Question:
The company I work for is shutting down do to the slowdown in construction in SW FLA. That said I thought I would throw my name back into the otr game as a last resort I really dont want to but driving jobs down here stink. I have at least 10 yrs pulling food grade tanks otr and maybe 5yrs hauling oversize otr, 15 yrs local pulling pnuematic tanks. That said I got the shock of my life when US Express called and offered a pretty good thing. Upon further discussing it with them I was told would have to ride with a trainer as no recent otr in last 3 yrs no problem. Problem I was asked when I graduated truck driving school told them I been driving 30 yrs in the real world I learned the old fsshioned way by aprenticeship. Well we cant hire you if you didnt go to school. Well I guess it is true we do have a driver shortage as the big companies only want a biological borg to attach to its steering wheels.This was a wake up call for me.
Answer:
Aman, the Insurance carrier for the company also has a say in the requirements for hiring drivers. Many companies require at least a refresher course for OTR drivers who do not have recent (within the past 3 years) OTR experience. In their mind, many things may have changed since the last time you went across country in an official capacity. Could be a short time with the trainer will confirm what you are up to snuf on and what you might need updating on.
Of course you can always check with other companies as well. Just to help you out a bit, should you decide to further explore your options, you can click on the link in my signature line.

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What she said.
Insurance companies are the behind the scenes controller of who drives a truck nowadays.Sometimes you have to dig through a lot horsesh#t to find the pony.

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Haven't heard from Aman for a while.
Jobs in SW Fl. suck big time. So much so I moved to Texas and have been doing much better ever since.
The whole hiring process for OTR companies is nothing but a revolving door. The great job they offered you was a great job someone else had. There's a reason it's open, probably for the tenth time in a year.

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I hear ya but no disrespect Rose bull#### The only thing differrent about otr these days are the 90day wonders driving. Oh buy the way was offered to go with a trainer for week or 2 or 3 or 4 whatever it took. Then was asked when I graduated truck driving thats when I was told couldnt hire me. I know insurance companies rule the world trust me the last year and a half I have been dispatching 13 trucks hiring and firing drivers had to pass on some good drivers because of insurance companies.When are we gonna take back our industry? Oh yea thats right it wouldnt be pollitically correct to tell people to fight for there freedom we should just lay down and put the burkas on!!
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Aman, I have come up against the same wall you have . I have 29 years driving truck, including flats van and refer, but since I've not driven a big truck in four years I get the same story you're being told . I've had several of the "big" carriers tell me I may have to ride with a trainer ( who would most likely have ( maybe ) six months to a year in a truck ) or go through their school .... Your expierience doesn't count for much any more . As far as "when are we going to take back our industry" .... It's now run by insurance companies and bureacrats, and will never be the industry you ( and I ) were in .www.FairTax.org

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Aman, I'd rather see you behind the wheel than some of these "trucking school wonder boys" out there driving trucks today.
These new breed trucking school wonder boys don't even want to change a truck/trailer light fearing they might get their twinkie manicured finger nails smudged..
Over the years, we had some of these wonder boys working for us, they don't work here anymore,. they couldn't change a light bulb either. That's why they don't work here.
These wonder boys would meet up at a T/S somewhere, (like the Beacon t/s in Fresno, Ca where we use to get our tanks washed) they'd get together, couldn't change a light bulb, but sure as hell knew how to make those antennas sway back and forth on their truck.
They were dwelling in Sparta together.....

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Hmmm...it appears old age makes folks delusional.
Experienced Drivers and the New Breed are in fact the best and the worst Drivers
and Employees.
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You are the reason I never want to get old. Disclaimer:Pick too ugly to post at this time,LOL.

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No, not true. Things are considerably different just between now and 10 years ago when I got into the biz. Not so different that you couldn't figure out how the system works of course, but they are indeed different. And you are right, not for the better either. Why you'd even consider getting back to OTR I will never understand. It's alot more crap than when you started in the biz.
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I am pretty sure it wasn't a "new breed" driver I saw last week pulling a trailer full of burnt out lights (in fact there was only ONE working light on the whole trailer). I know he wasn't a new breed because our shop guy made a comment to him about that when he pulled into our lot, and his response was something along the lines of "I've been driving long enough to know that I don't get paid to change lightbulbs on company equipment."
******* bigriggers.
As much as I agree with most of the negative opinions about the state of truck driver "training" these days, to summarily chalk up all stupid behavior by truckdrivers as being the result of the "new breed" is arrogant, ignorant, and just plain idiotic. Because alot of the problems in the trucking biz today are caused more by those who have been in it awhile and should know better.
I have lost count of how many bigriggers I have known of who brag about how well they disregard the logbook, and how fast they drive through Illinois, how fast they can go down Monteagle, and how many tickets they got out of. Those guys were, almost without exception, holdovers from the 70's and 80's. You could tell just by looking at them.
It is alot of these same Neanderthals whom we all have heard on the CB at the truckstop calling for some commercial company, making fun of some JB Hunt driver's backing skills, (even though he himself pulled in forwards and left his trailer hanging over the line), taking a leak on the parking lot even though he is 20 feet from the truckstop building, etc.
It isn't the new breed who made trucking what it is today - that took years if not decades, and we can thank alot of those drivers who have been in the biz 10, 15, 20 years and more for the state of the business today.
About the only thing I chastize the new breed for regularly is their lack of sanity/intelligence for wanting to remain a part of this stupidity that is the trucking biz today. Because surely they could find better things to do with their lives.
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A lot of young drivers today want to do the least amount possible for a paycheck.
To them, OTR is unsupervised play time. They can sit on their collective A$$es, talk crap on the CB, sit in the playroom at the truckstop and act stupid, and still get a paycheck. Most don't have the drive to work for a P&D company, or an ready mix truck, garbage truck, lowboy, or any other vocational type trucking. That would mean they have to exert themselves.

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With the amount they recieve, it's not a surprise. Actually my motto has always been least
amount of labor for the most money.
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