Husband & Wife Lookin' For Advice

Hi Folks! My wife and I have been planning to start professionally driving trucks for several years now. Of course we came across the excellent TruckingTruth site during our online research, and as you all here on the forum seem so friendly and like you really know what you're talking about, we'd like to ask here about a few things in particular, and for any helpful advice anybody can offer. First a little bit about us and how we came to be here:

We're 24 years old (both of us), approaching our 2-year anniversary this June. Since we met one another in college, we've shared the dream of buying a parcel of land and building our own house. Considering how we could possibly save up the money for our plan we discussed a few options. Driving a tractor-trailer together as a team, when we began to look into it, immediately appeared to be the best option, and definitely our favorite. We both love to drive; we've already been living together in close quarters for 6 years at this point and have rarely been apart for more than a daytime, so the thought of being in a cab together OTR never intimidated us; our dear friend Archie, who lived downstairs from us in our 2-apt. house in Trenton is 74 and has been trucking for over 50 years - he's been a big inspiration for us; and we love America, we love to travel America, and like I mentioned before, we want to buy a parcel of land, so trucking will allow us to see more of the country. As a matter of fact, after getting married, we spent almost 2 years backpacking the country on foot - we just returned a few months ago. We were even lucky enough that a few owner-operators offered us rides, and we were able to tell them that we've been interested in trucking and ask them some questions about themselves and their jobs, etc. Very cool. And obviously there's the fact that the pay is right for us, especially during a time when most college degrees are worth a truckload of debt & a minimum wage at a fast food joint, if that. Also driving a truck is cool, but you knew that too. Trucking is perfect for us. We're perfect for trucking. So yes, we're smart, we're serious, we're dedicated, and we've been wanting to do this for quite some time. I've been studying the CDL training course here on TruckingTruth getting as ready as possible for actually getting my CDL.

So - my CDL. My wife's CDL. Husband-wife team driving. Here's what we want, ideally: We want to be certified sponsored by a carrier company, signing a contract to work for them for at least a year. We want to drive as a team (obviously). We want to drive OTR as continuously as possible. We do not forsee wanting or needing a lot of time off at the beginning of our career.

Long-winded as all of that may have been (I apologize), hopefully some of you have already been through a similar situation to that of my wife and I, and here are some particular questions to which I've been yearning for hints: - What is the best way for us to start applying to companies at this point? Online applications? Calling the phone numbers? Is there anything in particular we should do or say? What's the usual protocol for people starting out in our position? What works? - Does anyone have a company or companies in particular to recommend to us as per the type of job we're looking for? - How do my wife and I make it clear that we intend to drive as a team? How do we ensure that's how we end up after we apply? - Is there anything that we should be wary of given our situation? (I'd like to note and make clear that we have about as realistic an idea of what the lifestyle is going to entail as anyone can who hasn't lived it yet; that's not what I mean when I ask if there's anything we should be wary of - I mean more along the lines of shady contractual gimmicks, pressure from companies to do things that might be counter-intuitive; stuff like that.) - The one thing that concerns me is that I haven't been employed in 2 years! Since we got back from our cross-country honeymoon my wife has secured a job at a fast food joint to help us save some cash. I however, have not been so "lucky" (You remember what I said before about college degrees). I poked around online trying to figure out if that's going to be a big deal. Some people have said it's a big deal and they can't get hired. On the other hand, I've also heard of people getting hired as entry-level truckers after years of collecting unemployment benefits. Anybody have anything to clarify this? Is there any way to minimize the possible flak I might face for not being able to show work history for that period? Is it a non-issue? I tend to worry sometimes. - OK so finally, I hope I've made it clear what basically our deal is and what our hopes are; is there anything else we should do or any other good advice we should keep in mind? What should be the next step for us? I'm just kinda like "asking for directions at a truck stop" here, if you will. I was really just planning on calling or emailing some of the companies we've been looking at and asking them how I can kick start this thing but, well, after reading around here on the forum I wanted to see what you all would say.

Thank you very much if you read this whole posting, We will thank you even more if you respond, Best Regards, Greg and Lea

Welcome to the forum. I'm not nearly as informed as a lot of the others that will offer advice but I will share what I know. First, check out the onfo here on choosing a company sponsored cdl school. It shows the companies that offer the training as well as a well detailed in about them and their training. This is the best info you will find. After using that youcan narrow down your choices and start contacting companies. As far as calling the recruiters or applying on line I'm not sure. I'm curious about that my self. My plan is to apply then give it a day or two and call if they don't contact me first.

The problem you may run into is being unemployed for 2 years. It looks like a lot of companies may have a problem with that. Also you may have an issue during training. Once you start otr training you would probably each go out with a different trainer (don't know for sure). This means you will be apart for a few weeks/months which may be a problem for you. Also she may have to wait for a female trainer which could throw off your plan.

Best of luck to you both. It may take some work but you should be able to make it work.

If you can get past the employment rule ( and some companies are easier than others,) companies LOVE husband and wife teams. And they'll run you as long an hard as you want to run.Read the post on here about contacting companies. you can apply online, and that would weed out some for you. So jump right in there and get going with it. If you both go to school at the same time it would be great, but you won't go out with the same trainer,you'll have different people training you otr. other than that you two sound like you have a solid plan. If you've been in school for the last 2 years, most companies will accept that for employment history. We're here to help all we can...just ask...

OK that's cool, sounds somewhat encouraging. Thanks guys.

Hello all! We just wanted to update our post as to what our current situation is, which is, we were were just hired by CRST yesterday and are waiting at their facility in Cedar Rapids, Iowa to head out on the road for our first real hauls! So, for anyone who may be reading this now who was in a similar position when we first posted this looking for advice, I'll go over the process we went through and try to answer all of my own original questions.

We made up a shortlist of companies that seemed to suit our wants and needs. CRST, as a team company with strong emphasis on OTR driving and long hauls, was one we were more interested in (in fact it was the first name on the list). So we went on their official website and called their recruiting number, and a lady took down our basic information and employment history. We explained that we were married and wanted to apply as a team. Concerning our time backpacking during which we were officially unemployed, she asked us to fax her 2 notarized letters each from people who could confirm this. It was easy to do - I chose friends who attended our wedding before we left, stored some of our belonging while we were gone, and saw us right after we returned, one of whom actually is a notary public himself, and works with other notary publics, so it was very easy for us to get the letters notarized and faxed. I think UPS stores notarize documents as well, in case anyone needs to know. So within a few days, our recruiter called back, explained the contractual obligations we would have to fulfill for CRST paying our driving school's tuition, lodging and transportation (all of which we already knew) and when we agreed, she told us we were approved and asked us which Monday we would like to catch a bus to Iowa. Ok so the bus was equally easy - we took a train into Philadelphia, PA and got on a Greyhound (they give you a reservation number and you tell it to a ticketing agent at the station and they give you a ticket) and 24 hours later we were in Iowa. There was a slight hiccup with our hotel reservations, namely that the hotel they had reserved for us was full when we got there, but they ended up putting us in a nicer one a block away within a couple of hours. Woohoo. So driving school started the next day. We picked it up quickly, passed all of our tests with excellent scores on the first try, and after 2 and a half weeks we had our Class A CDLs in hand. So, CRST shuttles took us an hour southeast to Headquarters, we spent 3 days in orientation (there was no need for worry that we would not end up in the same truck in the end, of course), passed a few final tests, and then we were given our company IDs and pay cards. Tomorrow morning we split up and head out with 2 seperate experienced drivers for 28 days, and as long as we do well (at this point I'm sure we will) we'll be co-drivers in our own truck. Awesome.

So, my most important advice for anyone who was wondering the things I was before I did all that stuff:

1. Bring your documents: throughout this whole process, the #1 reason I saw people delayed or sent home is not having proper documentation. Original birth certificate with a raised seal, every ID you have, SS card. Bring absolutely everything. Bring your past W2 forms because if your company can't get in touch with previous employers they're going to need tax records. I managed to call the IRS and have them faxed but 2 hours on hold with that music ain't fun. If you are husband wife, like we were, bring your marriage certificate. If we hadn't brought it, then for the past 3 days of orientatiom we'd each be staying with 2 other roommates of the same sex, instead of in a room with just each other. Actually there were 1 or 2 additional times where it was helpful in proving we were actually married (our last names are still different).

2. Don't omit or falsify anything: also saw a few people sent home for this. In this day and age, your personal history is more permanent and more easily available than probably ever before. So don't try and hide that traffic violatiom or whatever. Hey, if any person is perfect, then few people are perfect; I was hired with plenty of other people who had some sort of past infraction or something. It was the people who tried to omit it or lie about it that were sent home right off the bat. Trust me here.

That's really it. Everything else that concerned me just presented itself in time. OK good luck to everyone Greg

P.S. told plenty of other people out here, students and instructors, about truckingtruth. Thank you again everyone involved in the allaround best website on the topic I ever found.

Wow! That's a great post! I'm fascinated, and excited for you guys! Just remember once you get started teaming together, work hard at getting things accomplished on time and efficiently. This is going to be the single most important thing for you while at CRST. If you perform well, they will treat you well and make sure you've got all the miles you can physically and legally accomplish. If you don't perform well you will be sitting at truck stops wasting your time waiting on loads that aren't that good.

Keep it up, it sounds like you're on the right track. Training can be grueling, but it won't last forever, just consider it as a small trial you've got to get through before you can really start enjoying doing this together on your own. Best of luck to ya!

I'm glad things worked out for you guys, I'd love to see how things go for you in training separate from each other. Keep us posted, out must be cool trucking with your spouse.