I know I am beating the same drum here but… Most of the parking “shortage” is due to the 14 hour clock. Before that fiasco of a law, it was nothing to head in to a customer, decide if it was a good place to park or to “circle the wagon” and see if there was any safe parking nearby. We are now so time constrained there is no “extra time” to find parking. And if a customer keeps you overlong that same clock does not give in order to find a safe place to park. Get rid of the 14 hour clock is the only fight we should be fighting, all else will fall in line when we win that battle…
While I agree with the problem of truck parking it still comes down to standing up for you. I am 3 years+ on E-logs with no violations. This is because I have my rules and dispatch does not drive my truck. First: Allow four hours for a load or unload. If they get me loaded in 2 their load will be delivered on time. If they get me loaded in 4 hours, I can leave the facility but chances are the load is going to be rescheduled. Anything over 4 hours and all bets are off. I keep in constant communication with dispatch and warn them, I will [and have] dropped the trailer and left or take my break in their door. By the way you can refuse to move your truck, but if asked you must leave the customers property. Take what’s valuable and walk out. Until we all start taking a stand we will continue to have the same problem. Simplest solution is to get rid of the 14 hour rule it is causing this whole situation.
As I have said a thousand times. We need to fight the 14 hour clock. It is a law that has the completely opposite effect of what was intended. We have to hurry thru our day to “beat the clock” in order to make a paycheck. We have to worry constantly at any delay at a shipper or receiver because our clock is running and we may not have time to park legally and safely. No 14 hour clock, no worries about time running out before we can park. Most of us out here are out here because we are flexible in our sleep schedule. We know to sleep when we are tired and before the 14 hour clock, we did. We napped to avoid rush hour in cities, school zones. We also could break for a decent lunch and\or shower. Now everything must be crammed in to fit the clock. Yes the cure to fatigue is sleep. But I sleep when I am tired and cannot sleep because the clock tells me to. Common sense and good judgment should dictate when you sleep. Not any clock or any other person. Letting dispatch drive your truck is a recipe for disaster. You drive your truck when you feel you should any other decision should be cause for giving up your CDL. TRI
tomingraldi 
This is why people are scared to become a trucker.
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Trucking is not an easy occupation and certainly no ordinary job. It is a career, not a 9 to 5. Scared is a relative term. The rules and regulations are tough and unfortunately glossed over by schools pushing the body count. The number of “trainees” that complete their first year is under 20% and probably closer to 10%. Are people “scared” to join the military? In some aspects yes, but they join anyway. The job\career is what you make it.
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I concur. For the first time, I lost my job. I had been loading and unloading trucks, at a local Walmart (for eight years, until Feb. 2013). I exhausted my limit veterans administration grant (and my 401k) to graduated welding school, in June 2014. I have been researching schools, and I hope I’m about to get a job (at another retail store). They have delvery drivers, and I have a class license. But I want to attend Mid-Florida Tech, because they only charge a couple thousand dollars and last eight weeks. Problem is coming with $5,000 dollars for school and support while schooling If I go directly to a carrier that trains, I keep reading they are the reason for low driver retention. I’m not afraid of work, but of being driven out of a career before it ever starts. If you were in my situation, who would you truck to jump start your career. Preferably a carrier in Ocala. Orlando is closing, but their carrier hubs are just as far away. The route from Eustis to Ocala, is almost traffic free.
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I really do not have a specific recommendation. Your financial situation seems to be dictating a route. My normal suggestion is price, all schools come up with the same result [opinions vary on this opinion] at the end of the school “term” you have a CDL and not much more. You have a CDL that leaves the biggest issue most have resolved. Now with limited experience you have limited choices. For the most part training companies require you to go over the road. How far “over the road” you are willing to go is your decision maker. Investigate options by talking to drivers [please, not recruiters]. Werner,Swift or Crete all have their pros and cons. What makes the difference is your willingness to improve and learn your trade. A driver will always become a better driver. Anything less is just a “steering wheel holder”
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