Question:
How long do you have after graduating from school to choose a company to work for? What if I want to work local or drive a trash truck for 6 months first? Would I be able to go over the road after that. Would I have reattend school? Thanks for your help.


Answer:
It is 30-90 days after you graduate driving school that you have to hire on. After 90 days your choices start to become very limited and the chance of having to re attend driving school or take at least a refresher course becomes very likely.
Also just so you know. Very few OTR companies will recognize any local driving experience, even if that experience is in a tractor trailer.
I will always be a mutter trucker at heart.
Answer:
Also just so you know. Very few OTR companies will recognize any local driving experience, even if that experience is in a tractor trailer.
So true!!!
I first drove a dump truck fresh out of school for about 9 months; and when I started looking into OTR, I found it difficult to find a company to except this as experience.
Eventually I found a Ma and Pa shop that took a chance on me, and the rest is history and experience.
That was the early 90's though---I bet it's tougher now to get in with just Class B local experience.
_________________________
Cover Your Cans People!!!It's apparent this place is never going to change....then again; why should it? It gets the clientel it deserves.
Bette Midler

Answer:
I did it some what the same way as White Dog. Tried the company training thing and it really sucked. Went home and started driving my next door neighbors Dump Bucket (tractor trailer end dump). After that I did the Ma and Pa thing and now back to companies. I do believe I liked Ma and Pa much better. But the expectations on driving time and the log book are usually bad.
I'm glad I went the way I did. My experience is a little broader. If your going to drive a straight trash truck or roll off it will make it harder. If not impossible after 6 or more months. Try to stick with tractor trailer if possible.
"Caution: Door May Open"

Answer:
The major OTR carriers try to recognize as little previous experience as possible.
First -- the less experience they recognize, the lower they can put you on the pay scale. The difference is lower net cost per mile.
Second -- Except for holding the wheel and shifting, OTR is a completely different job requiring different personal characteristics. Someone perfectly happy driving local and sleeping in their own bed every night, may be a very unhappy OTR driver. Experience isn't just 'knowing the job". It's demonstrating you can handle the lifestyle -- and OTR is a radical departure from any sort of normal life. Lots of folks learn the equipment and craft quickly, fly through truck school with flying colors, and stall on the road when they discover how difficult life is out here.
Something you'll probably never hear in truck school because they don't want to freak you out:
"Driving is the easiest part of trucking."