[peterbilt]

Hi guys:

A buddy of mine (drives for Crete) told me about a job where you drive around the shipper/trucking co's lot/freight yard etc, and pick up the 53' trailers and bring them to the dock/truck, etc. He refers to this as a 'yard dog' position. I've also heard them refer to these people as 'spotters'. Does anyone else have any clue what other names they might use to refer to people that do this?

He said since no CDL was normally required, it would give me great experience backing up, that way when I did get to CDL school, I'd be a pro at it. Any ideas?

Thanks,
Erick

[Uturn2001]

Spotter is the name you will see in job ads.

Yard Jockey is another name that is used, but like yard dog it is more slang than anything else.

[peterbilt]

thanks...

[Useless]

Technically, no CDL should be required, because you are not driving in a street, or public thoroughfare.

[Manicmechnic]

Yard jockey
or
switcher

No CDL required unless crosses street or trailer has HAZMAT inside. Oh some people you work for will let you get the CDL with there truck. Good luck

[Fozzy]

Or even by the title Hostler. The company I drive for used to require a CDL and they would get their drivers from two regular sources:

Pretty decent drivers who are tired of the whole OTR game and want to get a "real job".

-AND-

drivers who could not longer get or remain hired at real companies and from under overpasses and from soup kitchens etc.

Most of the "real drivers" usually do not stay that long because of the physical nature of the work and the shock of getting paid for only 40 - 50 hours and only making that on their checks. The difference is huge when you are gone and working 100 hours plus per week. The paychecks are SHORT compared to the OTR checks BUT the fact that we work four days off a week for other things is also a shock.

The lowlifes are also not here long due to the fact that this IS actually work and that they have never really stayed anywhere for long. I have seen far too many of these clowns show up drunk to count. Doing this type of work is hard enough without drunks trying to kill you!

MOST companies will not hire off the street without a CDL. After a stretch of time where we had 2 people on a 5 man crew for months at a time.. we trained our own yard jockeys from inside the building. Two of the best guys we have are ex loaders.

[Lewis friend]

Yeah, it's called "jockey" or "hostler" as everyone pointed out.

One way to possibly land it is to apply for work at a LTL company and work the dock for a while and usually you can volunteer for the jockey position because most of the smaller (less than 100 doors) terminals don't have a "full-time" jockey on duty. Or they might. Or they might at night only. All depends on the particular terminal. Most LTL co's are paying around $17hr. to work the dock which is actually pretty damn good.
If you get hired, tell the TM (terminal manager) or Dock foreman you want to jockey.

Most regular (non-ltl) warehouse require you to already have the CDL. At least that's what i see in my local paper.

I could never do jockey---too boring.

[Jackrabbit379]

Yard dog,or mule. Or,like us,the guy who drives the yard dog at our warehouse,we call him scorpion. I think that was his handle,when he used to drive.

[ssoutlaw]

Where I work there are 2 on at all times, and the company calls them spotters. They make less than the local drivers and work the same hrs. They get 14.00 hr, not enough for me!

[Shawnee]

Shunters, yard jockeys, shifters, etc, It is a very good way to start out, You will get very good experience backing and manouvering. When you do go to a CDL school, you will have a big advantage over the other new drivers,

I started out this way before I was even old enough to get a CDL, by the time I did get my CDL I had almost 5 years of shunting experience,

Look in your local papers for companies requiring these positions. Some of the bigger companies may require a CDL to do this job, but most companies don't, as you are not driving on the road