First Year Completed... Solo / Company / OTR

OK, so I made the grade @ CRE, survived the winter weather, hit my one-year driving anniversary 6 Sep 14, and now I'm reflecting on my options. Many things come to mind...

Can I do a lot better with another carrier?? Is the time right for a move? Is the industry on the upswing, with the economy? Should I take an overseas "danger-zone" job to make money quicker, mostly tax free?? Should I consider trucking with the fracking industry?

OK, so I'm sure there'll be a plethora of responses saying you can always do better than CRE, but moving from .35/mi with CRE to .37/mi with another carrier IS NOT a viable option in my opinion. That's just not worth the effort. But, moving from .35/mi to .42-.46/mi might. Also, since I'm currently driving reefer , is a change going to involve training with some different carrier/trailer configuration, that's also going to cost me, while training?

I'm noticing, with the HUGE amount of requests for drivers out there, but many of them are requiring two-years experience (for insurance purposes, I presume), and, yet, I have one friend that got hired after one week out on the road (during training), and another got hired with as little as six-months experience, both younger guys (I'm 61, but healthy & fairly trim). I've applied at both, and got nowhere... So, the next question, is there age discrimination in this industry, even though the truck doesn't care? Are these carriers just looking for younger drivers that they expect to employ for decades (even when current-day job employment histories show people rarely stay that long with one company for much longer than 5 years)? (*It should be noted that I have a better driving record than both, since the first got DQ'd from CRE for a moving violation ticket in his first week, and the other had an approximate $5k accident during training).

Here's my list of questions to ask prospective employers:

Do you accept one-year as an experienced driver? Do you pay practical mileage, or will be jip me on every run by paying Zip Code zone mileage like CRE did/does (they're getting better on this...) What is your mileage rate? Do you ever pay trip rate? Do you hire company drivers, or are you trying to get me into a lease? If you require a lease, is the lease you offer a decent arrangement, with a minimal payout? What year & make of vehicle would I be driving, with one-year OTR experience? Do you have detention pay? How is it calculated? Do you have layover pay? How is it calculated? Do you have breakdown pay? How is it calculated? Weekly settlements, or semi-monthly pay periods? Expected weekly mileage? Expected annual income? Vacation pay? How is it calculated? Medical? Dental? Vision? Legal? Do you offer a sign-on bonus to solo company drivers? Leaseholders? Do you have APU's in the vehicles? Do you pay tolls, or require drivers to re-route longer distances, using valuable drive hours? Do you have in-cab navigation? How often can I expect home time? Do you have a terminal in So Cal to get me there for home time? Will you re-route me to So Cal for home time? Do you have regional runs? Dedicated runs? OTR runs?

I'm sure there's more questions that I haven't thought of, but these are on the top of my list, so far. I've also got a list of carriers I'm interested in, and wanting to contact, but I have no intention of leaving CRE unless it's for a much better proposition.

Interested in hearing from you guys/gals that have passed this one-year period, and have made changes, and how they worked out for you. Good points? Bad points? Suggestions???

BTW, I should add, I just got my Hazmat , Doubles/Triples & Tanker endorsements last month, so I have that option to offer new employers, also.

Also, my "issues": One truck zone violation, reduced by legal wrangling to a parking ticket. One backing incident/accident of about $400 damage (minor scratched a JB Hunt fender) in a Pilot

Is it worth changing carriers? What can I expect when contacting them?

Joe Current solo/company/OTR for CRE

HAZMAT:

Hazardous Materials

Explosive, flammable, poisonous or otherwise potentially dangerous cargo. Large amounts of especially hazardous cargo are required to be placarded under HAZMAT regulations

Terminal:

A facility where trucking companies operate out of, or their "home base" if you will. A lot of major companies have multiple terminals around the country which usually consist of the main office building, a drop lot for trailers, and sometimes a repair shop and wash facilities.

Dedicated Run:

A driver or carrier who transports cargo between regular, prescribed routes. Normally it means a driver will be dedicated to working for one particular customer like Walmart or Home Depot and they will only haul freight for that customer. You'll often hear drivers say something like, "I'm on the Walmart dedicated account."

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.

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.

Doubles:

Refers to pulling two trailers at the same time, otherwise known as "pups" or "pup trailers" because they're only about 28 feet long. However there are some states that allow doubles that are each 48 feet in length.

Reefer:

A refrigerated trailer.

APU:

Auxiliary Power Unit

On tractor trailers, and APU is a small diesel engine that powers a heat and air conditioning unit while charging the truck's main batteries at the same time. This allows the driver to remain comfortable in the cab and have access to electric power without running the main truck engine.

Having an APU helps save money in fuel costs and saves wear and tear on the main engine, though they tend to be expensive to install and maintain. Therefore only a very small percentage of the trucks on the road today come equipped with an APU.

APU's:

Auxiliary Power Unit

On tractor trailers, and APU is a small diesel engine that powers a heat and air conditioning unit while charging the truck's main batteries at the same time. This allows the driver to remain comfortable in the cab and have access to electric power without running the main truck engine.

Having an APU helps save money in fuel costs and saves wear and tear on the main engine, though they tend to be expensive to install and maintain. Therefore only a very small percentage of the trucks on the road today come equipped with an APU.

Joe, I'm 54 and found myself in a similar situation after my one year anniversary. I ended up staying with my job at Western Express because of the little advantages that add up to make your job more profitable. Things like being familiar with so many of my customers locations and how they did things, or even the fact that I knew where there were places to park at or near my shippers and receivers. I had a great relationship with my dispatcher , and sometimes it can take quite a while to develop that. For me, all of those things combined made it easier for me to make good money right where I was.

I recently moved on to a different job, but not until I was confident it was worth the risk of having to prove myself again, and having to learn so many things that were like second nature to me in my old job.

Can't prove it, but I think there is age discrimination in some instances. It's illegal, of course, but the companies that don't want to hire because of advanced age for whatever reason/s find ways to "legally" not hire from that group (mainly by simply ignoring the application). That being said, there are a whole lot of older drivers out there still getting the job done. It would probably require an audit by some governmental agency to prove it, e.g., compare the percentage of older qualified applicants to the percentage actually hired. Just my opinion, of course.

BTW, congratulations on completing one year! The hardest part is now in your rear-view mirror, lol.

I was on board with what you were saying all the way up to this point......

Do you pay practical mileage, or will be jip me on every run by paying Zip Code zone mileage like CRE did/does (they're getting better on this...)

.....

The main problem I have with this statement, but because it's not true because it is totally correct, but the fact that you knew before hand that they pain HHG miles or zip code to zip code miles before you actually started driving for them. Reason I know you knew was I sat through the exact same orientation as you did when I was worked for them. And yet you stayed a year. So it must have been agreeable and still is agreeable if your still willing to stay.

Now having said all that congratulations on a year of driving. Though you had a few minor bumps along the way you made it through without anything major happening. Now you must know companies will not look at the cost or amount of damaged, money wise, what they will look at is it was a accident. The "parking" ticket is not a moving violation so will have no effect on your hireablility. The minor accident will have some effect and there will be some that will turn you down because of it. So be it. Move on.

You said you had a list of companies that you would like to drive for but they required 2 years of experience. OK let me state a few things.... You said you would not change companies if the reward did not make it worth it right? So that means your at least happy or satisfied some what with your current arrangement. So if all that is true what would be the problem with staying at CRE for another year and make the 2nd year accident free then you have met the minimum requirements for your 2 year experience companies?

If you can stick it out for another year, and sounds like you could make it work, then that would be my advice. Stay there. Get more experience. Put time between the last accident and the time you decide to change jobs.

Just a solid option to look at.

I agree with the sentiments of Guyjax and Old School - don't switch companies unless you're 100% certain you'll have it a whole lot better. It doesn't sound like you're unhappy where you're at and 37 cents per mile is very competitive. You must have a good dispatcher that's keeping you rolling, you have good equipment, you have competitive pay, and you've already established yourself at CR England. It won't get much better than that at your average company. There would have to be something really great or really unique about the new job to make it worth changing. Otherwise you're going sideways at best and quite potentially backward by leaving the solid position you're in.

Shaffer starts experienced drivers at .44 cpm , if you were looking for a higher pay rate. It can go up from there. But what the other wise gentleman said in response to your post is something you should consider. Being established and having a good dispatcher can make up for a slight increase in pay.

I was on board with what you were saying all the way up to this point...... The main problem I have with this statement, but because it's not true because it is totally correct, but the fact that you knew before hand that they pain HHG miles or zip code to zip code miles before you actually started driving for them. Reason I know you knew was I sat through the exact same orientation as you did when I was worked for them. And yet you stayed a year. So it must have been agreeable and still is agreeable if your still willing to stay.

June 2015 - We'll, that's not actually true. None of us really seemed to know what we'd get paid, once on the road (most didn't even know if they'd make it through training, to become drivers).

I suppose a lot depends on where you went to the CRE school, but at Fontana, there were no conversations about HOW they calculated pay mileage, let alone what we'd get paid, working for them. The only "pay" conversations were about how we'd get paid, once on the road as trainees, and not really much more. As I said, it could have been different where you went to CRE school, but there was ZERO pay conversations, while at Fontana... Most of us hadn't a clue there were different methods, let alone different mileage pay rates for new employees (most got .28 cents/mile out of school, but I got .35 cents/mile by joining Relief & Recovery right out of the gate).

Can't prove it, but I think there is age discrimination in some instances. It's illegal, of course, but the companies that don't want to hire because of advanced age for whatever reason/s find ways to "legally" not hire from that group (mainly by simply ignoring the application). That being said, there are a whole lot of older drivers out there still getting the job done. It would probably require an audit by some governmental agency to prove it, e.g., compare the percentage of older qualified applicants to the percentage actually hired. Just my opinion, of course.

NO DOUBT about it, though far, far less in the trucking industry, than in general job hunting. As they say, "the truck doesn't have a clue how old you are...", but the people that hire certainly do...

I don't look anywhere near my age, anyway, but it's still something that the resume tends to show, unless you purge anything related to age/dates from your resume, in which case they tend to look at you as being deceptive, when in reality, you're just playing their game. In my case, I had a two-year void in my resume, from having given up my job to take care of my dad, in his last two years of life (dementia, etc), as opposed to planting him in a facility. I suppose that 2-year void was looked at strangely, even though I explained things, if I ever got a meeting, in person. I'm guessing some would think I was in jail or something, not at home, taking care of an elder, using my own resources to pay the bills... The trouble is, I rarely got an actual interview, since the "new" electronic version of applying for jobs probably just screened me out based on that void, or some ridiculous & arbitrary "hiring range" a prospective employer might have supplied to the electronic resume filters. Hundreds of my very professional resumes were sent out, with very little, or no response.... That hasn't happened so much since I got into trucking, though, it did happen once, and that particular outfit just called me back, to offer me a job, a little too late.

June 2015 UPDATE

OK, so it took me some time, but I finally jumped ship from CR England. There were plenty of good reasons to move on, mostly based on pay, but I still don't have any terrible things to say about them. I just saw that there was never going to be adequate pay, even though I was running like a raped ape, maximizing my trips & HOS hours. I did have three miserable months, with trouble tractors & trailers, and more of the things I was initially hired for (more quitters, consequently, more recoveries). YES, I get that I was paid a little better for driving Relief & Recovery, but it was never worth having to jump in different trucks all the time, having to deal with the messes left behind by sloppy fired/quitting drivers. Who lives in their vehicle like it's their own personal landfill??? No, nobody scattered their bodily waste inside the trucks I was getting in, but there were some total slobs, unbelievably. One of my last runs was with my first "relief" vehicle, where another recovery guy picked up a company driver that was taking time off, and the recovery driver was continuing to run loads with that truck. That recovery driver picked me up in Laredo, and I drove him to Dallas, where he picked up another recovery vehicle, while I continued on in the original relief truck. Trouble is, the relief truck was also a mess, and every cubby hole was filled with trash, from the company driver. I made a point of getting in on one of CRE's safety conferences to complain that a truck full of someone else's "trash" left me in jeopardy, since there was no way I could go through their stuff to insure there were no guns, knives, drugs, alcohol, etc. buried in the piles. I cleaned out the cab section/cubbies, and put all that junk under the bunk, with their other junk. There were prescription drugs among the items left behind by the company driver, so my points should have been taken well by CRE Safety, which they seemed to do. Still, there I was in a company truck, with someone else's drugs in the vehicle, and I'm sure I'd have learned that it was a legal issue, if I'd had a full DOT exam, or had gotten in an accident, and they went hunting for potential reasons. (I mean, if a person could just have someone else's drugs in their vehicle, and claim it wasn't theirs, wouldn't all the drug users just have someone else's bottle in the vehicle, and claim it wasn't theirs????) Funny thing, when I ended up picking the company driver back up, he wanted to know where all his junk was, and was ****ed off when I told him it was with the rest of his junk. We had to run a trip together, and he was a real card, but I finally got myself out of that situation, and into yet another vehicle.

The point is, why should I have been subjected to that nonsense, when I wasn't getting paid anywhere near the standard driver rate, for someone with nearly two year's experience??? I quit. I now drive team, driving doubles , for a contractor, that is taking much better care of me, getting me home every week, and paying me a lot more for the hours I do work. And, while nothing is ideal, in life, this is much better, making more and being home with family more often.