Life changes

[tlombard]

That is exactly what I'm thinking and why I'm going to give it a shot. These next three weeks will probably be the only chance I ever get to drive a manual since the truck I'll get from Stevens will be an automatic. It will be completely different than a car with not using the gas, double clutching and then having 10 gears with a high and low range selector. There is even a high and low for reverse. It seems pretty simple once you get used to it though. It seems that you generally start out in third since the trailers will all be empty and then once you are going from fifth to sixth it is just a matter of a simple toggle on the shifter when you have it in neutral. Then you go back to where first is, it goes into that sixth and you just row through the top five like normal.

We will see how it goes but my only goal is to graduate from here as soon as I can with my CDL so I can get back to making good money and build my savings back up. I'm literally starting all over again from scratch but I'm actually excited about it. I think I mentioned before that since I'll be on the road almost non stop for the next five or six months, I even gave up my apartment and other than a few things that I have stored in a friend's basement... I own nothing that wouldn't fit in my car for the drive down here to Springfield.

The most important thing right now is practicing the pre-trip inspection every single day while learning how to actually drive all over. There is so much to remember and it isn't just the parts that you check but what you have to say while you are going through. If you're interested, there should be a link to a video of the pre-trip inspection below. Joe Brown is the head instructor down here and the only videos we are supposed to watch because there are different requirements in different states and some of the others will miss things that Missouri wants or include other parts/terminology that will just cause you issues with the test in Missouri.

He goes through it all pretty quickly and it is still nearly 20 minutes. This video also doesn't include the in-cab part. You have to remember to say every single thing he does in order to pass the pre-trip inspection test... and you are only allowed to take it twice. If you don't pass on the second try then you are done and won't be getting your CDL from this school.

[Fat_Bulldog]

Sounds like an adventure for sure.

Enjoy it and try not to worry too much.

[G. Keenan]

@tlombard

As you've gone through this process, have any of your classmates been able to go through this training having had felony convictions in the past? A friend of mine has a pretty serious (nonviolent) felony conviction and did some time for it. He's trying to get his life more together and was hoping to get his CDL license but thinks there's no chance he can get it, or that any company would hire him even if he did, once they do a background check. Is that true from what you've seen?

From what I've seen and can find, a felony doesn't automatically disqualify you. It all depends on what the felony was for... and then whether a company will hire you or not. As long as your license is good, your friend shouldn't have to worry about getting the CDL part but it depends on the company as far as getting hired it looks like. The biggest thing is DUI's. One DUI when you have your CDL automatically suspends your CDL for 6 months at which point you aren't keeping your job if you already have one and getting hired with a prior DUI might be a big problem since companies see that previous history. As long as there aren't any DUI's, I think the felony would be OK depending on what it was. There are felonies that could disqualify from getting the CDL but I'm not sure what they are other than the fact that they are considered the more serious ones.

Update: I did another specific search and there seems to be a list of companies that will hire drivers with a felony. The list is pretty big and I recognize two of them as companies that are sponsoring drivers in my class, PAM and Schneider. I found another list that shows Stevens Transportation will hire if the felony is far enough in the past. Actually, 7 of the 10 of us now are being hired by PAM while two are with Schneider (my roommate had to switch over because PAM didn't accept his one year medical card) and I'm with Stevens. Unless the felony was really serious and/or involved the use of a commercial vehicle, I bet he can get hired and have his CDL paid for. Just have him reach out to companies and talk to somebody. The people at Stevens have been really easy and great throughout the entire process. When I finally decided to do it, I talked to them on a Wednesday and I could have started school that next Monday. Just be honest with them and do the research on the companies. During the call where I picked my start date, they even put me in touch with the head guy at the school I'm at so we could exchange information in case I needed anything in between.

All seem to pay differently and do things differently. PAM reimbursed the others in my class $50 for getting their permit which only cost $41 in Missouri. Schneider and Stevens don't. Then when we graduate, I have to spend more time with a company trainer than any of the others do before I can drive on my own, 4-6 weeks compared to 2-4 weeks for the others. But I'm also getting paid more all the way around. I'll get $600/week while with the company trainer. PAM is paying $525. Then when I'm on my own, I'll get $0.44 per mile with $975 a week guaranteed but will more likely be in the $1200 per week range and then the mileage pay goes up with experience. PAM is paying $0.33 per mile with no minimum guarantee. Schneider is paying a flat salary. My roommate will be hauling oil on the east coast so he has to get his Hazmat right away and they will be paying him a flat $1000 per week with a $50/week raise every three or four months. Also with PAM and Schneider, they seem to hire for routes they need filled so you will now at least what region and states you will be driving in before you even start school. My roommate was given two options from Schneider, the oil route on the east coast or as a team driver delivering to Home Depot which paid more and has more home time BUT he would have had to have somebody to drive with and he doesn't have that. With Stevens, I have to get 90 days on my own driving anywhere in the country before I can transfer to a regional or dedicated route. Those 90 days on my own are why I have to spend more time with a company trainer, we have to drive to all four corners of the US and in between during that time. In the end, I think I went with the right company.

Last thing, if your friend is a bigger guy... get a sleep study done and a CPAP if he needs it before going to school. That got my roommate sent home for over a month and almost got me. If it wasn't for him telling me what happened, I wouldn't have been able to scramble so quickly and get myself covered in time. I'd be posting from a friend's house back in St. Louis about how I have to wait another month if it wasn't for him saving my butt. The sleep study and high blood pressure did get another guy in my class sent home this past week. That's one thing it seems that nobody tells you. Maybe some doctors don't care, but it could trip him up. I think there are even certain urgent care places that will do the physicals for CDL so he could even get the medical card before reporting to a school which would be a nice step. Heck, he could even study for the permit and show up with both which would take a lot of pressure off. But there is a lot to know for the three tests (four for a tanker qualification) so the classroom work really helped with that.

Thanks man, that is a lot of good info. I'll pass this along. I don't know all the technicalities, but his conviction was basically for interstate distribution of cocaine. Like, enough that the feds take notice and roll up your underlings to get them to flip on you. He was moving weight. I would imagine trucking companies would frown on that. On the other hand, he already knows the distribution business! So who knows.

[tlombard]

Thanks man, that is a lot of good info. I'll pass this along. I don't know all the technicalities, but his conviction was basically for interstate distribution of cocaine. Like, enough that the feds take notice and roll up your underlings to get them to flip on you. He was moving weight. I would imagine trucking companies would frown on that. On the other hand, he already knows the distribution business! So who knows.

Good luck to your friend. I'm not sure how that would work but it never hurts to reach out to a few companies, especially if the conviction was far enough in the past.

Today we got to actually move the big trucks around the yard!!!! We just did straight forward and straight back but I passed the maneuver without any problem. I went first in my group and took out a cone on my first attempt and had to get some direction from the instructor but that wasn't an actual scored attempt, just to get us acclimated a little, and I got a little direction on my first real attempt and then nailed the final three perfectly and my time got faster each go so I'm happy with myself. They score every attempt from 1-4 with 1 meaning you handled it yourself with no help and within the time limit. 4 means you just really screwed the pooch. I got a 2 on my first official attempt and then my final three passes were all 1s so they signed off on that. Tomorrow we learn and practice offset parking where you start in one slot, pull forward back it into the slot next to where you started and then go back to the first. Still more or less straight back but with a little side to side added in. After we get that down then the real fun starts with parallel parking and alley parking. In alley parking you have to bend that sucker a full 90 degrees and is obviously the toughest part. But I like their approach where they just teach us in small steps to build up.

My inner six year old is really happy right now because even if it was only 50 or so yards forward and 50 or so yards back, I've driven a manual 18 wheeler at least a bit now. Getting going is actually easier than in a car since you don't need to touch the gas pedal. We'll see how much harder it gets when we actually have to double clutch and shift. I will say that these older trucks they have at the school are interesting. They don't always go into gear easily. The gauges on the truck we were in didn't actually work as far as the coolant temp, battery voltage or oil pressure. But the instructor they paired me and the other guy up with said it is the worst truck on the lot as far as it's condition and the ones we actually take on the road will be road worthy. This one and a couple of others aren't good for anything other than practicing backing up in the yard. It's also kind of crazy that from the very first attempt, that instructor is not in the vehicle with you at all. They just tell you what to do and let you have at it!

[AWvsCBsteeeerike3]

Awesome, man! Sounds like you're having a good time.

[tlombard]

I spent about an hour and a half or so talking with my uncle this evening who retired last year from driving and spent years over the road and local routes. He gave me some great advice and I told him about how they are teaching us down here and some of the things they have said and he said it seems like this school has it right and isn't BS'ing us about anything which makes me feel really good. Just simple things like how they flat out told us that they are teaching us how to pass the tests and get our CDL and not how to drive. The company trainers for whoever we go to work for are the ones that teach us to drive. I told him that and he said that he wished they would have told him things like that a few decades ago when he was going through his training because it is exactly what it is. They told us that nobody is a good driver for at least six months or a year after they get their CDL and you just have to stick to it and learn from everything you do and what you hear from others. My uncle said the exact same thing. He said that if somebody tells you they are teaching you to drive and that you will be a competent driver when you leave the school then they are full of it.

Local routes seem so much better because you can be home every night and the pay is great, but one thing nobody thinks of is the fact that those are the routes where you are doing all of your driving and docking in cities and areas with a lot of traffic and often times really tight areas at the docks where you have the stress and pressure of having to block and hold up traffic to get in and out which is not fun and can trip a lot of drivers up when they aren't patient and get flustered about holding up traffic instead of taking their time and realizing that you're bigger than the other cars and if you have to hold up traffic for a minute or two to get it done right then that is just what you have to do. You get paid for delivering the load on time and safely, you don't get style points. On the other hand, over the road is going to keep you away from home for periods of time BUT 99% of the driving is highway which is much less stressful and racks up your mileage a lot faster than constant stop and go which is why even though you may get more per mile for local routes, the money isn't necessarily better. It can be but that isn't a given, plus you have to consider the extra stress and increased chances for accidents involved with traffic in congested areas. If you get in an any kind of fender bender that is your fault, that damage comes out of your check too.

He also told me some stories of the dumb stuff that he's seen and done. I mentioned how they drill into us to be extremely careful with the height of the trailer when you go to couple because if it's too high by just the right amount then the kingpin won't get caught and if it slides over your skid plate and that skid plate pops back up... you are in for a heck of a lot of time, work and looking like a fool trying to recover from that because you can't just push that skid plate back down and pull the truck out from under it. I told him that and he just laughed and said he learned that one the hard way in his first couple of months when it happened to him. He didn't tell me how he got out of that situation and just said, don't do it.

He said the best piece of advice that he could give is safety. Always keep that first. When you leave your truck even for just five minutes and there are other people around, double check that coupling before you get in the truck because there are evil people out there who will pull the release on your fifth wheel and you can do your pull test and everything before you get on the road and think things are fine until you make that first turn. He said you won't drop the trailer going straight, it's the turn. I never would have thought of that. He used to drive a route hauling mail from downtown St. Louis to Michigan and he said you wouldn't believe how many times a driver doesn't do the proper safety check and then when they get to the top of the entrance to 40 right there at 14th and Clark, that is when the trailer drops and now you've got the highway entrance completely blocked and are waiting for a wrecker to come help get that trailer hooked back up and you're looking at a few thousand dollars even if there is no damage to anything.

With safety he stressed that it isn't even the first six months or year, what happens is that after a few years you have to fight becoming complacent or lazy. Most of the dropped trailers and such aren't new drivers, it is the drivers who have been doing it for years and just get complacent. That makes a ton of sense really.

[tlombard]

Day 2 on the yard and starting on offset backing (pulling forward out of one spot and backing into the spot next to it) was definitely interesting. People got confident yesterday when they nailed the straight backing right away but this offset definitely humbled most. I have to admit that while I didn't nail my first two attempts, I got through them and probably could have gotten through the second one without any help but the instructor was right there immediately correcting us. As soon as I started to mess up, I knew exactly where I was going wrong but the instructor was there telling me what to do before I had a chance to correct it. Even that helped a ton because it reinforced in my brain that I was figuring it out. But I also had the benefit of doing a lot of watching and learning from the mistakes of the other two in my group since I was last to go. I didn't get a chance at a third attempt where he sits back and leaves you alone unless you really get jammed up or hit a cone or something but the other two I was grouped with got that third chance and weren't able to get through it without help. I'll get my chance to nail it tomorrow and hopefully I get it right the next two times I get a shot so that they can sign off on it and I can be ready for the next maneuver... parallel parking the beast on both sides. That is going to be an adventure.

From talking to my classmates, everybody other than Mr. Cocky Britches (this kid thinks he knows and can do everything already because his step dad is a truck driver and he has taken trips with him over summers... he's too much to deal with at times) has some interesting story about why there are here and they all come down to there just not being any jobs that pay decently enough where they are from so they decided that they had to do something to make a better life for themselves and their family and they came here. The common theme that you hear from everybody is that they don't care about anything other than getting their CDL so that they can get their life on track or back on track.

My roommate blew out his ACL and just couldn't physically do his job as a prison guard in Oklahoma anymore, plus the job paid next to nothing. He said that Oklahoma ranks 48th out of all of the states in pay for prison guards... and the other two just don't even report what they pay so who knows. Another guy from Tennessee can't find a good paying job in his rural area so he's here so that he can have a career with good enough pay that he can go visit his kids in Michigan who he hasn't seen in a year since his ex moved there with them. He just can't afford it. Plus his dog died yesterday morning. And then he doesn't have a penny until he gets paid Friday. Literally couldn't even afford to eat yesterday. I walked outside last night and he was just sitting on the curb looking like he was in a really bad place so I sat there and talked to him for a bit about things and then this morning I went over to the grocery store with him and bought him some food (and some for myself too). I can't let the man go three or four days without any food, especially when we're out in the heat sweating profusely all day in the yard. The old trucks that we're learning backing maneuvers on don't have air conditioning either so you're sweating like crazy at all times. I also appreciated that one thing he really wanted to do today was get a couple of cases of water and some ice and then pay me back for everything Friday. He had a big cooler already so we filled up that cooler with bottles of water on ice and took it with us today to share with everybody. The cases of water were only $2.49 so I had no problem paying up for that. I should have thought of it myself.

I don't even care if he pays me back for any of it. That's what people should do for each other. Plus I was extremely lucky and touched last Thursday when I looked at my phone and saw that a friend sent me $500 on Venmo. I guess she remembered years ago when her and her husband were in some tough times financially and I 'lent' them $1800 because they were way behind on their mortgage. I never asked for a penny of that back. I don't lend money to friends unless I'm willing to never see that money again. That was nearly a decade ago and after I wired her the money, I never said a thing about it and never even really thought about it. I guess she remembered about that for some reason last week and that I have no income coming in unless I Door Dash down here for the four weeks so she just decided to help me out and knew better than to offer. If she offered, I would have turned it down because I have a problem admitting when I need help. I just can't bring myself to ask for it. When I talked to her to thank her, she just said that she was happy to help out and that she'll send me more in a week or two. I still never mentioned the loan. Even if she doesn't send me another penny, it had me emotional to be down to my last $100 and then look down at my phone and see that money out of nowhere. And then I got my final paycheck from the furniture store the next day so I wasn't completely destitute but that $500 sure helped a lot. It's actually the only reason I felt comfortable spending the $22 for the ticket to go to the ballgame here tonight so I can see some Cardinal prospects and stuff my fat face with dollar hotdogs!

[tlombard]

Yeah. Brain fart. They Springfield Cardinals aren't home tonight. My ticket is for September 7th. Realized that after I got all the way to the stadium and was confused as to why NOTHING was going on down there and it was completely devoid of people or activity. I wanted to go this week but as soon as I walked up to the gate, I remembered that I couldn't go this week because they started a road trip after Sunday's home game. Oops. At least I got about a mile walk in during this 100 degree heat after spending all afternoon outside on the yard or in a truck with no AC practicing backing up.

I'm a complete moron.

[GeddyWrox]

Dang! Sorry man! Sounds like something I would do too.

[IMADreamer]

I have my CDL because we haul all of our grain with semis. I absolutely suck at driving. The shifting part is super easy and back up is too. What I absolutely hate is narrow field entrances and getting the hopper bottoms in just the right spot to unload into the auger. I suck at it. My Dad and Uncle can do that in their sleep.

Not that my advice matters, but for me my biggest concern when on the road is the people in front of me. Most people just do not get how trucks take much longer to stop than a car so they will pass you and then get right in front of you. It's frustrating.

Oh yeah, the trailer height thing you talked about and going over the top of the plate. Don't do that. As me how I know. lol