Old Man Leaves Six-Figure Management Position To Begin Training As A Trucker: Psychiatric Evaluation Pending

This may be too late, but how about TMC? Great equipment based on my observation.

Indeeed. LOVE their stuff !!!

They have a quick app, right here, too! >Apply For Paid CDL Training.

Wish you the best, good sir. (ps: You're welcome!)

~ Anne ~

Grandpa Clark…

All things being equal, if I was in your shoes, wanting a shot at flatbed, I’d focus on Prime and have others like TMC as backups.

Look at Turtle’s and Chief Brody’s diaries. Both of these drivers thrived at Prime, tons of respect for them. Chief Brody is still driving for them and sound very well. Turtle, he’s with Walmarts Private Fleet… that speaks for itself.

Good luck!!

All things being equal, if I was in your shoes, wanting a shot at flatbed, I’d focus on Prime and have others like TMC as backups.

I agree, and I'll add that Prime has refrigerated, flatbed, tanker, and dedicated divisions, so you have a lot of versatility there. It's nice to try different things but stay within the same company.

Such an interesting and timely post, Gpa Clark! Perhaps out here in the ether there are more than a few of us over 60 types, with many hours and miles logged behind desks and computer monitors, looking for ways to enhance our retirement years and enhance our cash flow, as well. Like most of us, I have worked most all of my life since I was delivering newspapers on a bicycle as a kid. Retirement, to me, doe snot mean stopping work, but finding a kind of work that is less tedious, less sterile, and more interactive. As an aside, I have always found long driving trips a kind of refuge to long weeks tethered to a desk. And so, naturally, I am researching CDL schools in my area (Madison, WI) and studying the most reasonable ways to enter this business of either regional or OTR truck operations.

I've talked to some peers that have retired, and some a literally doing nothing but being restless and irritating their wives at home. One fellow I know took a job part time working as a guide at a fitness center. Another, after 30 years in academia, works in a coffee shop to make some extra funds over his Social Security and pension from the UW. It seems that post retirement from corporate or professional life suggests part time work in a fairly undemanding position, but this kind of day to day is not for me. The idea of being around transportation and logistics, managing a truck, and interacting with both road and other humans from state to state seems compelling.

My own idea is to start to hire on as a company driver on an ad hoc or part time basis, to see if such a role is obtainable, I'd like to be able to work on a seasonal basis, or ad hoc basis, so as to travel from time to time out of country and to visit family for blocks of time. Perhaps even in the midst of high fuel prices, insanely overpriced used trucks, and low per mile rates on load boards there's a chance to make a reasonable income working as a skilled and wise (age has its advantages : ) ) driver for an Upper Midwest company.

Thanks Trucking Truth, and to Grandpa Clark, for the inspiring forum and OP. It'll be great to see the responses from others here, and I wish all of us the best of luck.

Hi Michael R. First of all I found great amusement in your typo “doe snot”. Thanks for that and keep ‘em coming!

Second of all, I too am from Madison, WI. Born at St. Mary’s hospital in 1952 and grew up on the east side. LaFollette HS.

Your entry plan to become a company driver on a part time basis probably won’t work, especially at first. I’ve just never heard of that scenario getting anyone into the industry. Have you researched any such opportunities?

Such an interesting and timely post, Gpa Clark! Perhaps out here in the ether there are more than a few of us over 60 types, with many hours and miles logged behind desks and computer monitors, looking for ways to enhance our retirement years and enhance our cash flow, as well. Like most of us, I have worked most all of my life since I was delivering newspapers on a bicycle as a kid. Retirement, to me, doe snot mean stopping work, but finding a kind of work that is less tedious, less sterile, and more interactive. As an aside, I have always found long driving trips a kind of refuge to long weeks tethered to a desk. And so, naturally, I am researching CDL schools in my area (Madison, WI) and studying the most reasonable ways to enter this business of either regional or OTR truck operations.

I've talked to some peers that have retired, and some a literally doing nothing but being restless and irritating their wives at home. One fellow I know took a job part time working as a guide at a fitness center. Another, after 30 years in academia, works in a coffee shop to make some extra funds over his Social Security and pension from the UW. It seems that post retirement from corporate or professional life suggests part time work in a fairly undemanding position, but this kind of day to day is not for me. The idea of being around transportation and logistics, managing a truck, and interacting with both road and other humans from state to state seems compelling.

My own idea is to start to hire on as a company driver on an ad hoc or part time basis, to see if such a role is obtainable, I'd like to be able to work on a seasonal basis, or ad hoc basis, so as to travel from time to time out of country and to visit family for blocks of time. Perhaps even in the midst of high fuel prices, insanely overpriced used trucks, and low per mile rates on load boards there's a chance to make a reasonable income working as a skilled and wise (age has its advantages : ) ) driver for an Upper Midwest company.

Thanks Trucking Truth, and to Grandpa Clark, for the inspiring forum and OP. It'll be great to see the responses from others here, and I wish all of us the best of luck.

Hi Michael, Your comment resonates with me in so many ways. Sitting around the house watching TV, trying to stay busy with hobbies, or endlessly traveling on my own dime does not sound like the way I want to finish the last chapters of my story. Your comment about "irritating their wives at home" made me smile. My wife is a saint...or, at least she should be. Any woman who births seven boys and raises them to be successful adults, along with putting up with me for nearly 40-years, definitely qualifies. I've watched retired couples pick at each other and get petty and childish with each other over the years and I've always told me wife, "We're not going to be like that when we get older." My wife and I agree wholeheartedly on the most important issues in life: faith, family, finances etc. but have vastly different ideas of what we like to do on a day-to-day basis. Variety is the spice of life, correct? I love to read quietly and tend to rarely talk, while my wife is very outgoing, loves to socialize, and loves nothing more than to fill the house with grandkids constantly. Don't get me wrong. I love to see the grandkids and we have 18 of them to keep up with!

I also was very interested in your comment about part-time driving. I researched that a couple of years ago and found that a few of the mega-carriers have these types of programs. I know a man here in Central Virginia that worked one of the part-time assignments for Schneider National out of Charlotte. He said he didn't make much money, but it was exactly as advertised. He could come and go when he wanted as long as he didn't let more than 90-days between driving assignments. I looked in your area and Schneider is currently offering part-time near Madison. You need to be within 75-miles of Sterling, IL. Looking at Mapquest this puts Madison, WI in the ballpark. Here is the link: Schneider Part-Time

I hope to get hired FT with a flatbed carrier once I finish my CDL school in mid-July. I want to do flatbed because I've always been fascinated by that role and I want to do it while I'm fit and healthy enough to climb loads etc. Feel free to reach out to me directly if I can be of any encouragement or assistance to you. All the best on your journey and thanks for your post! My email is clarkboys7@gmail.com.

All things being equal, if I was in your shoes, wanting a shot at flatbed, I’d focus on Prime and have others like TMC as backups.

I agree, and I'll add that Prime has refrigerated, flatbed, tanker, and dedicated divisions, so you have a lot of versatility there. It's nice to try different things but stay within the same company.

Hi Brett, Thanks for your advice and I recently finished your book for the second time. I found it very helpful and I found lots of answers to so many questions. I seriously considered Prime for my CDL School and to get my start. I talked with their recruiting and I agree that they seem to have a rock-solid training program with great options for different divisions and the promise of good pay. I see lots of Prime trucks (dry van) in my area and I don't know how much weight one should put on the amount of local activity one observes when considering a carrier.

Right now I'm leaning towards TMC or Maverick. Maverick has been super-responsive and offered me a slot either in their CDL training program, or, immediately upon graduation from my CDL School. For the reasons I wrote above, I decided to get my CDL locally at the local Community College. My Week 1 Summary is in the Training Diaries section. Regarding local activity, I see tons of TMC trucks and a decent amount of Prime van traffic here in the Lynchburg, VA area. However, I don't know if I've ever seen a Maverick truck or a Prime flatbed locally. I'm thinking about it this way and please feel free to correct me if I'm incorrect in this assumption. If I see lots of traffic from a carrier in my city, I'm assuming they have a significant amount of local freight, which means I should be able to get home reliably. Maverick is 12-14 days out, and 2-3 at home which is a bit more than I'm interested in with everything I have going on at home. My family runs a small business that is primarily working special events 2-3 Saturdays a month (Clarkboys Kettle Corn). TMC says they will get you home nearly every weekend and their drivers seem to confirm this. Maverick makes no such claim and the Maverick drivers that I have talked to say that until you get a dedicated assignment, you should plan on 2-weeks out, 2-3 days home, not necessarily on the weekend. Prime also said that initially, it would be 2-weeks min out, with the option of dedicated if available, in the future.

Thanks again for all you do Brett! This site has been such a blessing.

Sincerely, Steve

Many carriers do offer part time work. That’s true.

However, in order to qualify you’ll need experience. The extent of the experience depends on the carrier and quite possibly, the individual’s performance with their carrier.

Many carriers do offer part time work. That’s true.

However, in order to qualify you’ll need experience. The extent of the experience depends on the carrier and quite possibly, the individual’s performance with their carrier.

That makes sense G-Town. My contact in Central VA had about 6-months with CR England before he switched to Schneider Part-Time. He said there was lots of waiting for loads which makes sense. From a company perspective, who are you most motivated to keep rolling? Your PT or your FT drivers? Seems logical to me that the FT guys/gals would get the first crack at loads and the leftovers would fall to the PT folks. However, if $$ is not the primary motivation, perhaps for some of us more seasoned people, it might be a great option. I believe I saw some part-time options for Roehl as well.

I pulled chemical tankers for 5 1/2 yrs. Just about everything liquid non food grade. Any company that would put a inexperienced driver in that position is a complete idiot, in my opinion.

Liquid is constantly moving. The smoother you are the better, but still a product in constant motion. That is a challenge. New drivers don’t have the skills needed to safely deal with this. I have experienced surge of product and would have sworn someone rear ended me.

That is just the driving part. Tankers are not all the same. It takes much more training and experience to safely deal with the tanker plus the wide variety of products.

I loved the job, maybe I’m a bit off, lol.

I have moved forward toward slowing sown and back to flatbed work. Same product all the time, so not really a true flatbedder.

Thanks for the advice PJ. It sounds like tanker might be a bit of a stretch for a rookie. Interesting that you consider flatbed "slowing down". It looks to me like it can be quite physically demanding at times. I'd like to get started in flatbed to learn how to secure and tarp loads properly from the beginning. Maverick and TMC seem to be great options for rookies. I've got 3-more weeks of CDL School, so as G-Town reminds me, "First things first." Lots to consider moving forward. Thanks for sharing your insights.