Question:
Hey all, been out of trucking the better part of ten yrs now and I'm looking to get back into it. I still have my cdl and have my med card. I know I need to start over but the problem I'm facing is this. I still know how to drive, but so far instead of offering me a chance to go out with a trainer to show this and maybe refresh myself a bit, every single company I have talked to has told me to go back to driving school. I already have my license, this makes no sense to me. While I was away from driving I still made occasional runs with a cousin of mine for some extra cash here and there, particularly while I was in college from '01 til last May. It wasn't much but it was enough for me to keep fresh and in practice. Nobody wants to hear it. Can anyone out there offer some advice to get my foot back in the door? Some have told me to find an O/O but how do I find one, any websites I can post, etc...? I'm already in debt from school I can't afford to add trucking school to it especially since I went to school yrs ago and still have my cdl. Any advice at all would me much appreciated...

Answer:
Most Carriers will require a refresher course.
Answer:
What exactly is covered in a refresher course? The school I went to wants $1000 for 45 hrs. I didn't even ask what they cover....

Answer:
They cover driving. All you'll be doing is driving with an instructor relearning what you may have forgotten.

Answer:
I know the feeling. I'm a retired driver but was getting a little bored so I applied for a part time job requiring a Class B CDL. I stll have my Class A but they wouldn't hire me because I only had 6 months of driving in the last three years.
The job consisted of driving a straight truck for 4 hours a day. I would drive 50 miles up the road, drop the truck, pick up another truck and drive back. Even though I have almost 10 years experience, their insurance company would not let them hire me.
Some guy who has driven a straight truck for a year making local deliveries qualifies. Seems a little screwed up to me but that's the way it goes.
I'm not going to spend $1000 or more for a refresher course for part time job.
Hell, anyone with a valid license for a car can rent a U-Haul or Ryder truck.
Guess I'll stay retired.
Answer:
If you're in your mid to late fifties, its possible you're being discriminated because of your age. Do you have a friend or relative who's willing to lie for you? I did this trick when I was a rookie with only 8 months driving experience. I said I started with an owner operator and drove with him for 3 years 4 months. They called up my uncle and he says he's retired from trucking and decided on a career change. They asked who did he hauled for, and he replied he had his own authority and got his loads from different brokers. He threw out his booklet of broker contacts when he sold his tractor and trailer. They asked who bought his equipment, and he says some Mexican who took it back to Mexico. End of background investigation, and I was hired as a driver with 4 years experience when I was in fact an 8-month rookie.

Answer:
Current experience....that's what the trucking companies and insurance companies are looking for. It may seem unfair, but that's the deal. It does not sound like age discrimination to me.
I do not advocate falsifying your experience to get a job driving. Once you've lied about it, you'll have to lie again somewhere down the line to maintain the false premise. Is that really the way you want to begin your profession?
If you really want to get back into the business full time, I suggest you follow the rules and get back into it with your integrity.

Answer:

I'm sure it was a top rated carrier.
Answer:

That falsification could backfire with a carrier you really wanted to go to work for.
If they discover you've submitted false information on an application where you've signed-off that everything is true, they'll probably disqualify you.
IF they discover it after you're working for them, they have legal grounds to terminate you -- you signed the application next to the statement that says false information could result in dismissal.
Either way, perhaps best not start playing two-bit con artist games, unless that's your nature to begin with.
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Answer:

Why not? That first lie to get back into the biz will be soon forgotten after some time, and after the lies in the logbook, the lies to and from the dispatcher, the lies to the DOT officer, etc.
If lying were effectively banned from the biz, trucking would cease to exist!

Answer:
Just tell em' that you'll run hot and work for pauper wages like most truckers do. That'll get your foot in the door for sure!

Answer:
I have no intention of lying to get back into the job, although I do have a cousin that had his own truck that would go to bat for me, it just isn't right. I'm having a hard time swallowing that I have to go through a school again, why can't I just go out with a trainer is what I don't get? I can still drive al I need to prove that is a road test but i can't so much as get that. I dunno, anyone know where I might find an O/O that may give me a shot?

Answer:
Highwayman,
I know there is a lot of lying in the trucking industry. For that matter, in society in general. It doesn't make it right. Is this really what we want to teach our children?
Somewhere down the line, it will come back to bite us. We've all seen it happen. The problem is that it's usually the innocent party that ends up paying the biggest price.
So, what's so wrong with taking the high road? What's wrong with having integrity?
If we become complacent with this type of behavior in trucking, then why not in every other facet of society?

Answer:

In the Ten years you been out alot of things has changed. Not in the driving part but in rules and regs. Since I got out 7 years ago alot has changed. I sat here and learn some of the things about logs, but I rather learn it formally to be sure I get it right. Log book fines can be very costly.Honoring and Remembering Our POW - MIAs
Home of the Forget Me Not Challenge Coins
http://www.powmiaforgetmenot.com/

Answer:

Maybe the trucking school industry as a whole are paying kickback $$ to the insurance industry to require trucking school retraining. Its all about $$ and their profit margins!! They've succeeded in passing laws to require cops to check for insurance when you're pulled over. All its boiled down to is using law enforcement officers to enrich the insurance industry. Why stop with insurance? How about do-it-yourself movers being required to hire household moving carriers to move their belongings when they change residence?