[dj4monie]

I was trained by The Great Pumpkin, stayed 8 months, left over management issues.

Yeah I owe them money but they'll never see a penny, HA!

I returned to courier work and then went to work for J.B Hunt. All was going well until I had a series of minor incidents -

a) Not furnish the correct directions (typical yeah I know), ended up flatting both right side trailer tires.

b) flatten tire, bent rim at South Gate Rail Terminal on Jeresy Barrier, ooops

c) After dropping at Sears DC near Bakersfield, I was informed the usual "We need a pickup at 7am dot, dot, dot and nobody else can do it but you.."

After 4 hours of sleep in a truck cab, (not ideal of course) I went to the Target DC to pick up a trailer. As I got my papers for the trailer, I pulled forward and slightly glanced the parking pole put there when a Swift Driver knocked off the security camera. Slight damage to the fender, but that was 3 in 90 days so I was out of a job.

I stayed home for 6 months, returned to work for Pep Boys and contacted J.B Hunt who informed me at the time that I could return to the company provided I had not had any traffic issues. Of course I didn't, nobody would hire me after that (I had tried) they were not specific in saying you needed to drive for another company in that time. Okay fine, whatever.

After 2 years at Pep Boys, I am finally tired of it.

I do have a contact number for a young couple I met at work. They did "Hot Shot" work with a small International truck with a cube on the back. They are based out of GA however and contract with Panther Transport.

I never called them however and not sure they would remember.

In any case, I have a couple of choices -

a) Find a carrier willing to take me. Sherman Brothers was ONE, however I really don't wanna go back tor flatbed duty after just drop and hooks with JB Hunt.

b) Spend $5K for training that does not have any set job placement

c) Spend $7K for UXO training (those with a military background know what that is) with HAZWOPER

In either case I am looking for leave Pep Boys after next month and have enough money to stay out the full year if necessary and pay many monthly bills a year in advance.

I am looking for advice and suggestion from this board. I just haven't posted in a long time.

Thanks

[steelhauler2007]

Being out of the truck for 2 years,you may have to take a refresher course or go with a trainer for a short while.All you can do is contact some carriers and see what they say.If you can get past the recruiter and talk to someone in safety,you can find out alot more info.G/L

[dj4monie]

Originally Posted by steelhauler2007

Being out of the truck for 2 years,you may have to take a refresher course or go with a trainer for a short while.All you can do is contact some carriers and see what they say.If you can get past the recruiter and talk to someone in safety,you can find out alot more info.G/L

Thanks, yeah seemingly getting past the recruiter is an issue.

Shortly after I was let go by JB Hunt, I contacted Sherman Brothers and they were interested, but said something was on my DVR. I never bothered to get it checked out but it was something I guess I needed to look at.

I am somewhat done with trucking, I liked it, had a good time. Simple job, short training and paid fairly well depending on your lifestyle of course.

In a profession that is seeing so much turnover a) and b) is always looking for drivers, maybe were I am located hampers things a bit since things leave California but hardly anything comes back in (always a problem with JB Hunt OTR). Relocating is not attractive, I am a native and don't find many areas of the US appealing at all.

Proving I can drive a truck safely is nothing, there really isn't anything wrong with how I drive, I just got caught out by a few minor things and thing happen and always low speed.

I had 3 days off in a row, rare but then again I worked from Christmas to New Years with one day off and yeah I know truckers don't wanna hear about that since it was likely many of you were on the road the whole time.

Thanks for the advice really.