Can Starting Companies Like Swift Would Take A Stale License?

Topic 32506 | Page 1

Page 1 of 2 Next Page Go To Page:
Victor K.'s Comment
member avatar

I got my class A one year ago and I wasn't ready for the otr experience yet but I'm planning on going most likely a yr from now due to family problems. I want to know if any major carriers would take me since they always need drivers. I know I'm not going to get a good company till i have at least a yr of otr experience so I'll take a crappy company as long i get enough experience to move on to a better company.

OTR:

Over The Road

OTR driving normally means you'll be hauling freight to various customers throughout your company's hauling region. It often entails being gone from home for two to three weeks at a time.

Old School's Comment
member avatar

Victor, I know you're not getting all this info about "crappy" companies being the only ones willing to hire people in unusual situations like yourself from our website. That tells us you're all over the place gathering information about trucking. That's fine, but you have to be careful about the opinions you're forming. Remember, you really know nothing right now. Much of what you think you know is somebody's opinion that you've decided to adopt. That's a terrible way to start out in trucking.

Would you be surprised to hear that I worked for Western Express and had a great experience there? Would you be surprised that my friend G-Town worked almost a decade for Swift? He made great money there and was treated like the professional driver that he is.

Please, don't fall for the baloney festival that is celebrated by most truck drivers. Nonsense seems to breed freely in most trucker conversations. Be careful what you read and what you believe.

I urge you to listen to this podcast. It should help you better understand things that you think you have already figured out. In fact, I hope you'll listen to all our podcasts. You'd be getting way better information than you are currently coming up with.

Are Major Carriers Just Starter Companies?

G-Town's Comment
member avatar

Victor,

As Old School pointed out I had a really good career with Swift, far beyond the 1-year training commitment. I was a Double Diamond driver on a Walmart Dedicated NorthEast regional account when I decided to move south and look for a job that got me home every day. Swift schooled me, road trained me and indeed did give me a start... however I soon realized the true benefits of staying beyond the first year. I was treated professionally, fairly, well compensated, lots of flexibility, drove really good equipment and never once did I feel like a "number'. No regrets in starting with Swift and committing to them for well over 8 years. I enjoyed my tenure there and would change nothing if I had it to-do over again.

Please read this link I wrote on our blog page a few years back: Benefits of Driving for a Starter Company Beyond 1 Year

None of us know how any company will consider your employment. My suggestion? Apply to Swift, and others like Prime, Roehl, Schneider, CFI and see what happens.

Use this link: Apply For Paid CDL Training

Good luck.

CDL:

Commercial Driver's License (CDL)

A CDL is required to drive any of the following vehicles:

  • Any combination of vehicles with a gross combined weight rating (GCWR) of 26,001 or more pounds, providing the gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) of the vehicle being towed is in excess of 10,000 pounds.
  • Any single vehicle with a GVWR of 26,001 or more pounds, or any such vehicle towing another not in excess of 10,000 pounds.
  • Any vehicle, regardless of size, designed to transport 16 or more persons, including the driver.
  • Any vehicle required by federal regulations to be placarded while transporting hazardous materials.

Regional:

Regional Route

Usually refers to a driver hauling freight within one particular region of the country. You might be in the "Southeast Regional Division" or "Midwest Regional". Regional route drivers often get home on the weekends which is one of the main appeals for this type of route.

Victor K.'s Comment
member avatar

I understand what ur talking about. Whether the company is good or bad don't matter to me i only care about getting experience. So i assume the answer to my question is yes? And i will watch the podcast

Victor, I know you're not getting all this info about "crappy" companies being the only ones willing to hire people in unusual situations like yourself from our website. That tells us you're all over the place gathering information about trucking. That's fine, but you have to be careful about the opinions you're forming. Remember, you really know nothing right now. Much of what you think you know is somebody's opinion that you've decided to adopt. That's a terrible way to start out in trucking.

Would you be surprised to hear that I worked for Western Express and had a great experience there? Would you be surprised that my friend G-Town worked almost a decade for Swift? He made great money there and was treated like the professional driver that he is.

Please, don't fall for the baloney festival that is celebrated by most truck drivers. Nonsense seems to breed freely in most trucker conversations. Be careful what you read and what you believe.

I urge you to listen to this podcast. It should help you better understand things that you think you have already figured out. In fact, I hope you'll listen to all our podcasts. You'd be getting way better information than you are currently coming up with.

Are Major Carriers Just Starter Companies?

G-Town's Comment
member avatar

Victor asks:

So i assume the answer to my question is yes?

Victor I was fairly clear in my reply; apply to Swift and others and use this link:

Apply For Paid CDL Training

CDL:

Commercial Driver's License (CDL)

A CDL is required to drive any of the following vehicles:

  • Any combination of vehicles with a gross combined weight rating (GCWR) of 26,001 or more pounds, providing the gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) of the vehicle being towed is in excess of 10,000 pounds.
  • Any single vehicle with a GVWR of 26,001 or more pounds, or any such vehicle towing another not in excess of 10,000 pounds.
  • Any vehicle, regardless of size, designed to transport 16 or more persons, including the driver.
  • Any vehicle required by federal regulations to be placarded while transporting hazardous materials.
Ryan B.'s Comment
member avatar

I understand what ur talking about. Whether the company is good or bad don't matter to me i only care about getting experience. So i assume the answer to my question is yes? And i will watch the podcast

double-quotes-start.png

Victor, I know you're not getting all this info about "crappy" companies being the only ones willing to hire people in unusual situations like yourself from our website. That tells us you're all over the place gathering information about trucking. That's fine, but you have to be careful about the opinions you're forming. Remember, you really know nothing right now. Much of what you think you know is somebody's opinion that you've decided to adopt. That's a terrible way to start out in trucking.

Would you be surprised to hear that I worked for Western Express and had a great experience there? Would you be surprised that my friend G-Town worked almost a decade for Swift? He made great money there and was treated like the professional driver that he is.

Please, don't fall for the baloney festival that is celebrated by most truck drivers. Nonsense seems to breed freely in most trucker conversations. Be careful what you read and what you believe.

I urge you to listen to this podcast. It should help you better understand things that you think you have already figured out. In fact, I hope you'll listen to all our podcasts. You'd be getting way better information than you are currently coming up with.

Are Major Carriers Just Starter Companies?

double-quotes-end.png

You say that you don't care whether the company is good or bad in response to experienced drivers telling you that the companies about which you have formed rather negative opinions. You need to care whether a company is good or bad.

There are bad companies out there, but they are not the ones you think. Any company suggested on this site as a potential employer is a solid company with which to start your career. The bad companies are the small ones that don't have the freight to keep drivers moving, or lack the resources to keep trucks maintained, or don't care much about safety, or will have you chasing down your paychecks, or any combination of these issues plus additional ones. This doesn't describe every small company, but you won't find a large, known trucking company about which those issues are true. I started with a company that many think of as not having a good reputation. Over a year later, I am still there. I don't put ot out there for what company I work as my personal preference. I will tell you that my company trains drivers to get their CDL. I have thought about going elsewhere, but then I think to myself, "Is it really going to be better at a different company that is basically doing the same thing?" The answer is probably not, so I look for ways to leverage myself into better favor with my DM and others who work in operations at my company. Don't go to a company with the idea, "I know it's bad, so I am going to get the minimum amount of experience and run off to another company." That line of thinking will get you into the realm of being a job hopper. The really good trucking companies, those that require at least 2 years experience, they hate job hoppers. Some of those companies won't touch a driver who has more than one job with that 2 years of experience. All of this is to say, stick to the major companies and focus on being a reliable, safe driver.

CDL:

Commercial Driver's License (CDL)

A CDL is required to drive any of the following vehicles:

  • Any combination of vehicles with a gross combined weight rating (GCWR) of 26,001 or more pounds, providing the gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) of the vehicle being towed is in excess of 10,000 pounds.
  • Any single vehicle with a GVWR of 26,001 or more pounds, or any such vehicle towing another not in excess of 10,000 pounds.
  • Any vehicle, regardless of size, designed to transport 16 or more persons, including the driver.
  • Any vehicle required by federal regulations to be placarded while transporting hazardous materials.

Dm:

Dispatcher, Fleet Manager, Driver Manager

The primary person a driver communicates with at his/her company. A dispatcher can play many roles, depending on the company's structure. Dispatchers may assign freight, file requests for home time, relay messages between the driver and management, inform customer service of any delays, change appointment times, and report information to the load planners.

HOS:

Hours Of Service

HOS refers to the logbook hours of service regulations.

EPU:

Electric Auxiliary Power Units

Electric APUs have started gaining acceptance. These electric APUs use battery packs instead of the diesel engine on traditional APUs as a source of power. The APU's battery pack is charged when the truck is in motion. When the truck is idle, the stored energy in the battery pack is then used to power an air conditioner, heater, and other devices

George B.'s Comment
member avatar

Ryan is spot on as is G~Town. You can look at indeed, Glassdoor, etc and see negative reviews. If reviews were what measured a companies quality. Most companies would be shut down. For example it is really hard to find anything online good about TransAm. I know people who love the company. Same as Western Express. And for the love of God do not join or take seriously any FB group on a company. Its a laughing stock. Train of thought gone. sorry.gif

Mr. Curmudgeon's Comment
member avatar

Hi, Victor. You ask a valid question, and I would be delighted to give you my perspective on the issue.

I got my CDL , self pay, in August, 2012. I then sustained a work injury at what was then my (non-trucking) employer and was not able to get the injury resolved for about a year. So, our situations have time frame similarity.

In July, 2013 I began looking for driving jobs. I applied to most of the bigs, and was turned down, universally. because I had a "stale CDL". I was offered the opportunity with three or four outfits to accept employment and go through their CDL training program. In my hubris, I declined. I don't want to say that only a crappy company would hire me, but I DID end up at what would be best described as a "Last Chance" outfit. Others on here have described some of these outfits as crappy. The one that hired me gave me a shot, took a chance on me, and gave me over a year of experience. I ended up at a regional carrier that had a unique business model that was highly supportive of driver efforts to bend space and time. I gave them a year and then moved on to a company that was a bit less... unique. If I were to do it again, I'd choke down the crow and go through the CDL school of one of the bigs and get solid employment with a solid training program. That would be my recommendation for your consideration. You would get paid while in training, you would learn their expectations and methods of operation from day one, and they would have an investment in seeing you succeed.

I doubt that you will be able to get hired direct to driving by Swift, Roehl, Schneider, or most of other big carriers. You might get on that way with a carrier that is last chance.

Good fortune to you as your pursue this as a career.

CDL:

Commercial Driver's License (CDL)

A CDL is required to drive any of the following vehicles:

  • Any combination of vehicles with a gross combined weight rating (GCWR) of 26,001 or more pounds, providing the gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) of the vehicle being towed is in excess of 10,000 pounds.
  • Any single vehicle with a GVWR of 26,001 or more pounds, or any such vehicle towing another not in excess of 10,000 pounds.
  • Any vehicle, regardless of size, designed to transport 16 or more persons, including the driver.
  • Any vehicle required by federal regulations to be placarded while transporting hazardous materials.

Regional:

Regional Route

Usually refers to a driver hauling freight within one particular region of the country. You might be in the "Southeast Regional Division" or "Midwest Regional". Regional route drivers often get home on the weekends which is one of the main appeals for this type of route.

Greg M.'s Comment
member avatar

Victor: Another place to try would be the various 3rd party logistics companies like Ryder, Penske, Black Horse etc. I went through company paid training but ended up not staying with the company. So I had a cdl but little recent experience. After a few months with a small local company I was hired by Ryder in something called their Driver Development Program. It was for cdl holders with 0-1 year experience. Spent 6 weeks with a trainer local then went solo.

These are typically local or out and back jobs. You see them advertising on the job sites like indeed. Normally involves a couple of interviews and maybe a test drive just to see where your skills are.

Availability depends upon what accounts in your area need but I was very happy with how it worked out for me.

CDL:

Commercial Driver's License (CDL)

A CDL is required to drive any of the following vehicles:

  • Any combination of vehicles with a gross combined weight rating (GCWR) of 26,001 or more pounds, providing the gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) of the vehicle being towed is in excess of 10,000 pounds.
  • Any single vehicle with a GVWR of 26,001 or more pounds, or any such vehicle towing another not in excess of 10,000 pounds.
  • Any vehicle, regardless of size, designed to transport 16 or more persons, including the driver.
  • Any vehicle required by federal regulations to be placarded while transporting hazardous materials.
Trucker Kearsey 's Comment
member avatar

Many companies will offer a refresher course. The length of the course may depend on how fast you learn. Some won't even charge you... It is basically a little extended training.

Page 1 of 2 Next Page Go To Page:

New Reply:

New! Check out our help videos for a better understanding of our forum features

Bold
Italic
Underline
Quote
Photo
Link
Smiley
Links On TruckingTruth


example: TruckingTruth Homepage



example: https://www.truckingtruth.com
Submit
Cancel
Upload New Photo
Please enter a caption of one sentence or less:

Click on any of the buttons below to insert a link to that section of TruckingTruth:

Getting Started In Trucking High Road Training Program Company-Sponsored Training Programs Apply For Company-Sponsored Training Truck Driver's Career Guide Choosing A School Choosing A Company Truck Driving Schools Truck Driving Jobs Apply For Truck Driving Jobs DOT Physical Drug Testing Items To Pack Pre-Hire Letters CDL Practice Tests Trucking Company Reviews Brett's Book Leasing A Truck Pre-Trip Inspection Learn The Logbook Rules Sleep Apnea
Done
Done

0 characters so far - 5,500 maximum allowed.
Submit Preview

Preview:

Submit
Cancel

Why Join Trucking Truth?

We have an awesome set of tools that will help you understand the trucking industry and prepare for a great start to your trucking career. Not only that, but everything we offer here at TruckingTruth is 100% free - no strings attached! Sign up now and get instant access to our member's section:
High Road Training Program Logo
  • The High Road Training Program
  • The High Road Article Series
  • The Friendliest Trucker's Forum Ever!
  • Email Updates When New Articles Are Posted

Apply For Paid CDL Training Through TruckingTruth

Did you know you can fill out one quick form here on TruckingTruth and apply to several companies at once for paid CDL training? Seriously! The application only takes one minute. You will speak with recruiters today. There is no obligation whatsoever. Learn more and apply here:

Apply For Paid CDL Training