Profile For Greg M.

First off, good job taking your time and not making poor decisions in both cases. I just have a couple thoughts that you most likely have already heard.

1) Whenever I enter or leave a new location, where there is any question of routing, I always pull up Google Maps and scout out the route to the first major road. Would not help in the case of the new barriers but it does give you an idea of what's coming up.

2) Pay attention to the moving map on the GPS. Sometimes the voice will be saying turn but the map is showing another couple hundred feet down the road. I have almost turned down little alleys or into incorrect parking lots by just following the voice.

Keep the good work. You may not realize it but you are learning lots every single day.

I wouldn't totally discount the temp agency route. I used to work on a dedicated account at Ryder and now the only way they hire is if someone does 3 months with an agency. Also the Penske group that hauls out of the same place I do now uses drivers from temp agencies.

The problem is your success is going to be totally on you. Since you are "just a temp" you are not going to get much support. That means you will have to be extra vigilant about everything.

Stick with it a few months and and you will have some recent experience to hang your hat on. Also if they have some clients you like you may just luck into an offer with them.

Have you tried looking Indeed? I just looked up CDL driver positions in Des Moines and there where quite a few positions that could be possibilities.

It has been my experience that non self insured companies have more leeway in hiring decisions. The self insured companies basically have a checklist and if you don't check all the boxes they move on to the next applicant.

Have you tried the Transport jobs section of Craigslist? You need to do your own due diligence but there are jobs on there that you won’t see anywhere else. Lots of garbage but some real opportunities. I know several small companies that hire there and they aren’t to picky.

You may want to try Millis Transfer if you haven’t already. I trained there in 2017 and they paid for or advanced most expenses. I believe they still have a school in Eden, NC.

it’s all been NO because of no recent tractor trailer experience

Does anyone know why recent OTR experience is so important to many OTR companies? I've wondered this for 30 years and never heard a definitive answer.

I think it has a lot do do with how "insurance" is handled by different size companies. For the larger self insured OTR carriers the companies themselves make the call on the risk assessment of a driver. No traditional insurance company is involved. These companies have determined what factors they consider important and base their hiring practices accordingly.

Smaller companies like the ones I have worked for over the last 3 years do it differently. They work more like we do when shopping for individual car insurance. When my company looks at a driver they actually contact their insurance company with the drivers info. My understanding is that the insurance company looks at the individuals driving record and how long they have had their CDL. The insurance company either says yes or no. Nor sure if they quote a rate at the individual driver level or how billing works.

I have driven semis for 3-4 companies since I had to switch to intrastate only driving and have never been asked anything about OTR vs local driving.

My monthly safety score updated today in Motive and I have to say that I impressed myself.

I am normally around 95%, I always lose a few points due to speeding. I am also usually in the top 1-3 drivers in the various groups but this is the first time I was #1 across the board.

Making sure that I save these images because I may not ever see these results again.

If nothing else Dave's experience should be a lesson to everyone to be very thoughtful before letting a CDL go. Most states have an option to self declare to a status that does not require a current DOT physical. Only down side is maybe a slightly higher license renewal fee.

You never know when necessity or desire may drive you to hit the road again.

When my father passed away at 91 his drivers license was still a class A cdl and he still had his Private Pilot License in his wallet. He literally took them both to the grave. I intend to do the same with my CDL.

I say this:

As of September 30, 2023, UPS reported having $7.27 billion in cash and cash equivalents according to their latest public earnings disclosure

That's right...over $7 F'in BILLION DOLLARS

Brett, I'm afraid this isn't the moral outrage you seem to think it is.

I just went out and looked over the Sept 30,2023 quarterly financials for UPS where you got the $7.27B in cash/equivalents . You are exactly right, actually its closer to $7.28B at $7.278B.

The Quarterly Balance Sheet shows their current assets as being $19.251B. That is made up of the $7.278B in cash along with $9.461B in Receivables and $2.967B in other short term investments. Assets however are only one side of the equation.

Looking at the Liabilities section of the report it shows that they have total current liabilities of $15.817B. That $7.28B in cash wasn't even enough to cover half of their current liabilities at the time of the report.

There is a financial analysis tool called the Current Ratio. It is basically Current Assets divided by Current Liabilities. It gives some insight into the financial health of a company. You definitely want the number to be above 1 and closer to 2 is better. Using the numbers for UPS:

$19.251B/$15.817B =1.2.

1.2 is actually on the low end of what you like to see.

I had an interesting “sign of the times” load yesterday. Took a regular customer load from Cincinnati to Columbus with a 5am dispatch. Got empty around 8 and sat waiting for almost 2 hours for a dispatch. When it came it was to go empty back to Cincinnati for a pick up that delivered 7 miles away. Glad I get paid by the hour.