Getting a CDL help

[red_zr24x4]

Yup. Age is a factor if they are going to invest in Training you. My son did this. Found a company that would train him and he had to sign a contract to drive "X" hours/miles with them. He was 44 when he applied and they told him 45 was the cut off but would not admit it.
Why on gods earth would you want to start driving a truck at any age.

FIFY

 

[IndyDave1776]

There isn't much to add to what BT and Boogieman said but I can add a secret about insurance. Our insurance company requires 2 years of experience. The catch in this is that they consider the length of time you have held a CDL to be your experience, or in other words, you can get your CDL, then mop the floor at Wal-Mart for 2 years, then hire on with us recognized as having 2 years' experience.

 

[IndyDave1776]

Yup. Age is a factor if they are going to invest in Training you. My son did this. Found a company that would train him and he had to sign a contract to drive "X" hours/miles with them. He was 44 when he applied and they told him 45 was the cut off but would not admit it.
Why on gods earth would you want to start driving a truck at 54 years old.

CM is right. I keep looking for a way OUT of truck driving.

 

[maxwelhse]

CM is right. I keep looking for a way OUT of truck driving.

Buy a limo?

I always thought it would be fun for a few years, in my 20s, but would be a complete drag for a career. At least regular OTR trucking. I had a neighbor that did crazy super heavy stuff like bridge pieces and shipyard cranes and that sounded like fun. Cool stories about unique rigging situations and things. He was basically half millwright, half trucker.

 

[OurDee]

I got my first truck driving job after the military by luck. I went to an interveiw and had my military driver license in my stack of papers. It had an annotation for a bus on it. They saw that and told me to come in for a test drive the next day. I went on the test drive in a straight truck. It involved driving around Indianapolis and backing into a dock. As we got out of the truck a KW with a 40 footer on it pulled into the lot. The driver jumped out and asked the guy testing me if I was on a test ride. Guy said ya and the KW guy tossed me the keys to the tractor and said back it into the last dock. He did open the trailor doors. Wellll, there was only enough pavement for the 40 foot trailor to park in the dock if the tractor was at a 90 degree angle to it. That would leave about a foot of pavement beside the tractor. I jumped in it. Fired it up. Backed it in first try. I had never drove a tractor trailor before. Set brakes and shut it off. KW guy still had his mouth open when I threw the keys back at him. Test guy just looked at me and said, "You're hired." I never let on. I found out later that KW guy would take up to a half hour to hit the dock straight on.

 

[Pborkstrom]

FWIW, it does not take much to be a superstar in the box store retail world and that's one of the reasons the guy got the deal he did. The guy that did the CDL thing was just a regular dude with a decent work ethic and a good attitude that showed up on time and did his job well. I'd say he did that for a couple of years before the CDL thing came up, but he never asked at the beginning of that process either. It just sorta happened through osmosis (so, yes, he fell into it), but it was brilliant on his part to end up where he did.

So, if a guy walks into a box store that does large deliveries and says he wants to be on the inventory management team with the goal of becoming a CDL delivery driver, that might be something that gets fast tracked. The inventory people unload the delivery trucks (forklift and pallet jack work) and work 2nd shift for the most part. Pretty cush gig too, but not the highest paying thing ever.

I just stopped by my HD. They said they sub deliveries out to Cardinal and Best


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[Brandon]

I just stopped by my HD. They said they sub deliveries out to Cardinal and Best


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the reason I got my cdl was because I was working for Lowes at the time and they needed people who had on when they first got their own delivery semi's. They told me they would pay for school and allow me to drive on my permit. They came back after I got my permit and said that their insurance didnt allow for that and I would have to get my cdl how ever I could and they would pay/work with my hours to get it. That last part kind of happened/kind of didn't. I think if one wants to stay local and not have to go to school or pay coke/pepsi would be the way to go.

 

[maxwelhse]

I just stopped by my HD. They said they sub deliveries out to Cardinal and Best


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Hummm... HD must not have their own trucks anymore. May be worth the time to call those companies though if he likes the idea of running local routes.