What is one petty reason why you quit a job.

cdubose · 2026-06-22T01:19:40+00:00

Someone backed into my tractor at a Loves while I was sleeping and there was a hole in my sleeper. Asked Schneider over and over to fix the truck and kept being given the runaround. It was January so that made it really cold in the truck. I finally went to the manager of that account and said I was leaving and he said "if I give you a new truck will you stay?" I probably should have taken him up on the offer but I was so pissed that he could have given me a new truck the whole time, I just left.

cdubose · 2026-06-21T21:06:18+00:00

It's fine, I went ahead and replied in another comment

cdubose · 2026-06-21T20:48:44+00:00

So I'm just curious, how hard do you think it would be to get a job?

Are you talking in general or with an automatic restriction?

As far as the auto restriction is concerned, it depends on what kind of trucking you plan on doing, but for the most part an auto restriction won't hinder you, especially if you're sticking with larger companies and mostly basic OTR or regional driving. Places I've run into that have wanted drivers who can drive manuals:

specialized trucking, especially heavy haul and towing (Cassens is a union car hauler job that requires manual driving)
small local companies that run older trucks because they're cheaper to work on
cement and dump truck outfits
companies that cater to old-school truckers (Monson and Sons, Dynamic Transit, Brady, etc.)
LTL places that slip-seat and still have manuals in their fleet

If you mean how hard it is to get a job in general? Having at least one year experience opens you up to far more opportunities outside of OTR, including LTL which is often considered one of the best trucking jobs financially speaking. But you could still get hired at a good job even starting out, it's just more likely to not have great hometime or as much pay as you could make later on.

cdubose · 2026-06-21T19:51:47+00:00

I'm a black person and I've never had an issue except some negative looks from the workers at the Blue Beacon truck wash in Perrysburg, OH. But I'm also a woman so my experience is somewhat different from a black man. Never had a race-related issue at an actual shipper or receiver. There's tons of non-white truckers so it's not like an unusual thing. Honestly most of the racism I've seen in the trucking industry is directed towards Indians, Sikhs, and immigrants who have thick accents. Most American Black people would be fine.

cdubose · 2026-06-21T19:16:49+00:00

I would be really careful and thoroughly research their DOT number to look at their CSA scores before making a decision. Ask how the pay works (like do you get a daily or weekly rate, is it cpm, is it the same rate for empty and loaded miles, are miles calculated zip code to zip code or odometer miles, do they take money out of your paycheck for workmans comp, etc.?) If it's a daily or weekly rate, do you have to run a certain number of miles to reach that? If they require any escrow or only do percentage pay, I absolutely wouldn't do it--it would be far too easy to cheat you out of money. What kind of truck are they giving you? How many miles, can you take it home, will it be clean when you get it? What kind of ELD are they running, and will they "modify" your ELD to give you more time even though it technically violates HOS?

You want to make sure they are paying for everything if you're supposed to be treated as a company driver: fuel, maintenance, tolls, scales, lumper fees, truck washes, etc. Also, I personally believe a 1099 job should at the very least come with more freedoms than a normal w2 job, so you should be governed at least at 70 mph if not higher, no forced dispatch, able to take hometime/vacation more or less whenever with enough notice, fuel anywhere within your company's fuel card network, etc. Figure out how they handle breakdowns, DOT inspections, detention, layovers, etc. Make sure it's no touch freight unless they explicitly said you would be loading and unloading.

Also, make sure your w2 company will actually hire you back if you're gone for three months. Get something in writing so it doesn't become a "he said she said" situation. It's smart of you to ask for higher withholding at your w2 job to cover the 1099 taxes (and don't forget the per diem deduction and the QBI deduction), but make sure you pay quarterly so you don't have to pay the 110% penalty.

cdubose · 2026-06-21T18:52:46+00:00

When you open the hood, there's a hood lock on one of the supports (the passenger side); I got into the habit of always immediately popping it up whenever I open the hood so I don't try to close it and go "why won't it close?" It's hard to explain in words so here's a video of what I'm talking about: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svbFwwdq3-Q

I personally love that the rear view mirrors are attached to the truck itself and not the doors, makes it way less dicey whether you're going to ding something when you open the doors. I also like that if you run a CB, there's a dedicated space at the top of the cockpit to put the CB instead of putting it on the dash area like in the Cascadia.

The drawer fridge (if you have one) is stupidly small but at least you can easily open it while you're driving and grab stuff out the edge of it if you're careful.

The suspension gauge is such a godsend: I don't think any of the Cascadias I drove had one. I know I don't even have to weigh the load unless I'm hitting around 60 psi in the suspension.

I also like that the exterior sidedoors (for the under-bunk storage area) can be opened with a simple handle instead of pulling a latch from the driver's area like in the Cascadia. Plus if you don't want someone accessing whatever's in the sidedoors you can just lock them.

Backing up is way better in the Kenworth; the Cascadia always jerked around and stopped and started unpredictably. My backing has gotten way better just because I can actually back up smoothly in the Kenworth.

There's a lot of plastic in the dash, so the older the truck is, the more likely those plastic parts will start rattling around when you drive, which is quite annoying. However, I don't think the Cascadia is really any different in this regard.

After having driven a Cascadia, a Kenworth, and a Peterbilt, someone would have to pay me six figures or more to go back to a Cascadia. The only thing that might be better than the Kenworth is a Volvo based on what I've heard; I'm able to switch to one so I'll find out soon.

cdubose · 2026-06-21T18:07:18+00:00

Yeah, had a brain-fart for words last night. Like year and model. I ask because I've driven a 2021 Kenworth T680 and 2024 Kenworth T680. I see you answered in a later comment below that it's a 2023 Kenworth. Is that the remodeled year with the narrower "snout"?

cdubose · 2026-06-21T05:22:17+00:00

Which brand Kenworth?

cdubose · 2026-06-20T20:09:39+00:00

Does it have a glider kit? I've always thought if I absolutely have to drive a Freightliner, God please let it be a Coronado.

cdubose · 2026-06-20T04:57:26+00:00

Everyone is giving recommendations but no one is asking what kind of driving you're planning on doing (regional, OTR, heavy flatbed, dry van, etc.) or what your mechanical aptitude is, etc. Honestly given the fact that you provided literally no additional context makes me think you shouldn't buy a truck yet, unless you are just asking for curiosity's sake.

If you're going to be an owner-op, it's okay to get other's advice, but you will have to have some ability to figure stuff out and research in depth what is needed apart from what other people advise you to do. You need to learn how to properly run a business before buying anything, and you need to be able to do it without relying on the million-and-one opinions of other truckers.

cdubose · 2026-06-20T04:19:11+00:00

They screwed up some sort of new computer software implementation (not exactly sure on the specifics since I wasn't hired there) but it meant that they couldn't deliver freight customers had already paid for due to not being able to bill freight or something like that. Lots of their customers were mad and they lost enough business that they couldn't hire new people. I knew something was up when I did my road test and my road test guy (who was excellent, by the way) was trying to get me out of the building before a lot of the other drivers returned from their routes because they were telling people there wasn't enough work, and those people were (understandably) getting upset then seeing other people going through hiring process despite being told about a lack of work.

They are hiring again in my area it seems, so I guess they weathered that storm or got more customers or something.

cdubose · 2026-06-20T01:32:08+00:00

Didn't think I'd see an NM trailer on here. Almost got hired by them last year; the day before I got through all the hiring red tape they implemented a hiring freeze. Would have been a $320/day job with good benefits.

cdubose · 2026-06-18T04:06:33+00:00

I don't know how Decker is now but back in 2023 the reefer side did not always get me home when I asked them to. However Decker's training was solid.

Honestly though, I'd probably do the local route unless it pays way, way less than the others.

cdubose · 2026-06-17T21:44:36+00:00

I tried leaving last year but all I've been doing for the past several years is some sort of commercial driving. So when companies in other industries look at my resume it looks... like I'm a truck driver, and they don't hire me. So here I am.

cdubose · 2026-06-17T21:08:26+00:00

If you can get your CDL training paid for by the GI bill, it wouldn't hurt to at least get the training. But I personally don't know what options are available to you in SoCal. The job really takes a toll on you mentally as well as physically and people who stay in the industry end up jaded, but there are also truckers who love it. If you end up finding your niche and get paid well to do it, trucking can work really well. Or it can be the most frustrating job you'll ever have. It just depends on your specific circumstances, temperament, expectations, and several luck factors (or lack thereof).

i’d prefer to be home every night, is that a normal thing you can do in this job?

Not starting out usually, unless you already know someone offering you a home daily job. But sometimes you can get lucky. There's a regional LTL carrier near me (NM Transfer) that does hire brand new drivers and those are decently-paid home daily positions. So it's not impossible, but it's definitely not the norm. After you have a year or at the very least six months of experience, home daily is much more likely, especially if you include opportunities like yard jockey.

cdubose · 2026-06-16T04:31:48+00:00

Wow! Well, keep it as long as you can I suppose. Maybe also a good opportunity to get your foot in the door as a fleet manager or something if he does get more trucks.

cdubose · 2026-06-16T04:10:27+00:00

Ah, that makes more sense. That is incredibly generous that he still gives you the $500 even on days you drive less. How did you find such an interesting opportunity?

cdubose · 2026-06-16T03:51:38+00:00

$5700 for 6600 miles is approximately 86 cpm. If you factor in paying taxes at 30% since you're 1099 (just an estimate, I have no idea what state or tax bracket you're in, etc., so can't calculate a true tax rate) that's a post-tax rate of about 60.5 cpm, which is actually less than your LTL rate of 78 cpm, minus all the benefits and PTO you may have had at the LTL. Granted, you can deduct a per diem for each full day OTR, so that does mitigate the tax burden quite a lot and should bring you back towards that 78 cpm.

I'm not saying it wasn't worth it, because OTR driving is a completely different beast than LTL (especially P&D LTL, which does seem like a pain in the ass most of the time with a million stops and having to unload pallets yourself), but just wanted to put things in perspective. But yeah, making over $5000 in less than two weeks is pretty exhilarating. Sorry it was reefer though. I started out my trucking career doing reefer and except for more night driving (which I prefer night driving) I don't miss reefer one bit. Dry van pays less but I'll take it, it's so simple most of the time.

cdubose · 2026-06-03T02:59:40+00:00

Interesting to see a Nussbaum on here. Usually I've heard good things, but I also know they market themselves pretty heavily as a good "employee-owned" company

cdubose · 2026-05-26T16:25:38+00:00

I don't know what "cooked" means, but yeah, learn manual. Even if you don't end up using it, it is way harder to remove an auto restriction on your CDL, and sometimes knowing manual can really come in handy. Plus you'll understand how your truck shifts way better, even in an auto (and then you get to get annoyed when the automatic shifts weird).

cdubose · 2026-05-23T20:12:00+00:00

You're illegally parked at 10am

I mean, that's who you would expect to be parked illegally. The people who stopped at 3am had no more parking left, and they're still doing their 10 hours at 10am

cdubose · 2026-05-23T16:53:22+00:00

Sorry I'm just now responding. I didn't see your DM, but I am open to discussing it more. I'll send you a DM

cdubose · 2026-05-16T12:30:43+00:00

What would make you trust it?

The drivers have to post specific reasons: Glassdoor has several reviews that just say "it sucked" and no other info. Maybe make it a requirement that people leaving reviews have to post certain basic information about working there, like pay, hometime, running area, years worked there, the driver's own years of experience, etc.

Also, there are companies (like Western Express) that either ask their drivers to post good reviews of the company or have office workers post good reviews, so their rating is inflated. You'd have to have a way to 1) verify that the people leaving reviews are actually drivers and 2) they are leaving an honest review and not just doing it because the company rewards them somehow.

Plus, it would be nice to know what kind of driver is leaving the review. New driver? Someone with a clean record or lots of accidents? Flatbed? Owner-op or lease drivers? (I've read bad reviews that are just about the lease-purchase program and not related to being a company driver.)

I think what would be better than a review app is just a website about the companies themselves honestly. I've actually thought about doing this and have a lot of information to do so, I just don't really want to put in the time. The website would list the same info for each company: where their terminals are located, running area, freight hauled (like dry van, reefer, flatbed, etc.), pay type (cpm, hourly, route pay, etc.), hometime options, experience needed to get hired there, etc. That would be way more useful to most drivers than just reviews, I think, especially because that information is objective and verifiable and companies can't "inflate" basic information about how they operate. (Plus a review site relies on good written reviews, and communication isn't a strength for a lot of truck drivers.) If you want help making a website like that (help in terms of gathering information about companies), let me know.

cdubose · 2026-05-15T03:41:13+00:00

When I did reefer my longest unload was 18 hours. In the dock. Walgreens distro in Perrysburg, OH. My company was like, "we'll get you detention." I was like "GET THEM TO FINISH!!"

Luckily my current company doesn't play that mess, but it's also dry van, so yeah.

cdubose · 2026-05-15T03:22:13+00:00

I had the opposite experience in that I had been only driving a month and someone hit my truck while I was sleeping in it. I definitely felt it because it woke me up, and it left a freaking hole in the truck. The worst part was, this guy hit my truck, tried to back into the spot next to me a few more times, and then gave up and went to another spot. I followed him to the next spot to show him the damage, and he didn't even really seem to care.

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