No "OTR" Experience
 

I need some advice. I have been driving local for a couple of years (Heavy Wrecker) and I'm moving to Greensboro NC in the next month. When I get up there, I would like to run regional with someone. I am looking at TMC (I don't mind flatbed) and a couple of other companies. My issue is that because I went to school so long ago and have no OTR time, most companies I've talked to kinda give me the cold shoulder. I don't want to go with anyone of the "Top 5" List (of places to stay away from lol). Who should I be contacting?

One catch, I would like to spend as little time with a trainer as possible (read ideal=0). I can deal with a couple of weeks if need be but I wouldn't be happy about it :sad:

Good luck. Without those three little letters, OTR, most companies are going to want you to go through school and full training again. You might try to check around and see if you can get on with some of the refresher training some companies offer.

I never understood this. My theory is that is by using a narrow definition of experience they try to keep wages depressed.

I have to hit more tight docks in a day of P&D than some OTRers will see in a month.

Using the criteria of most OTR companies a Million Mile LTL driver that has gone over Donner Pass twice a night for years is equal to someone with the ink still drying on his CDL.

Try and find a smaller company or an O/O who has a more realistic definition of experience.

The guy who trained me at Con-Way drove grain trucks on his family farm in WA decades ago. He and his wife got their CDLs and were able to make good money teaming for an O/O on a % of the load basis.

Bwfore taking issue with the no OTR experience, you need to consider that you also have no tractor trailer experience.

Not true. I also run our tri-axle drop deck. I do 2-3 local runs a week in it. And if you think getting around town in a tractor pulling a 53' trailer is fun, add a 43' long wrecker in front of the combo. Backing up is "fun".

OTR has a MENTAL challenge not experienced by local drivers. Then there is learning time management OTR, fueling, parking, scheduling, showering, eating, sleeping, etc. Training is also required to learn how to secure a load PROPERLY the TMC way. I'm not knocking any other drivers but I have YET to see a non-TMC driver secure their load the way we do I don't care HOW good they THOUGHT they were, I was ALWAYS better and safer.
You'll need to learn how to use a log book, the Qualcom system, talk/relate to your fleet manager, and also how to complete and return your paperwork.
There is a LOT to learn in a short time (especially with TMC) that you probably have never even considered. My opinion? Take the training. It's well worth it.

I really don't see why he would need a trainer, he has a CDL, he knows how to drive, why would you need to go out with a trainer just to drive OTR? Driving is all the same whether it's local or OTR, personally I think local drivers would have better experience because they spend more time driving in a city environment, backing up to docks, dealing with customers, than someone fresh out of training driving OTR

the only thing you might need to learn if you don't alrealy know is the log books, and going into flatbed he will have to learn their proper way to secure the load, and probably spend some time in orientation to learn their policies and paperwork, but I don't see why he would need to go out on the road with a trainer

I don't know how it is any more of a mental challenge, does a rookie straight out of training have any more ability to deal with life on the road than someone with several years of local driving? At least someone with some local experience knows how to handle a truck

I never had any OTR experience when I started OTR, just local and shunting experience and I never had to take any kind of training, and I know I wouldn't have liked to go with a trainer anyway, all I had to do was go out with their training guy in the truck for a road test, and spend a few days in training to learn their policies and paperwork

I know some of the smaller companies would hire you without training, I started out with a smaller company OTR and I never had any formal training at all, I really would stay away from the big companies, I personally don't like the big companies

Going out with a trainer helped me learn how to "deal" with the fleet managers. What I could and couldn't "get away with" saying or doing. I also learned which shippers were good and which to avoid. We are not forced dispatch and so choosing your load can make or break your paycheck.
Also, while out with a trainer, TMC tries to give you a wide variety of loads so the new driver is exposed to securing different types of freight the "TMC-way". The trainer can also see if the new driver SUCKS, has a bad attitude or in general, is not TMC material. Even 10 years experience does NOT make a good driver. I've seen MANY veteran drivers who never had any formal training driving rolling time bombs in that their load securement was extremely poor. Bad habits get ingrained and have to be broken or overcome or that driver can work his 11th year elsewhere, not at TMC.

[quote="GoldiesPlating"]OTR has a MENTAL challenge not experienced by local drivers. , showering,


So that's why the local guys smell so much. :lol:

With no OTR experience, most companies won't touch you unless you at least do a refresher course, whether you like it or not. Been there, done that. Out of school, my fiance' drove a coal bucket for almost a year, and he had to take a refresher before he went OTR.

I have no doubt that spending SOME time with a trainer is a great learning experience. I also read in a another post that a company puts "newibes" with a trainer for 100k miles. That's at least 10 weeks. That, to me, is freak'n nuts. I just think a better idea would be, IMHO, a couple of weeks of classroom/hands on training followed by a week or two of "trainer".

And Useless, What does me being picky have to do with anything? I'm not going to drive for a company that treats drivers like crap. I just would like to skip the whole, this is how you shift part, etc.

GoldiesPlating, you make some good points. But a lot of the training you are talking about is more flatbed & TMC specific than just plane-jane van or reefer OTR.

My beef is that many companies choose not to distinguish between someone who already has his/her CDL but has just never been OTR or has been driving local for a while. They want to exploit them by getting getting a super cheap team driver while calling it "training". If the other person is on line 4 in the seat next to you you're not being trained.

New hires at Con-Way are given a week of training, three days with a veteran city driver doing P&D and two nights on linehaul.

1-4 weeks I understand, but 100k miles or 8-12 ?! Get real.

Sorry, I just re-read this part. Who said that "know too much"? My point is that some carriers take the training part way too far. Someone else said it perfectly, they want to run a super cheap team as long as possible.

As for TMC (or anyone else for that matter). I do agree that a person would need to learn the way that the company wants things done. It's they're ballpark so you got play with they're rules. I was simply saying that some companies get excessive with the time period.

This is the same problem I'm dealing with now. Interstate Dist. Co. will hire a guy who's in CDL school, and has absolutely NO driving experience. They even place that new driver with a trainer after they sign on with them. But, when I try to sign on with them. Someone who has 12+ years local exp. They say I have to have 6 months of OTR.
Go figure that one.

Now if someone has been doing local ltl for many years and got lucky and never went otr and decided to go a company should look at that doing the ltl alot harder than someone who has only been otr for a year. guys who do ltl sometimes spend more time in reverse than some do going forward

I dunno, but getting rooked an average of 10% off your paid miles due to HHG just don't seem kosher. Especially with so many carriers switching over to Practical Miles for their drivers.

Look at it like this: say you put 120,000 miles on the odomoter in a year. That's 12,000 miles you drive for free. So say you're making .35 cpm and that's $4200 per year up in smoke. Or figure it like this: 12,000 miles / 55 mph = 218 hours of freebies or about 20 days out of the year that you drive for absolutely zilch!

How many other industries have people show up to work 20 days straight for no pay? Well, there you have it, folks. That's exactly why OTR trucking is such a scam.

Call Falcon and get busy.
Up and coming company.
And TMC doesn't secure any better than I do,lol.

i know in some business's they like "rookie's" better because they have NO preconceptions on how to do "said" job and can be trained to their specs easier.
EXAMPLE- well, we did it this way at XXXXXX

Not to change the subject but just responding to the "vibe" that has started to run through this thread.
Drivers who choose OTR driving as a career should NOT pick apart what is "paid" and "not paid". It's NOT that type of job. If you want to get technical, since you are away from home 24 hours a day for a week (or more) straight, then using THAT type of reasoning one should be paid from the time they leave their house, to the time they return home. I DON'T see anyone getting million dollar pay checks so this is NEVER going to happen.
Instead consider that you will be working 14 hours/day and compare that to what you should make for the YEAR. If you are happy with the ratio, TAKE THE JOB. If not, find another company or another profession.
It's getting a little old hearing the same old posters complaining about "working for free". The door swings both ways. You don't like your job, open the door and walk away the same way you walked in. You would be AMAZED how much better your job can feel (and BE) if you work with a more positive attitude and stop thinking "Everyone's out to screw me".

Good post, Fred. :!:

Have you ever driven local? What MENTAL challenge is there that local drivers dont have? Trying to cope with boredom?? Okay granted you are away from home for extended peroids of time and yes that can be a challenge. Thats probably the hardest part of OTR.

Time management? I guarantee I am more under the gun than you are. I have up to 20 deliveries to be made EVERY DAY where as you have maybe that many a month. And they are just as critical and important and just as threatening to my continued employment. I dont get to sit there and watch TV while I'm being unloaded... I have to unload the truck (with a 2-wheeler, not a forklift... I'm in food service delivery). If the customer keeps you waiting... its a quick call to your FM and you get detention pay. If the customer keeps me I get to listen to all the remaining customers complain because I'm late. I HAVE to unload that truck cause I cant go home till I do... no matter how long it takes. And no I don't get paid by the hour. :wink:

Fueling, parking, scheduling? I do those daily... and I have to park and back in places designed for a milk truck (or no truck at all!), with cars AND CHILDREN all around me... several times daily. Some of these little diners and cafe's are in the middle of nowhere and on roads I'd be leery taking my pickup down, but I have to somehow manage to get a 32 foot trailer down it. As far as showering, eating, sleeping... I dont know about you but I learned those things LONG before I got a drivers licence.

We do however agree about the log book and qual-comm (if so equipped) but those can be (and usually are) taught in orientation.
Talk/relate to your fleet manager? I have to talk/relate to school staff, business owners, my transportation manager, the salesman, and about a dozen or so more people everyday... all day. Paperwork?... I got more than you can handle. Plus the businesses pay the driver so I have to deal with money, most of it cash. A LOT of money. If I lose it... its out of my pocket.

Is all that mentally challenging enough for ya?

I've driven OTR and locally... I've seen both sides of the coin. Local is more challenging and harder (in my case). And before someone says local is easier because you learn the same route... wrong! I am constantly given new places to deliver to and while you are given directions to the place your delivering... all I get is an address. Period. I have to figure it out from there. In case your wondering I dont just drive in the same town... I drive all over the state and sometimes in KY... about 1200 miles a week.