Profile For Don R.

Https://driving-tests.org/beginner-drivers/eighteen-wheeler-safety-tips/

Wooooooo Congrats KORI!!!!!!!! Wow March 6th is my Birth date! Let Us know how Prime Inc. works out for you please? I am on the fence on who to pick.

Thanks, Don

Good that the "Love You" ! LOL I just got off the phone with a Walk in clinic near me, it will cost me $80.00 to get it done to be safe, like G-Town said if I don't then it could invalidate my CDL License. Have you driven the semi truck in NYC or outskirts? I hear a lot of drivers do not like to go to NYC ? Three weeks out, wow a long trip!

No, I went to a private driving school. Errol may be correct though. Mine is due and safety sent me a message saying that I could come by and pick up a voucher for one of their approved clinics.

As a side note, I finally made it home. Three weeks from PA to CA. LOL!

Oh while I was up in NY the Walmart DC in Johnstown NY I think it was tried to recruit me. "They love me...they really love me..." LOL!

JJ

Haha I will go "crazy" Thank you everyone!

G-Town's advice:

I'd start applying like crazy.

Go crazy here: Apply For Truck Driving Jobs

I had an email from Knight, which I assume was mass email sending to cdl holders? I emailed a recruiter asking questions waiting on a reply. I am thinking about joining Knight or Swift since I know they "merged" I have to do an App with one of them or both ?

Swift didn't actually require me or anybody else in my orientation group to get a second exam when I hired on last June. I thought I remembered reading somewhere that they would accept your current card if it wasn't more than 60 days ago since the examination. It could also depend on the terminal as well as this was in Jurupa Valley.

JJ

Thank you G-Town! Help me understand this, since my current DOT card is probably no good, should I spend my money to get a new one or wait until I apply to a trucking company and they will issue one for me if I passed the company physical?

Don when ever you change driving jobs in the trucking business, your new employer in almost all cases. will require a new medical exam performed by one of their approved doctors. I have yet to hear of or see an exception to this. This is not a Schneider anomaly, but an industry standard.

When I was in CDL school all the teachers & trainers said DO NOT get into a lease option until have a year or More experience OTR also quite a few who did go the lease route did get a lot of miles for a few months, then the miles started going down, made it hard for driver to make house payments, bills & the truck payment, but I am NOT speaking from experience like most on this site, have but what I have been told & read myself.be a company driver Some companies do put the pressure sales tactic on a new driver, resist that. Someday I will meet a local Schneider leased driver and ask him how well he does, at my age, I feel I will go for a company driver job

Since you guys are on the topic. My wife and I have a decade of running our own company and may consider going O/O at some point. That being said, we've vowed not to even consider leasing or purchasing until we have sufficient industry experience to fully understand what we're getting into. My question is: Is it commonplace for companies to try to pressure new employees into leasing? Is it something where you end up getting punished on miles/loads if you don't eventually lease?

Thanks Rick, good points and learning here.

NO = N.O. means Next Opportunity!

Now that I have been thru my first trucking opportunity and in hindsight I should have said No to the illegal use because when I learned about the Federal laws that applied to CDL licenses I stopped quite a while before trucking school up to now while holding a CDL license!

I will have to research what the drug policies are at companies that I apply for, like I now know Schneider's illegal drug policy is five years clean, no drugs, So i could have said six years ago, or just say No illegal drugs because I knew I never used it while holding a CDL license.

What bothers me I had a current DOT card and Schneider makes everyone who comes aboard to re do the DOT card whether you already had one! I was waiting to see an an audiologist until they cut me loose because I said to the Doctor about the marijuana. I did warn the recruiter in advance when I filled the application that my past DOT physicals I had to see an audiologist and he checked and said no problem will accommodate me. I do wear hearing aids since I was little.

The Doctor told me my current DOT is no longer valid so I have to get a new one before I apply to a company, I am guessing some will accept my card while others will make me get a new one thru the company???

I assume now that I admitted to the Doctor as he inputted the information on computer that I said yes to illegal drugs (before having a CDL), that when I go get a new card I still have to say yes because DOT now has a record of current & past yes or no answers???

Thank you

I have been researching companies again and noticed J&R Schugel is a 100% employee-owned transportation company. Would this be like investing in stocks if working for this company?

I talked to a recruiter at Schneider , and applied to an OTR job, because it was a while since I graduated from a PDTI certified CDL school, they wanted me to go to a three day refresher truck driving school that they paid for before I could go to Orientation and the eighteen days training after it. Had to sign a Ninety day contract.

First day at refresher school I did great in the straight back, lane changes, 90 & 45 backing, but sucked at double clutching, second day better then the third day a lot better. Then onto Schneider. First day in orientation I along with about 25 were in the room getting tested for drug, urine test again as before I was "accepted" I had to do the follicle/urine test before they let me go further in the application process.

I warned the recruiter in advance that I was hard of hearing & in the 4 DOT physicals I had, I failed the whisper test in person & had to go to a hearing clinic to use the sound booth and passed in that. He checked and said no problem will do same for me. I probably should apply for a federal hearing waiver exception. We all had to go to a room one by one to pass the physical movement part , like bending over, carry some weights, get under a platform and etc. Four failed.

I saw the nurse, answered questions, then saw the doctor, I had a current two year DOT card, was waiting for the company to send me to get sound tested at a clinic. One of the questions I was asked if I ever took any illegal drugs, I said Yes to one as in Michigan it is legal to do medical marijuana with a license from the state and yes it is still illegal in the eyes of the Feds. I explained to them that I stopped a few months before going to CDL school knowing it was not allowed if wanted to be a truck driver.

A secretary got me from the classroom & told me I had to talk to someone from the regulatory team, she asked me questions about the medical marijuana, I explained I only used the edibles or the oil form back then for body pain & lack of sleep a few years ago, she asked how often I took it, Five times is all and it was amazing how long I was without pain and did not need to take any for a long time after. She said OK go back to class, then lunch time, my recruiter came & got me, and said Schneider's drug policy says five years is the cut off point, so I was about the two year point, gave me a Grey Hound ticket to go back home.

I was really bummed out and too bad the company did not do this on a case by case basis as I was not an addict like on heroin or something and as I said before I had quite a few drug tests and always clean, would gladly take a random test too, clean driving history, no DUI's, no felonies. I was honest and would have been a loyal driver, sometimes I wonder if I should have said a "white lie" and say Nope never did illegal drugs!

Since Schneider makes everyone re-new the DOT cards regardless how much time you have left on yours, my two year card is shot since the Doctor started inputting the info to the FEDS. and I did not pass the whisper test & was waiting to go to a sound booth I was sent home, and now i have to go on my own to get a new one.

Live and learn, I emailed another recruiter to ask questions waiting on a reply, now I search again for an OTR job. Safe driving everyone!