Profile For EJ C.

Hey guys, so I had my first oopsie. And I just need to know what kind of consecuences I’m going to face and if this will be a career ender.

Was pulling into a Love’s today, in my last 14 minutes of my 11 hours; exhausted as hell I made the dumb choice of turning into the parking lot a little too close to a fellow truck and I clipped and busted his headlight with my trailer. Literally and thanfully the only damage was the headlight assembly, which he obviously will need a new one. No other damage was done to either truck. He was sorta cool about it, I called my company and he called his, my company had me send pictures of the damage and his truck and had me give him our insurance information. No police were called on scene, no accident report was taken by any badged officer. (atleast not on scene, if he filed a police report online that’s unknown to me.)

It was sort of late in the day, so my verdict with PAM will be known to me tomorrow. So what do you guys think? Is this something that will hit my DAC report? I know for a fact if my company keeps me, they put me in this safety probation and I’m simply not allowed to have another incident in the probation time or then I actually get fired. My concern is more points on my license. Is this something that would cause this?

I’m just worried cause I started my career with two violations that rolled over from my Class E Driver’s License when I got my CDL. A speeding, 9 miles over and an illegal lane change. Luckily the former falls off my record this year.

So what you guys think? Am I screwed or will I be ok?

Hello everybody! It’s certainly been awhile since I posted. Last I was here I was asking about Drug Tests.... obviously everything went well and I’m at the beginning of my second week with my Mentor at PAM Transport. But let me tell ya’ll abit about my journey before we talk about the present.

So I started my trucking career on January 22nd, 2019. I was sent to Career Tech in Lakeland, Florida. Sponsored by PAM Transport, I didn’t have to pay a cent. But still I recommend you bring plenty of clothes, and some money for laundry/food. PAM will give you 50.00 every Friday while you there, but that’s honestly not much. So bring food and money, unless you happen to live close, in that case you lucked out. To clarify, it’s meant to be a 4 week program and they give you the first 3 50.00’s the first 3 Fridays. You don’t get your last 50.00 till you graduate.

So onto the program itself. First week consisted of studying for your permit tests. If you already have a permit when you start the program you can basically bypass this. Day 1 is orientation, paperwork, getting to learn the facilities and staff. Day 2 is your DOT physical and Drug test. It is a urine test, and you’ll take a total of 2 (or 3 in my case cause I was in the program for 6 weeks.) If you fail the first one, that one is solely for the school and it doesn’t hit your DAC report. Now the other 2 will ruin your future so for your sake make sure you’re clean and serene before you make the decision to become a trucker. I quit the THC for this career and don’t plan on touching the **** again until I retire. And I can tell you it brings alot of peace of mind knowing you can pass any drug test thrown your way.

Anyways, moving onwards. By the 4th day I went to the local DMV after passing my DOT physical and drug test and passed my permit tests on my first go. You’re recquired to pass General Knowledge, Air Brakes and Combination Vehicles. They recommend us a handy app to study for these called CDL Prep, the icon for it is a blue steering wheel. Since you read it here first, download it now and get to studying!

So after I have my permit I went to the actual training yard and to be honest... this is probably the school’s weakest link. The yard is a mud pit... meaning that when it rains you don’t get to practice on the trucks at all. The trucks themselves are falling apart, and the only decent ones are the two they use for Road training and the actual test trucks. Luckily the testing is done in a separate yard where it’s actual concrete and cement; and the lines are actually visible. The facilites were literally still being finished when I started so hopefully they are finished by the time any readers decide to attend. So, the first thing they expect is that you learn your pre-trip. They will give you evals for pre-trip and 3 yard skills that include Straight-like backing, Offset backing left/right and Alley Dock. Once you pass your pre-trip eval they allow you in the trucks to practice yard skills and do road practice as well. You can tackle the yard evals whenever you feel ready and think you’ll pass them,keeping in mind you have to turn in a passing eval for all 3 manuevers at the end of the week.

Once you have 2 passing evals for yard skills, 2 passing for pre-trip and enough driving time where the trainer thinks your ready, you are sent for your state exam to get your CDL.

Luckily, the one strong link in this school is the staff... they work really hard with the little they got and they made a trucker out of me, a guy who’s never driven a truck in his life.

So about the testing, when I started you got two free shots at the test. Now you only get one free shot and retesting is at 200.00 a pop. So get it that first time. After you pass, you go to the DMV print out your license and have the school send a copy of it to PAM. Try to get your Tanker and Hazmat endorsements on your first license if you have the funds. PAM will pay you 1000.00 bonus split in two payments, one just for applying for your Hazmat and the second once you’re approved. Then they set you up to be picked up by a mentor, and honestly it only took them a week to get me.

And that’s where I’m at now... with my mentor! On week 2, I’ve learned alot and honestly I’m loving the career so far. After I’ve honored my one year contract with PAM for them paying my school, I might look for better paying work. But honestly for having my Hazmat and teaming up I’m expected to make atleast 60,000 my first year which isn’t bad. More than I’ve made in my life lol.

And what they don’t give in pay they make up for in miles, so I think it balances it out. Might stick with them if the money is good. The equipment is definitely good, I’m in a 2019 Peterbilt 597 Ultraloft for my mentor truck and my truck will be the same minus the Ultraloft.

So so far so good. Hope this post has given ya’ll some insight into what it’s like for those considering the career!

Well this is it for my first actual forum post, hope ya’ll had a good read (:

Below are some pics of the adventures so far:

Have you ever popped hot on a drug test? Please be honest.

Sorry, but your question is just a bit odd, what difference does the order make? Drink Gatoraid on both days if you are that concerned about it.

I too hydrate, 95% water, I’ve been random tested more times than I remember and never had to retest because of dilution.

Keep something in mind; hair follical is becoming the norm.

It'a definitely an odd question I agree 100%. But I've always ****ed clean on all those retests, I'm apparently one of those guys who ****es water apparently and I just would rather have my urine be good on my first try. Cause if it's diluted they might give me a chance to retest or what I'm afraid of, is they kicking me cause they think I did it on purpose. So I'm just tryna watch my ass... but yeah, I'll just drink some Gatorade my first few days... I was more concerned if they allow retests or not if I somehow overdilute myself is all. Thanks for the help guys :)

So I'm starting my new trucking career next Monday on the 7th with PAM Transport. They are sending me to Career-Tech in Lakeland, FL for 4 weeks of CDL training where I will hopefully pass and get licensed. I've always been a fan of driving; and always wondered how I could get paid well for doing so. Trucking seems to be the answer; just gotta get from driving AWD sports cars to hauling ass in a big rig.... OH YEAH 😂

Don't worry about informing me about the job itself; I'm pretty well informed about how ass whooping this first year is gonna be.... but I'm in it to win it if I can get me a CDL and get paid to do it ;)

My concerns are more for the school; scoured this whole forum and I couldn't find much about it. Honestly my biggest and really only concern is the class schedule; particularly the DOT drug test and physical. Will my DOTs get done on the first or second day of school? According to the class schedule on the Driver Solutions page; it says DOT Physical and Drug Screen on 2nd day of school... but when I asked my recruiter about it, she said the Drug Screen would be done on the first day and the physical on the second day. I need confirmation of this if possible... No, no, no... I'm not trying to cheat or adulterate my urine test, quite the contrary. I drink nothing but water, like literally I won't touch anything else unless I'm out at a nice restaurant for a special occasion. This has caused me trouble with urine tests in the past; I would say out of 6 Drug tests I've taken in my life, I have had 4 retakes due to dilution in my urine. I also haven't smoked pot since high school in 2012. So considering that the best career I've ever had might be at stake if I fail a drug test if they think I'm purposely diluting my urine; I'd like to know what day I might be whizzing so I can lay off the H20 and maybe get some powerade or juice to get some color in me for my test. So if anyone has any experience or a link to a topic I might have missed that answers my question... please let know :)

Happy trucking folks!