Class A CDL License?? What about Hazmat?

[redhen]

Quote:
Wow... so glad you were okay!

Yeah... i dont know what to do now... I dont really want him to go OTR...
I'd miss him too much and i dont want the responsibility here all by myself...
Thats gotta be hell on a marriage..
Sooo... *sigh*
I dont know what else to do...

 

[trilyn]

Quote:
He's a sheetmetal guy? Woot!! Send him here to NY, my hubby could put him to work in a second. Knowledgeable people with tools....wicked hard to find right now. I know his company would snag him in a second. He is sooooo tired of all these applicants that want mega bucks an hour to start, have no knowledge and NO TOOLS!!! Whoops, I forgot-personal transportation too. But seriously, why not try a non union shop? With his training he is sure to make big bucks at a local hvac company. Or are all the jobs filled out there? I know around here its getting pretty hard..but its harder yet to find good people. Regardless, good luck to him and I hope he finds plenty of work!

 

[redhen]

Quote:
He's a sheetmetal guy? Woot!! Send him here to NY, my hubby could put him to work in a second. Knowledgeable people with tools....wicked hard to find right now. I know his company would snag him in a second. He is sooooo tired of all these applicants that want mega bucks an hour to start, have no knowledge and NO TOOLS!!! Whoops, I forgot-personal transportation too. But seriously, why not try a non union shop? With his training he is sure to make big bucks at a local hvac company. Or are all the jobs filled out there? I know around here its getting pretty hard..but its harder yet to find good people. Regardless, good luck to him and I hope he finds plenty of work!

He cant go non-union for like another 10 years..(something like that).. cause the union put him through their sheet metal schooling..and soo..if you go non-union you have to pay back allll that schooling...(something like $10 grand)...
Soo..hes kinda stuck right now...
He can work in ANY field non-union.... just not sheet metal...

Thats why he was thinking of going back to a quick type of school... and CDL was the fastest school..(its like a month long course)

 

[EweSheep]

SCbatz, glad you were ok!

A dear friend of mine, a trucker's wife, I forward her this thread and she can give you her experience and her hubby's experience as a trucker......oh the stories, some of them are so sad, tears and some looks like fun but hard on their marriage. However they have God and Jesus on their side and I hope her hubby won't be on the road for a long time. Just enough until he can find another job if he can.

 

[lorieMN]

Quote:
Mine too... he didn't go to school for it, just studied and took a test. He grew up on a farm and had plenty of experience but before he started driving HAZMAT he drove a beer semi truck. I must say driving HAZMAT is much easier on him. No going down slick hills with kegs of beer, stress on the back or anything else.

ahh yes,,those beer trucks,they have to unload themselves at various stops,,my brother drives a milk,ice cream delivery truck,,same thing..hard on the back..Hazmat driving is easier,,but more dangerous and therefor usually pays better,,if I remember right last year hubby renewed it it was like $100..he wasnt going to do it but the shop he workes for wanted him to and so they paid it..

 

[trilyn]

Quote:
He's a sheetmetal guy? Woot!! Send him here to NY, my hubby could put him to work in a second. Knowledgeable people with tools....wicked hard to find right now. I know his company would snag him in a second. He is sooooo tired of all these applicants that want mega bucks an hour to start, have no knowledge and NO TOOLS!!! Whoops, I forgot-personal transportation too. But seriously, why not try a non union shop? With his training he is sure to make big bucks at a local hvac company. Or are all the jobs filled out there? I know around here its getting pretty hard..but its harder yet to find good people. Regardless, good luck to him and I hope he finds plenty of work!

He cant go non-union for like another 10 years..(something like that).. cause the union put him through their sheet metal schooling..and soo..if you go non-union you have to pay back allll that schooling...(something like $10 grand)...
Soo..hes kinda stuck right now...
He can work in ANY field non-union.... just not sheet metal...

Thats why he was thinking of going back to a quick type of school... and CDL was the fastest school..(its like a month long course)

Oh I feel his and your pain, that blows chunks and again, I wish him well from one tinknocker to another!

 

[Ang]

My husband just renewed his hazmat license. You have to be fingerprinted by a Homeland Security approved site. It costs $90 for the fingerprinting and has to be done every time your CDL is up for renewal. There are always trucking jobs available with some of them being better than others. The company my husband works for also owns a paving business. He spends his summers hauling road oil and his winters pulling van freight. He is not OTR in the sense that he is gone for weeks at a time. He is home most nights for supper, ball games, concerts, etc. However, he usually has to leave out that night at some point. We have a fairly normal life with him home most nights for the important stuff. I still spend plenty of night sleeping alone though. I guess I am saying this to point out that not all OTR jobs mean weeks at a time on the road.

 

[pasochicken]

Wife of a professional OTR/cross border turned regional driver here...

...... just admiring the nice picture of the real pretty white Freightliner....our other truck is a Freightliner too so we know that machine pretty well.

Well, like the one training engineer said to the new pup, you only get to go down the BIG hill as fast as you can once in your life. After that, you will never do it again.

My hubs been OTR, out of the county, long haul, short haul, regional and the one thing he has come to know real well and that is, trucking it is as dangerous as one makes it.

So Cowboy, tell us what happened to the not so purdy one.... Jeez! Just how exactly did you lose control?

Just what kind of accident was that??.. there are only three kinds of auto accidents and 90% of them are preventable.

They are:
1) Preventable

2) Nonpreventable

3) Animal which falls in the line of not preventable or another words unavoidable and in which case you take aim at the hairy thing.

Regretably even if you rolled it over to avoid hitting a person and in the name of GOD, IDOT does not seem to have a space in the record book for accidents worthy of praise when it comes to being a pro-driver.

Whatever the case, it is on your permanant annual and permanant report drivers record. CDL its more than just a drivers license it sets the Professional to a high standard. Too bad the 4 wheelers dont get it. Its HAZMAT, fingerprints, med cards and by rights should be no such thing as a dumb trucker. Border crossings are TSA, HLS, xrays - scanners, passports and a pile of paperwork and takes longer to get back home than to leave the country. CDL means always late for dinner and rarely a bathroom or parking and going 100 miles out of route if you missed your turn and the company getting ticked at you for over use of fuel.

Aint nothing worse than getting lost in a blizzard, running out of fuel with snow piled 30 feet high on the shoulders of the road when you are out of the country, with a flat and in French speaking Canada in a zone where your cell phone does not work and its dark out. While you might have rolled it, you came away quicker than trying to survive over 12 hours of potentially freezing to death.

As a professional driver an accident goes with you on your permanant record and to your grave even if you quit driving. As a professional driver, you do not get to throw your logs out and get a do over. Minor accidents go on the companies books and IDOT still KNOWS ALL.

Not trying to be mean here.. just stating facts...Looks like to me if you are going to want to drive in the future you will be opting for being an independent because the Big companies realllly frown on that sort of thing coming into their companies, especially if they stake their life on safety which the BIG companies do inorder to stay alive themselves. They cannot afford SNAFUS and most are out the door if they occur. Rare is one a keeper. Being an independent is a hugh expense in a job that can eat you alive in a heartbeat.
... and in todays economy...that accident of yours is a big Ouch. If you are not an independant with a fleet of trucks, you will not make it in this economy. And money is not made unless the big wheels are in good repair and turning.

A lot of independants get started as an independent simply because they have had a tragedy like the one you had and they cannot get hired by companies. And a lot of independents cant get runs because of their records or they do not have the connections. It is getting anymore because of electronic logging you cannot hid your bad news or falsify your logs. And coming soon to a truck near you.. you will not be driving if you are not on electronic logging.

The big guys want SAFE DRIVERS that are skilled.

OUR advise for a new driver wannabe or even one that has some experience or ones wanting to make a change or if you have never driven a big truck before and you really want to do this go to a big company that has a reputable school with skid pad. You will have a job when you are through.. Colleges are happy to take your money, but they do not guarantee you a job either because most hirelings out their door then need at least 2 to maybe 3 years experience before a big company will take a college student. The Big companies have the experience to train you right and therefore if they train you and that is IF you pass, they will hire you. But you need to be commited. You contract for a period of time with them and if you stick it out, most pay you your school money back, but a college will not do that. One or 2 years is a short price to pay devoted to one company when you are talking getting $5000 school money back if that is what the schooling cost.

If your experienced, the big companies make you go through some training anyway... Either way, it is not easy and if you are not commited to safety.. take a hike.

Helloooo - Recruiters would lose their jobs in a heart beat if they started filling the companies with ill-reputed deadbeat drivers. It is not to their advantage to just get anyone hired and contrary to popular beleif, they do not say just anything to get someone on board. At near $1000 per hireling... thats a lot of money to pay a recruiter to do his/her job and for them to do it right. No company in their right mind is gonna want a recruiter at that price to refer trash to drive a semi valued at big bucks no less one that might be pulling a high value or potentially hazardous load or one bobtail for that matter.

As far as this career being hard on a marriage...first off, if you are letting anything come between you and your spouse,thats the wrong attitude. Is trucking hard on a marriage? That depends on what one means by hard. Life is hard.. Marriage is a joy no matter what. But then that will depend on how mature, respectable and how much you are commited to each other and the good Lords Blessing. The reason why most marriages fail in my humble opinion is the couples lack maturity and they are not blessed in the eyes of God<><. (Shoot me, Im a Christian<><, I answer to God <>< in the end and that is what binds my marriage and life together.) Unlike most marriages that fail because they are too immature to take it to the far end of life to really know what a marriage is all about. As my friend said.. we are going through with JESUS. <>< Praying is mandatory with this job and so is a GPS.

I've been through worse crap then being a truckers wife and through a lot too while being a truckers wife.

If you are not commited 100% to each other then dont get married PERIOD no matter what your occupation. Marriage is a sacred thing and should be regarded as such. Its life that can suck. I have been blessed to be married to a wonderful man that no matter what crap life and the devil seems to throw out to us and beleive me, we have seen a lot of crap...but.. we know that in the end, we know what our goal is and that is to answer to God in the sake of it all. There is a big difference between being alone and being lonely. Being alone can be a blessing. Being lonely is not an option so you learn to fill your time with things and pure thoughts that are important to the both of you. As a couple, you miss alot of the things holding each others hands were made for, you miss church and sometimes your church is the cab of the truck with a Christain radio station and your spouse and you reading the Bible on the phone. And if your God fearing, you know how much this means to you.

Life as a drivers wife is solitary and turns into hugging a telephone much of the time and if you are lucky to have kids or a dog.. the dog will go to bed with you with wet

hair from your tears missing your spouse and well you best be mature enough to deal right with your kids if you are so blessed to have them. They come first before self. You learn real quick the difference between the sounds of a Freightliner vs a Volvo if one passes you on the road and thats your spouses breed if you are not teaming. You learn real quick how to handle an emergency and who your real friends are in your time of need. They learn that they might get ticked on and you might too, but you keep your friendship together at all costs even after you wet on each other and because life is precious and life is too short.

Life as a professional driver is putting up with the noise a hooker makes as (it)

pounds on your drivers door at 3AM and you try to keep your cool knowing 4am comes quickly and the run has to get there brite eyed and bushytailed and safe at 5am. And yes, the hookers come in both genders begging for more than just a free ride or wanting to get paid for one they desire to give you. You never know too if the kid doing the hooking and knocking has other intentions and with a gun at his or her side.... Drivers pillows get wet from missing the dog, the house and the wife and what have you because real men do too cry ....you both never know when a tragedy could strike and how your wife will have to come to get you and your ride at home is low on fuel. And it does not have to be a vehicular accident.. Slips, falls, getting sick.. getting sick, slipping and or falling when your alone. You get to go to places you would not send your wife or your dog to. You park in places that it does not seem possible a car can fit yet alone a semi.. eating out is hell on your body and mind. Packing food on a run is a challenge. And

TAH is NEVER LONG ENOUGH. Your favorite book is not a road map. And you learn that you have to deal with all the idiots on the road that hate you, your company, or what have you and how each may drive. You also learn how untrucker friendly our nation is since there is fast becoming limited places to eat, pee or park. And you, if you have any self respect you learn to look pretty if even if you have not had a bath in 4 days and stink. And you know that it takes a football feild to stop a loaded semi in heavy traffic when the "zeros" dont. You learn, you are the pilot of your ship, even when you drive the company truck. And they learn when NO means NO and you are not taking that run in the eyes of safety.

Trucking....

If you cant get up in the morning and greet the devil with the attitude your gonna beat the crap out of Satan

without touching him, then dont go trucking, and likewise dont get married and dont have kids. If you cant get up in the morning and say to yourself, this is the day the Lord has made, rejoice and be glad in it.. then you are lost from the git go.

This had been the ponderings and ramblings and advise of a trucking happily married old couple.

PS - DONT DRINK AND DRIVE, DONT SMOKE, TOKE OR CHOKE.
Pull the big dog over when you use the cell phone.
And no matter what happens PRAISE GOD. 10-4?

 

[redhen]

Okay...

Yeah..i've already decided that he wont be going over the road trucking..
He doest want to anyways... He's already said that several times.
Its just not worth it to me to be seperated from my husband.... has to do with you only have one life, thats it......and its short. I dont intend to be seperated from my husband for the short years we have left together. Nothing can ever, ever pay me enough to buy those years away from him.

I guess some people can handle it.... and thats their choice. But for us..no amount of money is worth it for us to be seperated. We've already made that decision..
I really commend couples that can handle being seperated... because no matter how you slice it..It IS hard on you both.

And it has nothing to do with maturity...it simply has to do with being away from the one you love and cherish. Thats not good for anyone...

Soo..yeah.. he'll just work local jobs... and if he has to..even short runs to near-by states.
We'll see how it goes...

 

[scbatz33]

Quote:
He's a sheetmetal guy? Woot!! Send him here to NY, my hubby could put him to work in a second. Knowledgeable people with tools....wicked hard to find right now. I know his company would snag him in a second. He is sooooo tired of all these applicants that want mega bucks an hour to start, have no knowledge and NO TOOLS!!! Whoops, I forgot-personal transportation too. But seriously, why not try a non union shop? With his training he is sure to make big bucks at a local hvac company. Or are all the jobs filled out there? I know around here its getting pretty hard..but its harder yet to find good people. Regardless, good luck to him and I hope he finds plenty of work!

He cant go non-union for like another 10 years..(something like that).. cause the union put him through their sheet metal schooling..and soo..if you go non-union you have to pay back allll that schooling...(something like $10 grand)...
Soo..hes kinda stuck right now...
He can work in ANY field non-union.... just not sheet metal...

Thats why he was thinking of going back to a quick type of school... and CDL was the fastest school..(its like a month long course)

You can find a school that is only 14 day slong. DOT only requires 140 hours of schooling. SOme of these places really rip people loff by telling them they ahve to go for ever and ever and pay a ton of money for it. you do not. Shop around. There are decent schools that get you in and out without all the other crap.