Women in Trucking - A Woman Driver's Guide

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As a new driver you may not be familiar with DAC but you need to be. It is an information and security service company and offers companies an Employment History File among other services. Any company you drive for, or want to drive for, can subscribe to it and send in information on you when you leave the company. This information is then available to any future employer.

DAC is Drug and Alcohol Consumers Report so of course, any failed drug and alcohol test will be recorded along with any type of accidents or incidents. If a driver abandoned company equipment, if the driver quit under a load, if the equipment was returned in damaged condition, all of this information will be on file.

In addition, other information will be included: Why a driver was terminated; if the driver would be rehired; what position was held; what type of equipment was operated (van, reefer, flat, etc.); what type of driving done (local, east coast, mountains, etc.).
If you had an "OK" on customer relations, if you had and "OK" on dispatch relations, it will be noted.

What does all of this mean to you as a driver? A lot. Everything is going to follow you from this point forward, and not only with the DAC but also your MVR!

There have been many drivers who have abandoned a truck. All that is required to do this is to leave the truck in an unauthorized location. Drivers will do this for many reasons too, whether they were so fed up or tired they were convinced that they would never under any circumstances get back in a truck again. So they pull this stunt, make their way home, and start looking for a job. Many find out that nothing else is going to pay them as much, and maybe no one else is really hiring. So six weeks, six months later they are trying to get hired to drive again-without success. A potential company checks out their DAC and they realize they are not going to get hired by any company that pays or has decent trucks or schedules.

And did I mention you will be charged a very large fee for the expense of getting that equipment back to the company? That will come out of your last settlements or they can come after you for money owed.

Like your credit report, there can be things erroneously reported and you need to stay on top of that. You can call them at 1-800-381-0645 or go to www.usis.com. Click on request info, then in the middle of the next page click where it says note to consumer, then look for the form to request a copy or to dispute an entry. Sometimes when you are applying for a job the orientation person, or the recruiter, might give you a copy of your DAC.

So it is a good idea to find out if a potential employer uses DAC, what type of information they routinely report to it, and remember that somebody is always watching, and a permanent record can be found somewhere of every screw up. So think twice, think a dozen times before you mess up your driving reputation.

Don't burn any bridges. You never know when that will end up being your only way out of a situation. As the Smith System says "Always leave yourself an OUT!" There is every reason to strive to be able to go back to work for someone where you have already been employed.