Profile For Davy A.

Ah yeah. CDL holders can't have any THC in their systems at all, whatsoever. Its a federal issue. Irrelevant of what state says about it medically or not.

Your feelings on it, your medical input on it are totally irrelevant. The FMCSA, the governing body for rules and policies, is very clear on drug policy. If you have an issue with it, take it up with them.

On a personal bias level, we have enough drivers that are idiots without drugs, the last thing I want is a stoned idiot operating a CMV.

Obviously, your parents owning a trucking company didn't impact you or you would have already had a license.

I am a chronic overthinker as well. Its difficult for us to focus on the immediate priorities. Most of us coming into the industry end up focusing and obsessing over items and concepts that we shouldn't be.

Look at it this way, you've never been a driver a before, never went to cdl school nor went through company training before. Logically, you don't know what to prioritize. You make think that you do, but you don't.

Most people fail at this because they are over confident. We've seen it time and again here. Its also a microcosm of trucking as a whole. If you have a strong foundation and solid fundamentals, you'll perform well, if you take things for granted or overlook the simplest of things, they can quickly lead to catastrophic system failure and end your career before it even starts. The failure rate in this industry is astonishingly high.

Again, the companies you looked at will serve you well. Now you can refocus on more pressing matters. Such as learning what day to day life will be in school and training, how to prepare for it, learning what problems and solutions others have had. Learning pre trip, HOS, securement fundamentals, etc.

If you're not concentrating on first things first, you are indeed placing the cart before the horse.

I gave up bikes too, with age comes the cage. I did endures, poker runs, the went back to street bikes and road racing for many years, now cars again.

I'd highly recommend obsessing over which company has training practices and schooling that will fit you best and help you develop into a professional driver instead of how much money.

The fact of the matter is that you're going to make about the same money at any of the companies you get into. The reason for this is that your performance dictates your pay. Right now you have neither the skills nor experience to even have performance. Your first year, should you make it through schooling and training, is not something to "suck it up", rather it's where you get the chance to learn while getting paid.

Its far more important to concentrate on getting through the companies hiring process, then schooling, then training and then finally a year solo without hitting anything, without failing loads and building great relationships with your DM. Let alone learning how to balance out your home life with life on the road.

FWIW, a good friend of mine from this forum and I work in completely different sectors of trucking yet our yearly income is within a couple grand of each other. The why, is that we have solid fundamentals and a good foundation as drivers. There is no magic bullet, no magic companies that pay grossly above other ones.

I'd encourage you to devour the CDL diaries section and search for the companies you're looking at on here, stop putting the cart before the horse and concentrate on getting your med card, permit, cdl, schooling and training solid.

None. I prefer to idle all break. I usually don't shut the truck off until home time or services. I find the idling truck to be therapeutic for sleep, and its the way it always was. I have a strong aversion towards pacification of liberal narratives.

It also helps that I work for a company that fuel consumption isn't a metric of performance. No carrot chase here. Although at my previous job, we had idle restrictions and fuel bonuses, I still managed to idle on the time and get the fuel bonus.

If I was to have my own truck, id probably still just idle it. I really haven't seen a significant enough difference in fuel cost to warrant not doing it. Also, I've been in 3 kenworths, all with the Cummins and have had no issues from idling, though I do run it on the high idle.

I have extensive experience surviving off a generator though, and it costs about the same in fuel as idling the truck.

Virtually all of the carriers that train will pay about the same during school/training.

Its important to note the difference. School is where you get your CDL, usually at their facility, classroom, on the pad and some driving. Training is real life on the job training, where you are actually doing real loads with a trainer in their truck. Sometimes the two phases are concurrent, some not.

Most carriers seem to land in the 400 to 500 per week if at all while in school, although if they are paying, they may not cover lodging, or food, etc. Meaning you won't make squat while in school. (Why should you, you're not an asset yet, just a cost).

During training it varies by carriers, but it seems to be around 600 to 900 per week.

Knight hires you before you start school, so its more secure job placement. When I was there, it was 480 per week in school for 3 weeks, 850 a week in training. The training was only 2 weeks long, plus a week of top gun. No contract, but if you stay a year, your school cost is paid off.

Its totally unrealistic to expect to come into this industry thinking that you'll make money right off the bat. Like any other trade, you get your schooling done then training and then your first year is basically being an apprentice.

It will take you a year to consistently perform efficiently and produce. You can make great money but you need to learn the fundamentals and be committed to your career.

Most people have been fed a narrative that this industry somehow magically makes you wealthy and a truck driver after 3 weeks. Its simply not the case. Run hard and smart and you can make a decent living though.

There is no easier softer way than to do what we all did, find a way to survive school, training and then your first year.

You really need to assess your wants and needs. At the time I was doing dedicated, my overriding goal was to make as much money in the type of freight I was hauling while keeping certain aspects of my truck like I want, so it didn't fit to my needs. Same went for local. At that company, I maxed my earnings potential in that position.

Your overriding goal make be to make money but balanced out with more home time or a more regular schedule. If that's the case, even though the money isn't as much, it could be a better fit. But I hazard a guess that money is still the bigger priority.

I took a long time in changing jobs and did so primarily because the company and position fit my needs and wants more. Keep in mind though, that those are dynamic and may change over time.

We do have a section called CDL diaries BTW. I wrote a very detailed account from school through my 30k miles.

Truckerpath, I note down ones I see in my garmin otr, experience from back when I was in training, my old trainer knew lots of hole in the wall places, I picked his brain.

A lot of it is choosing roads. Most US highways have a lot more old truck stops and places to park like stockyards, empty lots, restaurants etc. So I travel those more frequently. I prefer backroads. They're more challenging, better scenery and more places to enjoy.

Just going to throw this out there. There are many other truck stop brands beside pilot.

I refuse to pay for parking for philosophical reasons. I find it morally reprehensible and will not support it. Drop lots are different as is long term storage.

I run all different hours of the day, sometimes days, sometimes nights, and everything in between. While true, as I night owl, I prefer nights and have a general disdain for solar powered drivers, I understand a lot of drivers, if not most, choose that. But it would greatly alleviate parking issues if everyone quit trying to park in the same 3 or 4 hours of the day.

My solution to this would be to run nights and or start exploring the vast network of old independent truck stops.