Joe's New Journey....

Hello all, my name is Joe and I'm 52 years young. Over the years I have worn many hats including construction worker, foreman, estimator, and project manager. I also spent time in the restaurant industry and worked my way up from line cook all the way to executive chef and later went into management. With all this experience you would think finding a job would be easy, well, not so much. I found myself outside the working force last July for reasons not within my control. Since then I have applied for hundreds if not thousands of positions. I even started working from home as a customer service rep and selling life insurance. (still licensed in both health and life insurance) I learned that the insurance business is a whole lot of dialing, and frankly sucks. To shorten an already long story I found myself living with my sister until she grew tired of supporting me and kicked me out for not paying rent for 7 months. Right now I am sitting in a mission aka homeless shelter and surviving on a crew position at Sonic drive in junst in order to be allowed to stay at the mission for now. This is not a sustainable option as the chances of making enough money to even rent a room are very slim with the available hours. To top all of this off my knees are shot as in very close to no cartilage left and standing for hours at a time is no longer an option.

I decided that a driving job may be my best solution to get myself back up and on my own two feet before I end up living under a tree. In two days I am taking the CDL permit test here in Florida. I feel ready, yet still doing reviews. Due to financial issues an out of pocket school is not a viable option. Already a student loan being paid off for one career.

So here are my thoughts about the future; The local bus company is hiring drivers and pays reasonably well with government benefits. This would get me into a B license and a little experience allowing me to save money to get the A a little down the road Problem is my job experience already shows way too much hopping around. Considering I am basically homeless right now I can relocate to wherever the school is.

School options include Roadmaster which is not far from where I am now. They do have some programs where Werner will cover the costs of the school but in my understanding it is a reimbursement if hired and not a paid training for the first 4 to 5 weeks. Knight in Phoenix is another option and it may be a situation where all I have to come up with is money to cover some type of housing to get through the school with, once again, a promise that there might be a job at the end of the course. I know that Swift and Knight are the same company and that kind of bothers me because of the well known reputation of the quality of driver Swift has been known to produce.

Sorry for the wall of text. I guess I made this post here seeking advice and/or opinions on what might be other options, better ideas

Welcome Joe.

Swift…? gonna disagree on that.

I was schooled by Swift, mentored (road training) with Swift and drove for Swift on a NE Dedicated Walmart account for 8+ years.

No regrets…if I had it to do over, I’d take the exact same path. I was about your age when I started with them.

My suggestion? Be careful where you are getting your information and consider the source.

Swift, Knight both excellent choices for you.

Another suggestion…

Please invest some time reading and studying these links. It will help you to set realistic expectations and build a solid base of knowledge.

• Truck Driver's Career Guide
• Brett's Book: The Raw Truth About Trucking (free online version)
• High Road CDL Training Program
• CDL Practice Tests

Paid CDL Training Programs

Apply For Paid CDL Training

Best of luck!

Trucking has helped many people out poverty and potential homelessness. One member in particular is a guy that goes by Million Miler on here who got started with CRST.

Believe it or not Swift is an excellent place to get started and even retire from. They didn't get so big by being terrible. It's a numbers game. They have something like 15,000 drivers, of course you'll see them doing something stupid more frequently than a carrier with only 10 trucks. Swift is actually better than the national average for issues with inspections as well

1012 dot reportables in the past 24 months seems like a lot but if you have 15,000 trucks on the road those 1012 only amount to roughly 1 and a half reportables per day. That also includes accidents that they're not at fault, just that they were involved in an accident requiring a tow, ambulance, or fatality. That's pretty decent for a company of that size. Training in general in this industry is lacking regardless of where you receive it.

Living in Florida is going to severely limit your options of getting hired. The economy causing companies to slow hiring isn't making it any easier. Swift would be an excellent option if you're accepted. They run dedicated freight to Walmart stores out of Ocala (Gtown plz correct me if I'm incorrect), unless that's changed with WM switching exclusively to their Private Fleet at some locations.

Best bet would be Apply For Paid CDL Training and see what options you have.

Than you very much for the replies.

As for the Florida home base it's really not an issue as I am more than willing to relocate as long as there is no snow.

Today I completed the permit tests for GK, AB, P, Comb so that part is out of the way.

I did apply to the banner for paid CDL training and according to pulse Roehl and Wilson are looking at my application.

As far as Swift goes, maybe I was a little hard of them but 8/10 youtube videos of bonehead truckers are flying the colors and I cant really be picky in my current situation. I have about 45 days to land a gig before I'm out sleeping under the stars. Being a crew member at sonic will not bring in enough money to support an apartment, car, and insurance even with SNAP. If that happens I'll probably end up renting a room somewhere which is still a budget stretch if I'm stuck at this fast food job.

My license and criminal records are squeaky clean. Never been arrested in my life and not even pulled over since 2003 for speeding in Colorado. Credit is not so hot so hopefully that wont be a seriously damning factor.

On the way home from the DMV I applied to Lynx to drive busses at least until I can get into a Class A school. Hopefully something pans out.

If you decide to stay in Florida another option may be Windy Hill Foliage. I happened to see one of their trucks today that stated they have a terminal in Eustis FL AND they offer CDL training according to their website. I've never worked for them and haven't heard really anything about them so I have no clue about any of the details.

Conversation started with Knight out of Phoenix. Background check underway.

Let me thank the admins for this site, game changer. I have lurked and read here so much over the past month it's crazy.

As far as the trucking journey for Joe goes. update; I now have my medical card, although its only valid for 90 days. Doctor wants a sleep apnea test and to put me on blood pressure meds. Once the BP is under control doc will give me longer.

As for training I'm now leaning towards PAM at the Lakeland location and will most likely start in a couple weeks. I need to get a certified copy of my birth certificate and then save just a little more money first.

Ok. The 90 day med card was a no go. Insurance companies apparently won't touch a driver with less than a 1 year. That's ok once I've jumped through a couple more hoops I should be alright. Doctor can sign off on a 1 year as soon as I've been in treatment for a week assuming I need sleep apnea treatment. Probably do honestly.

If you need a CPAP you'll be required to provide them with your sleep report with every DOT physical and be limited to a 1 year card at most. You must use it a minimum of 4 hours 21 of every 30 days to stay compliant. I use a ResMed machine that has an app. When I go for my physical I pull it up on my phone to show the doctor, and can email it if he wants but usually he just looks at the apnea events per hour and my usage to be sure I'm compliant.

I went to the doctor on my own for sleep apnea before I started a new driving job. I'd only been on the CPAP for a week so they completed the physical but rather than only giving me a 90 day card they put it on hold until I could supply the 30 day report as required. I don't know the current situation, but it was pretty difficult last year getting a new cpap due to supply issues with Covid and a ton of units being recalled.