shouldn't be a gap between school and Top Gun. But I wouldn't recommend going out on your own anywhere without training anyway. Also, Knight would not appreciate it and it's a potential liability on many levels.
If you came into on boarding with an existing CDL from a school, talk to your recruiter, DQP coordinator and or TM. See if they have local trainers they can put you with while you're waiting or if it's possible to attend Top Gun at a different location. If you came from Squire school, you should be able to get a Top Gun class sooner.
Usually if there is a delay, it's after Top Gun while you're waiting for your trainer. I had a couple week lag and am glad I waited for the trainer I got. My TM specifically chose him, it was worth the wait.
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.
HOS:
Hours Of Service
HOS refers to the logbook hours of service regulations.
I agree with the others. As a truck driver you’ve got to start thinking more in terms of risk vs reward:
“Is the reward worth the risk to pass this vehicle right now?”
“Is the reward worth the risk to skimp on my pretrip?”
“Is the reward worth the risk to find temporary work for a week or two before I’ve had any actual on the job training?”
If I’m understanding your situation correctly you just got your cdl but haven’t gone through any additional training yet right? If that’s the case, even if you get onboarded with a company for temporary work quickly enough to do a week or more of work, the reward is maybe several hundred bucks or so vs the risk of making a serious mistake (due to lack of training) that will follow you for at least a couple years when you currently have no experience. That is absolutely NOT worth the risk. You’re potentially risking thousands of dollars vs just waiting a mere two weeks and getting great training. It’s a no brainer.
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.
Sorry scorchednuts, I’m not picking on you I promise. I realized my comment would probably be more helpful if I provided the reason it’s risky to use your cdl this soon (if you could even find what you’re looking for).
In short, while I applaud you for obtaining your cdl and I will always congratulate and give props for that milestone (because it is a big accomplishment!), unfortunately that’s pretty much all it is—just the first hurdle. Until you go through additional training a new cdl holder typically will have little to no knowledge of how to actually do the job. How to do the job will also depend what exactly the job is as there are lots of different types of trucking jobs. You most likely know almost nothing about navigation, trip planning, how to drop/hook trailers (sometimes this is taught in cdl school but not always), how to use elogs , sliding tandems , loading/unloading procedures, etc. Even the things you may know you will have little to no real life practice with and no proficiency at this point.
The point is, having a cdl just means you possess sufficient knowledge and skill to meet the government’s minimum qualifications to drive a truck. You still have no training on how to do the actual job so it would be very risky to try to go out and do the job with no training for a week or two even if you could find a place to allow you to do that. You’d also be terribly inefficient and probably wouldn’t even make much.
Again sorry scorchednuts (love the username 🤣) not picking on you. Your question is one I could see lots of new cdl holders sharing and just wanted to be thorough and informative with my response
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.
Elog:
Electronic Onboard Recorder
Electronic Logbook
A device which records the amount of time a vehicle has been driven. If the vehicle is not being driven, the operator will manually input whether or not he/she is on duty or not.
Elogs:
Electronic Onboard Recorder
Electronic Logbook
A device which records the amount of time a vehicle has been driven. If the vehicle is not being driven, the operator will manually input whether or not he/she is on duty or not.
Tandems:
Tandem Axles
A set of axles spaced close together, legally defined as more than 40 and less than 96 inches apart by the USDOT. Drivers tend to refer to the tandem axles on their trailer as just "tandems". You might hear a driver say, "I'm 400 pounds overweight on my tandems", referring to his trailer tandems, not his tractor tandems. Tractor tandems are generally just referred to as "drives" which is short for "drive axles".
Tandem:
Tandem Axles
A set of axles spaced close together, legally defined as more than 40 and less than 96 inches apart by the USDOT. Drivers tend to refer to the tandem axles on their trailer as just "tandems". You might hear a driver say, "I'm 400 pounds overweight on my tandems", referring to his trailer tandems, not his tractor tandems. Tractor tandems are generally just referred to as "drives" which is short for "drive axles".
Thanks for the guidance everyone. Turns out it's moot anyway. They called me this morning and told me I'm set up for Top Gun on Monday, and then lined up with a trainer for the following Monday. I'm just gonna sit back and relax the rest of this week.
I really appreciate the advice. This is a great community that I hope to be part of for years to come.
OWI:
Operating While Intoxicated
Thanks for the guidance everyone. Turns out it's moot anyway. They called me this morning and told me I'm set up for Top Gun on Monday, and then lined up with a trainer for the following Monday. I'm just gonna sit back and relax the rest of this week.
I really appreciate the advice. This is a great community that I hope to be part of for years to come.
Well that’s good news. I was going to say that it would be better to do any non-driving temporary work rather than a driving job. Congratulations on your CDL , good luck with Knight and you have a really great screen name.
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.
OWI:
Operating While Intoxicated
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Hi folks.
I just finished all the onboarding and DQP (driver qual process) with Knight. They just told me it might be 2 weeks before I can get a spot in their top gun program and then be paired with a trainer.
I can't really afford to sit around on my butt for 2 weeks. I'm sure I could find some short-term labor or something, but why not put this shiny new CDL to work if possible?
Has anyone ever done temp driving work? Got any tips or leads in or around the Salt Lake City area?
CDL:
Commercial Driver's License (CDL)
A CDL is required to drive any of the following vehicles: