2 years yard driver = how many years road driver experience?

This should have been put in bold and underlined. I have actually not ran into many switch truck drivers that actually have CDLs. In my years driving I have seen many switch trucks at truck stops refueling. I am also ignorant of the rated weight of these yard trucks. If they are under 26,001 pounds and are not hauling a trailer no CDL is required to operate them on a public road, however since they are rated over 10,001 pounds you are required to have a DOT medical card. I seen a switch truck driver get busted for this once near my hometown in Georgia.

 

Hes got a thread in the ltl forum asking about the pro/cons of being a foodie or rubber humper. Think hes got his cdl, just looking to move on...

 

I tried to talk to one company to find out why I was getting these responses. I wore him down till he admitted that it all boiled down to the fact that i didn't sleep in the truck. at that time my experience included driving:
sleeper otr trucks
daycabs
medium duty trucks

pulling trailers including:
53 ft
48ft
45ft
28 ft
35ft
and doubles
and all while hauling hazmat too

Including doing team runs on an extended run pulling doubles in sleeper trucks

But because I was home every night it didn't count.

I told him to #### off and hung up on him. I called an otr company i worked with before but thought i burnt bridges with and I was hired in 2 hours!

 

0.0

 

Maybe not so much.
Backing a yard truck is WAY different from backing a much longer sleeper cab with only mirrors to see by.

Being a yard dog there is no schedule keeping. There is just moving trailers around a small parking lot.
No pre-tripping, no adjusting tandems, they don't even have to connect the blue line.
What is there with that job that could even count as OTR experience?

 

OP, I got away from the yard dog driving when I first started ,just for this reason..
It completely goes against any relative driving history,unless its yard work.

Your hurting your driving career,unless your career is going to be on a yard.
Its a hard job,and constant exercise,but at the end of the day,its a glorified
forklift driving job.Been there,done that!
Do the time and get some states under your belt.Youve covered the backing,
and that's difficult for a lot of drivers,and you now know what to do with a dock.

 

A yard driver backs more trailers in one week,than most drivers do in a year.The risks are still there.
You tear stuff up,your unemployed.You drive on ice covered yards in the winter,the trailers still
have to get to and from the dock,just like the big boy truckers.
You have to pre trip and keep logs at any of the places I drove yard.
I moved on average 60 plus trailers every night to and from docks.
Its not otr,but most megas will hold you to the same guidelines even if your a lowly yard dog driver.

 

I did OTR 2 years food delivery 3 months and 6 months city/local. Now Im switching. I wouldnt give this up for nothing.

 

I have a cdl-a and medical card, tanker and dbls/trpls. Didnt need hazmat so let it lapse. My company actually requires a cdl-a and 2 years driving experience. Most other companies in the area just require a class b.

 

Bull crap. We have to pretrip all trailers for damage. We have to slide tandems cause most drivers wont do it. Tandems have to be back at our place and if caught not running blue line automatic firing.