Name My Trucking Company!


Advised today that the protest period will end on the 13th. Bind my insurance at that point, so looking at somewhere around the 20th going active. With any luck, I will get everything taken care of in Little Rock the next day or two after that and possibly be out that weekend with the new trailer.
 
It must depend on the officer that you get for your audit. The officer in charge of my audit would not even look at my paperwork from my past employer for my drug testing he said because I started a new company I had to have a pre-employment drug test. He did not fine me but warned me that when he came back the next time, if he did that I had better have a pre-employment drug test.

Fast forward about 45 days into having my authority.

Phone rang this morning, coming from the area code where I live. I'm thinking broker, pick up the phone and it's the Arkansas State Police.

He had went over all the documents that I submitted to him for my new entrant audit a few weeks ago (got my notification two weeks into having my authority).

Everything looked good. Everything, that is, except for the Pre Employment drug test waiver. So, now I have to take a pre employment drug test as soon as I get a chance.

I showed that I had been in a consortium, which is what OOIDA said was required. I used their form, and Schneider happily filled it out and sent it back to me.

Problem is, per the officer, the whole waiver thing is "subject to interpretation". For him to approve it, I would also have to show when I was last tested, and provide the results of the test. By the time I fight to get that sort of information, it's just easier to spend the money and take the drug test.

The reason he requires it to be like this is because in the event of a full blown audit, there is a chance that my waiver might not stand up in the eyes of whoever was doing the real audit, and at that point, I could be looking at major violations and expensive fines. To avoid this, he requires going the extra mile of getting proof of the last drug test as well as the test results.

As soon as I email the test results to the officer, along with my estimated mileage and revenue, the audit will be signed off, and I am officially done with it.

Pretty simple process, actually. Submitted 15-20 documents (all uploaded online) a few weeks ago, short phone call today, and all done other than taking the drug test.
 
Just curious since this is first time I'm seeing this thread being new here ... What did you Name the company? I would have thrown MTF NATIONAL LOGISTICS in as a suggestion but guess your pass that stage LOL
 
Fast forward about 45 days into having my authority.

Phone rang this morning, coming from the area code where I live. I'm thinking broker, pick up the phone and it's the Arkansas State Police.

He had went over all the documents that I submitted to him for my new entrant audit a few weeks ago (got my notification two weeks into having my authority).

Everything looked good. Everything, that is, except for the Pre Employment drug test waiver. So, now I have to take a pre employment drug test as soon as I get a chance.

I showed that I had been in a consortium, which is what OOIDA said was required. I used their form, and Schneider happily filled it out and sent it back to me.

Problem is, per the officer, the whole waiver thing is "subject to interpretation". For him to approve it, I would also have to show when I was last tested, and provide the results of the test. By the time I fight to get that sort of information, it's just easier to spend the money and take the drug test.

The reason he requires it to be like this is because in the event of a full blown audit, there is a chance that my waiver might not stand up in the eyes of whoever was doing the real audit, and at that point, I could be looking at major violations and expensive fines. To avoid this, he requires going the extra mile of getting proof of the last drug test as well as the test results.

As soon as I email the test results to the officer, along with my estimated mileage and revenue, the audit will be signed off, and I am officially done with it.

Pretty simple process, actually. Submitted 15-20 documents (all uploaded online) a few weeks ago, short phone call today, and all done other than taking the drug test.
You have to take a pre-employment drug screen - just like every employee, even though you are a sole proprietor. That drug screen waiver nonsense is bogus AFAIK.

Got your employment app? Driver file? Etc.

You're a motor carrier now, and you have to treat yourself exactly the way SNI treats their employees... well, maybe without kicking yourself in the ass regularly.

:biggrin-2:
 
You have to take a pre-employment drug screen - just like every employee, even though you are a sole proprietor. That drug screen waiver nonsense is bogus AFAIK.

Got your employment app? Driver file? Etc.

You're a motor carrier now, and you have to treat yourself exactly the way SNI treats their employees... well, maybe without kicking yourself in the ass regularly.

:biggrin-2:

Yeah, I know all of this.

the waiver was given to me by the consortium to use in place of taking the drug test. What I did is that they told me to do.

Depending on the officer doing a new entrant audit, this may very well have been enough. For the officer handling mine, not so much.
 
Yeah, I know all of this.

the waiver was given to me by the consortium to use in place of taking the drug test. What I did is that they told me to do.

Depending on the officer doing a new entrant audit, this may very well have been enough. For the officer handling mine, not so much.
The FMCSRs indicate a test is required... not a waiver. I'd say just to cover your butt, you need a test.
 
The advice I've been given is you want the test. A personal injury attorney can have a field day with the implications of a waiver.
 
The advice I've been given is you want the test. A personal injury attorney can have a field day with the implications of a waiver.

I get the angle of covering yourself over lawsuits, but not sure what a lawyer could do if drugs aren’t involved in an accident.

For me, it’s just more aggravation with how we have rules, but we can still be told to do something completely different from what the rules state, and there is nothing we can do about it.

By the letter of the rule, my waiver is valid and I do not have to take a test. However, if I don’t take the test now, that’s the end of my authority, or at the very least, a big fight that isn’t worth fighting.

I understand the officers stance on this, as he wants to prevent me from dealing with problems down the road in a full blown audit. For me though, I think it is crap that I have to worry about something like that when the rule is clearly spelled out.
 
I find it odd how many government hoops there are to jump through in order to own/operate a business. "Business management" is something that often requires a college degree. Just understanding the taxes involved is a different field of study...

And yet supposedly this is a free country. American dream, and stuff.

Running a business shouldn't have to be much more complicated than a child's lemonade stand. There was a time when it actually wasn't.
 
I find it odd how many government hoops there are to jump through in order to own/operate a business. "Business management" is something that often requires a college degree. Just understanding the taxes involved is a different field of study...

And yet supposedly this is a free country. American dream, and stuff.

Running a business shouldn't have to be much more complicated than a child's lemonade stand. There was a time when it actually wasn't.
It's a highly regulated industry - for hood reasons. If you don't like regulation, go down to the highway, and open a lemonade stand.
 

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