Fellow truckers - I am an almost new truck driver. I graduated from a Trucking School and was hired by a company as an OTR driver hauling a refrigerated unit. I trained with the company for 6 weeks and then was given my "own" truck and drove almost 3 weeks. Combined time, I have traveled 36,000 miles in 9 months from New Hampshire to California. My last run was a nightmare from start to finish with long waits at both shippers and receivers and it was a double pickup and double drops. Part of the first drop was refused, went on to the second drop, delivered the freight, ended up having a bad steer tire which was replaced after a short time, and then was qualcommed and told to go back to the first receiver since they decided they would accept what they refused the first time I was there. I spent hours upon hours waiting at both receivers and shippers. The last return drop appointment was at 6:00 a.m. and I arrived on time. I didn't get out of there until 6:30 p.m. and was extremely frustrated.

At that point, I was only about an hour away from a company terminal and decided to turn in the truck and got a flight and flew home. That was probably a bad choice on my part, granted. I am not a youngster by any means, but couldn't find any other work so I got my class "A" CDL and managed to get my first trucking job. I never liked hauling the reefer unit, either.

I haven't driven for 9 months now and can't find any other work and my wife and I really need me to find work - lots of bills coming in and her income isn't enough. Heck, what couple these days can survive on one income!

Here's my dilemma. I have doubles/triples, tankers, and HazMat endorsements with an "X", but I applied online to three different larger trucking companies and haven't heard anything back. They are self-insured so insurance and experience shouldn't be a problem. I really wanted to go with a smaller company, but that 1 year experience or more is a REAL problem. I have to find a company job and stick it out for a year or more before I can get a job with a more local company or an LTL company, dedicated run, or something other than OTR where I'm away for such a long time before getting home.

Any and ALL advice and suggestions would be most appreciated including companies I can apply to and any possibilities where I wouldn't have different shippers and receivers every time I was dispatched for a run. Like I said, I'm not a young guy by any means, but I am a good driver and very conscientious. Thanks very much ahead of time.

trc