Retiring Technician Wants To Be A Truckdriver
Topic 876 | Page 1
Age is not an issue as long as you can do the job you apply for. But for being home a few days a week that is a different matter. Most local companies want their drivers to have some experience before taking them on and that means OTR driving for 6 months to a year. As long as you keep your driving record clean you should not have a problem with finding a local or semi regional driving job. You might get lucky and get one right out of school but that does not happen very often.
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.
Welcome aboard Gordon!
First of all, age is no concern. Trucking is one of the few industries which actually prefers age to youth because liability is the #1 concern for trucking companies and we all tend to make safer, more prudent decisions as we get older. It's common to find people in their 60's in truck driving schools across the country so don't be concerned a bit about age.
Ok, as far as getting training from a big company, we have excellent information on the various Company-Sponsored CDL Training Programs so you can go ahead and browse through there and see what each of them offers. There's quite a few differences between them.
But really, before you do, you should go through our entire Truck Driver's Career Guide. Our career guide will really help you understand the trucking industry. It will cover about every topic imaginable that pertains to getting your trucking career underway, including how to choose a CDL school, how to choose a Trucking Company, and what to expect from life on the road. It will of course cover your choices for schooling and will lead you to our company-sponsored training section that I linked to above.
So have a look around at those links and come on back with any questions you may have. We'll be happy to help you out any way we can.
As far as getting home on the weekends, there are several companies that offer some really nice home time packages, including Swift Transportation and Roehl Transport. Both of those have company-sponsored programs and you'll be able to read all about em in the links above.
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.
Company-sponsored Training:
A Company-Sponsored Training Program is a school that is owned and operated by a trucking company.
The schooling often requires little or no money up front. Instead of paying up-front tuition you will sign an agreement to work for the company for a specified amount of time after graduation, usually around a year, at a slightly lower rate of pay in order to pay for the training.
If you choose to quit working for the company before your year is up, they will normally require you to pay back a prorated amount of money for the schooling. The amount you pay back will be comparable to what you would have paid if you went to an independently owned school.
Company-sponsored training can be an excellent way to get your career underway if you can't afford the tuition up front for private schooling.
HOS:
Hours Of Service
HOS refers to the logbook hours of service regulations.OOS:
When a violation by either a driver or company is confirmed, an out-of-service order removes either the driver or the vehicle from the roadway until the violation is corrected.
From everything I've seen on this site, age is really irrelevant. As long as you can pass the DOT physical you shouldn't have a problem.
As far a finding something regional starting out, it may be a little more difficult. At most of the big companies you may have to go OTR for 6 months to a year before sliding into a regional account that will get you home more often. I think I did see one of the large companies that had regional opportunities starting out but I don't recall which. If being on a regional account is really important you may have better luck getting your CDL from a private school and then you will have more options for a company that may have regional routes for you. Calling the companies will give you the best information about who can offer what. Check out the info here on this site as well, like I said I'm pretty sure I saw one of the companies that has training offers dedicated routes quicker but can't remember which. I didn't care about regional routes so I didn't pay much attention to it. Another thing to think about is that during training you may not have a chance to go home for a while. Make sure you talk with the companies before hand about it so you aren't suprised later.
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.
Dedicated Route:
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.
DOT:
Department Of Transportation
A department of the federal executive branch responsible for the national highways and for railroad and airline safety. It also manages Amtrak, the national railroad system, and the Coast Guard.
State and Federal DOT Officers are responsible for commercial vehicle enforcement. "The truck police" you could call them.
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Hi all
I am so glad I found this site. This is the most positive trucker site I've seen. Y'all are doing a great job here. Any whoo, I have been a technician at a large semiconductor manufacturing facility here in Dallas for the past 34 years and am looking to retire from there and start a trucking career, preferably regional. I would still like to be home a couple of days a week. Is it too late to get into trucking at my age? I prefer to get company training from a big company and would likely retire from that same company in about 12 to 15 years. This is all new to me so any help would be appreciated. The positive nature of this site and the people here has gotten me pretty excited about this! - Gordon
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.