California...Driving Experience..recent CDL

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Hey, I have been outta Trucking School for 2 weeks....Not sure the route I wanna go.. need simple answers, no horror stories at all. I need driving experience...Gonna try to find a smaller local company here in California..I live in Northern Cali (Petaluma) but don't mind commuting....I wanna avoid the huge truck companies...I wanna stay Dedicated/LTL/Regional...something.....Any suggestions??? Anyone here from California and have info?? Thank you for any guidance!~~KaSandra

HEYYYY glad to meet another sonoma countyian! I use to live in Rosa and Healdsburg before moving to the mid-west! I can tell ya, finding anything around there is gonna be tough... speaking from expeirence.... I went from Swift to The Salvation Army in healdsburg as there CDL driver.. did more straight truck the tractor trailer though... Was the only thing I could find at the time... Have you checked out craigslist?

Most of the trucking stuff up in Nor Cal close to sonoma is gonna be in Sac and down the i-5 corridor to fresno.... Daniel can confirm that better for me since he's in Sac and I havent been in that area for 2 years now....

Hey, I have been outta Trucking School for 2 weeks....Not sure the route I wanna go.. need simple answers, no horror stories at all. I need driving experience...Gonna try to find a smaller local company here in California..I live in Northern Cali (Petaluma) but don't mind commuting....I wanna avoid the huge truck companies...I wanna stay Dedicated/LTL/Regional...something.....Any suggestions??? Anyone here from California and have info?? Thank you for any guidance!~~KaSandra

HEYYYY glad to meet another sonoma countyian! I use to live in Rosa and Healdsburg before moving to the mid-west! I can tell ya, finding anything around there is gonna be tough... speaking from expeirence.... I went from Swift to The Salvation Army in healdsburg as there CDL driver.. did more straight truck the tractor trailer though... Was the only thing I could find at the time... Have you checked out craigslist?

Most of the trucking stuff up in Nor Cal close to sonoma is gonna be in Sac and down the i-5 corridor to fresno.... Daniel can confirm that better for me since he's in Sac and I havent been in that area for 2 years now....

Hey David...Thanks for the positive vibes:) ...yeah, been on Craiglist....gonna keep at it... .and let me clarify to others.. 1. I was pretty clear that I basically just want a Cali job to gain driving experience...I will drive whatever it takes with wheels to get this experience 2. I wanna stay close because of my children...Women and men both have responsibilities...I have an Autistic child (one of my 6 children) who lives with his Dad but will not understand me taking off for months...or weeks 3. I do not mind hard work..I would MUCH rather work hard than sit 4. By no means do I see any being picky within any thing I have written..I just wanna work and earn a living and not be out for (extreme) days..weeks......Guess those would be the 2 things Brett..I would step to a B to do this (as oppose to an A truck) ..whatever's good..

The picky part came from you wanting smaller companies. That doesn't matter at all and shouldn't be on your mind even. Large companies provide tons of local work and can be easier to get on with.

You'll probably have to settle for food distribution jobs and even then you'll be lucky to land one. Check out Unfi, Sysco, Beverage companies. Also check if you qualify for CR England's dedicated to and from Sparks, NV. I know OTR really isn't very viable for you but even 6 months of OTR experience will be like night and day for you on your attempts at finding a local job.

(Insert smiley face so no one thinks I'm yelling)

The picky part came from you wanting smaller companies. That doesn't matter at all and shouldn't be on your mind even. Large companies provide tons of local work and can be easier to get on with.

You'll probably have to settle for food distribution jobs and even then you'll be lucky to land one. Check out Unfi, Sysco, Beverage companies. Also check if you qualify for CR England's dedicated to and from Sparks, NV. I know OTR really isn't very viable for you but even 6 months of OTR experience will be like night and day for you on your attempts at finding a local job.

(Insert smiley face so no one thinks I'm yelling)

you seem matter of fact..I can appreciate that....sometimes ;)..but really thank you for the input..KaSandra

The picky part came from you wanting smaller companies. That doesn't matter at all and shouldn't be on your mind even. Large companies provide tons of local work and can be easier to get on with.

You'll probably have to settle for food distribution jobs and even then you'll be lucky to land one. Check out Unfi, Sysco, Beverage companies. Also check if you qualify for CR England's dedicated to and from Sparks, NV. I know OTR really isn't very viable for you but even 6 months of OTR experience will be like night and day for you on your attempts at finding a local job.

(Insert smiley face so no one thinks I'm yelling)

you seem matter of fact..I can appreciate that....sometimes ;)..but really thank you for the input..KaSandra

Thats Daniel for ya... puts it like it is......

Check with the dump truck companies up there or cement trucks too... may even look at Saia/Conway/UPS in petaluma/RP... You may need hazmat for those 3 but they may train you.

KaSandra, you seem quite adamant and have a very determined spirit. If you really push forward and seek out every opportunity, I'm sure you will find the fit you need. Make sure and utilize all of the resources from your CDL school, their goal is to help you succeed.

KaSandra, you seem quite adamant and have a very determined spirit. If you really push forward and seek out every opportunity, I'm sure you will find the fit you need. Make sure and utilize all of the resources from your CDL school, their goal is to help you succeed.

TM, thank you for reading me EXACTLY, lol...you forgot the word "Princess" , lol...but seriously I am pretty driven...and don't wanna lose what I have worked hard for...I am looking towards Sac...found some good leads..I may have to drive everywhere but if that's what it takes...My resume would not really say much..Just another piece of paper or online document...So I wanna try to go into places because I am good in person..Very professional and super personable... ..It's tough cuz of my kids, but they are either grown or at more independent ages...and they totally support Mom ......so we shall see what happens..KaSandra

I don't know if you're going to have much luck with most of the food or beverage distributors because it's normally really heavy work. It's simply a matter of having the physical strength and stamina to wrestle tens of thousands of pounds of freight down out of the truck and up into buildings all day, every day. Remember, most of the stores and restaurants do not have any sort of a dock so you're parking in the parking lot, setting up a ramp, wheeling hundreds of pounds down that ramp, across the parking lot, and then either up a set of stairs or up another ramp. I've spoken with many, many delivery drivers over the years both from my time in trucking and my time working in stores and restaurants (my family owned a pizzeria in fact at one point) and they'll all tell you the same thing - the work just really beats you down hard. It tears up your back, wrists, and shoulders. You're constantly trying to deal with poor weather conditions and very tough places to get the freight moved into. Not many people last very long at those jobs.

I would look at dump trucks for one. They're certainly not easy to drive because you're offroad a lot or in heavy traffic with a high center of gravity and a short wheelbase but they'll keep you close to home and pay decent.

Salvage companies are another one. Look at Waste Management. Hauling dumpsters isn't a bad job. I worked at a landfill years ago and the dumpster haulers had it pretty good. They made good money and their job wasn't too physically demanding.

Logging companies are another possibility. So are the major farms in the area.

You mentioned that you just want to get experience. Keep in mind that the experience you get will really only apply to the type of truck you're driving and the type of routes you're running. If you're driving a Class B straight truck locally that's not going to help you much when it comes to landing Class A jobs or over the road jobs. It isn't a matter of just getting driving experience. It's a matter of getting the right type of experience for the jobs you'd like to land down the line. That's why you're always hearing us say that 6-12 months of OTR will open up a ton of opportunities. If you can handle Class A OTR you can handle just about anything in the eyes of those doing the hiring. A Class A company normally will not consider Class B trucks as relevant driving experience. So for instance, don't take a Class B job thinking it's going to help you land a better Class A job down the line. It likely won't. Just wanted to make sure you understood that.

Waste Managements a good suggestion (#1 waste hauler in the world), having worked for them 8 years back in the '90's. They do have roll-off class A trucks , and not very demanding in the way off loading up and dropping off the bins / boxes