Profile For Ryan K.

I have met quite a few Uber and Lyft drivers who have a CDL. I use the service strike up a conversation and turns out many of them have a CDL and keep it as a backup plan which begs the next question, why drive Uber if you got a CDL is the pay better? Well if you consider 1800 a week home daily and local (this is the gig description of Uber Lyft Dallas not a CDL job) then yeah I guess it’s better than doing CDL because that’s what these guys are making around in the Dallas area. I feel CDL is more of a skill than Taxi driver, hopefully soon CDL will pay more than a Taxi driver as inflation adjusts or maybe the only way to make it if companies never adjust for inflation is just go owner op.

So it’s been meantioned after May 15th Schneider will go to hourly pay. I can see on their website a mention of 25 an hour. The next question is what will count towards that and how will overtime work. Will OTR drivers who drive their 70 hours really get 30 hours of overtime pay? If so At 25 an hour with Overtime pay and 70 hours that’s looking like a 2k week paycheck for what otherwise might of been 1200-1500 if paid cpm. Anyone over there can confirm the details of this change that’s supposed to shake up the industry?

Get the jab or, the new option as of November 5th 2021, wait and if you get CVD just take the get better pill. If there's this then now the virus is not of great danger or grave danger as designated by OSHA in its new federal mandate. You take away the grave danger aspect and OSHA has no way to enforce this federal mandate, taking that away could be this wonder pill. It's not a grave danger situation anymore. that's what they are battling out in courts now over, if it's a grave danger or not.

The laws for DUI are that if the key is in the ignition then you are in operation of a vehicle

The very term DUI has "driving" in it, so if your truck is parked with parking brake set, it is not driven, and DUI doesn't apply. Any first year law student will destroy this case in any court.

Alcohol is best to stay away from while on the road. Save it for when you're home. Most companies have a zero tolerance and will terminate you immediately if they know. With everyone snapping pics and videos trying to get likes on social media you're bound to get caught. Especially if you work for a mega carrier as they generate more attention when they do something stupid than a small trucking outfit does. Keep in mind if you have even a trace on alcohol on your breath DOT will put you out of service for 24 hours. DUI is .04 rather than .08. Even as a home daily driver I choose to not drink 24 hours before im set to get back behind the wheel of a truck. Anything drug or alcohol related will severely impact your career as most companies will turn you down, and insurance among other things would destroy you if you tried to buy your own truck.

In that case maybe not. Is it safe to say truckers never have a few with their dinner at a restaurant while OTR when they're done for the day? I'm not much of a drinker anyway and didn't know about these company policies since I haven't started yet. The perspective I was looking at it as my home time or 4 day break will likely be spent in the truck as I want to travel and check out new cities while saving on hotel fees so if that to is a no go I guess I'll scrap that idea or just get an Airbnb if I'm in a new city during home time and really want to have one.

I have also thought about this for a different reason. Say you done your shift and your done driving for the night and parked ready to sleep and won't be driving for the next 10-12 hours. You want to have a few cold ones before passing out and sleeping in your cab. The laws for DUI are that if the key is in the ignition then you are in operation of a vehicle, even if the engines off and your just running the AC. So being able to run stuff without key in the ignition before sleep could mean the difference between qualifying for a DUI and not qualifying or breaking the DUI laws.

One thing I have considered going OTR with that might comply with all laws would be a high-powered Air gun. These require no special licensing and do not fit into the same category as a gun. There are however some really powerful .45 and even.50 cal air guns made by a company in Texas, can't recall the name off the top of my head. They are like a BB/pullet gun on steroids and would most likely neutralize any life-threatening situations. The only complications I could see would be with the company policy of no weapons in the truck, which is very loosely worded, even your kitchen knife used for cooking could be a weapon, and your company might consider your air gun a weapon. As far as laws go, I don't know of any state that outlaws carrying bb/air guns in your vehicle or concealing air guns. So this could be a possible solution workaround. Check out Airforceairguns. Good stuff.

The first thing when thinking about cooking comes to mind is the best portable freezer for salmon, meat etc... I could stock up at Costco on healthy stuff like wild-caught salmon etc then use a toaster oven, not a microwave to cook it. For those of you using the microwave, you might want to make the switch to a toaster oven for health reasons. Nuking your food kills a lot of food's nutrients and just isn't the healthy way to cook. Anyone care to share their freezer recommendations? This one had some ok and bad reviews, the company won't replace it. So I'm looking for something like this for a better company.

I'm a little worried about the 3 years prior work experience and hope to get some input, I have read a few posts similar and they were told to get references notarized etc, but my situation is different, Yes, I have been fully employed these past 3 years (actually have not had any gaps in employment since turning 16) but the problem is, or should I say my question is can the 3 years employment be from abroad? Are the required 3 years prior employment must be from the states? I know this is some kind of federal requirement the companies must have on file prior to employing you, so I am curious if I can use my past 3 years as an English teacher in Taiwan for that requirement. I'm also a veteran if that could help sway some companies opinion about giving me a go, but more importantly, I just need to know if the federal requirement companies must comply with if that is mandatory stateside employment, and if employment abroad for the prior 3 years is not acceptable per federal guidelines.

If it must be stateside I have a few creative ideas that might help me. Uber is an American company and I have also been doing Uber eats deliveries in Taiwan so if there is a way I could also possibly use that as a reference for employment. Lastly, I would like to know if anyone has used Uber as a reference stateside to get employed driving CDL, how did you prove your stateside Uber driving job since you are considered self-employed and don't have a reference/contact for such employment? I'm asking this because my plan is, if unable to be gainfully employed right away as a CDL driver post-training, my backup plan is to drive an Uber taxi 3 years stateside until I meet the 3 years stateside employment.

I'm looking to going into the trrops2transport program which will contact employers prior and make sure I can be employed before being allowed into the program so the past 3 years employment history is kind of a big deal/or deal-breaker for that program.

Thanks in advance for any input/advice on my unique situation, Ryan

Papa Pig thanks for the reply,

That's some good info there, I will start to look more into all of what you just mentioned. Is the troops into transportation program open to vets who have been out of active duty for some time? Also were you able to get your BAH during the program? As far as what state I'll choose I'm still undecided but have nothing holding me down or any family in any particular state, so most likely I'll choose the state I plan to train at as a starting base point but its really not too important for me since I plan on doing OTR. will definitely look into Werner, thanks again for the feedback.

Thanks for the reply and insight Rob T,

I do definitely want to get my training and CDL testing done on a stick and feel confident I can do it having driven manual cars and buses before but feeling out the clutch and gear pattern on a rig will be a whole new experience for me. I am planning to arrive a few months before training for the specific reason of obtaining a license and also the school I'm interested in requires to have the CDL permit prior to starting. One thing I learned is in Ohio state there is no 7 day wait period for a failed CDL permit exam which is nice. You can retest within 24 hours but I do plan on studying beforehand. I want to use up my GI money as it expires in 2026 and isn't enough to become a scientist or pilot the only other 2 things I would be interested in going back to school for. I have to use it or lose it. Unfortunately, vets that got out before 2016 are not entitled to a never expiring GI bill (called gi bill 2.0) that vets who got out after that date are entitled to. Also, I don't want to have to go to work full time while trying to do truck driving school as I could probably only get a low paying job and the monthly housing allowance from my 4 months left of my GI bill could get us by until I start work FT OTR. I think I'll bite the bullet and go with a regular company doing the 2-3 training ride-a-long. Two companies I'm eyeing are Schneider and CSRT simply because they claim to count previous military experience into their paygrade and also offer a 12 month VA approved apprenticeship program. (extra 1200 a month for a year) I just don't know of any vets who have joined them and their experience. I am happy to find this forum and have time on my side.