Trucking Companies That Hire Felons

How do I find trucking companies that hire felons near me? Check out the 66 felony friendly trucking companies listed below!

If you’re a new CDL holder starting your job search, or an experienced driver looking to get back behind the wheel, you’re probably worried about wasting your time on job applications that go nowhere due to your felony.

That’s understandable. But the trucking industry is fairly open to hiring felons, so you’ve got more options for employment than you think.

While many trucking companies will hire felons, Western Express, Carolina Cargo, CRST, May Trucking, and Sysco are well known in the truck-driving community as second-chance employers for felons.

Tip – Talk to company recruiters before you fill out applications. Disclose your felony, what it was for, and how long ago you were convicted. Be honest because all trucking companies use background checks.

The recruiter will give you an honest opinion on whether the company is likely to hire you.

Trucking Companies That Hire Felons Near Me 2024

Trucking Companies That Hire Felons Near Me

Most of the big trucking companies will hire felons on a case-by-case basis. Having an older felony will give you more options because trucking companies often want a felony conviction to be 5, 7, or 10 years old before they will consider your application.

Some trucking companies don’t require a minimum period since your felony, so if you’ve got a more recent conviction, those are the best ones to apply to (list below).

Small, local, trucking outfits are another option you can explore to find trucking companies that are felony friendly.

Local trucking companies hauling livestock, lumber, concrete, steel, asphalt, beer, and waste can be good choices for a felon looking for a steady trucking job with regular home time.

The type of felony on your record is a big factor considered by trucking companies. If a carrier can’t get insurance on you because of your conviction, they can’t hire you.

Theft, smuggling, kidnapping, drug trafficking, and recent DUI offenses are all barriers to employment in the trucking industry.

Having multiple felonies will also count against you.

CDL Companies That Hire Felons

CDL Companies That Hire Felons

  • Averitt Express
  • Butler Transport
  • Celadon Group (not eligible – rape, murder, manufacture/sale drugs, RSO)
  • Carolina Cargo
  • CFI
  • Covenant Transport
  • CRST
  • Don Hummer Trucking (drug convictions must be 5 years old)
  • Eagle Express Lines (no drug or alcohol convictions)
  • Freymiller Inc
  • JB Hunt
  • Knight Transportation
  • Lone Star Transportation
  • Maverick
  • May Trucking Company
  • Midwest Motor Express
  • Millis Transfer Inc.
  • PAM Transport
  • Prime Inc.
  • Roadtex Transportation
  • Roehl Transport
  • Schneider
  • Southern Refrigerated Transport
  • Stevens Transport
  • Sysco
  • Tennant Truck Lines
  • Trimac
  • Tutle & Tutle Trucking (felony must be 3 years old, no drug or alcohol charges)
  • Tyson Foods
  • Watkins Shepard (any DUI must be 5 years old)
  • WEL Companies
  • Werner (any DUI must be 3 years old)
  • Western Express
  • WM (Waste Management)
  • XPO Logistics (any DUI must be 5 years old)
  • USA Truck
  • S. Xpress (felony theft must be 10 years old, DUI must be 5 years old)

Felony Must Be 5 Years or Older

  • D. Transport Express
  • Bear Trucking
  • Boyd Brothers
  • DeBoer Trucking
  • L Hollingsworth
  • Groendyke Transport
  • Koch Trucking
  • Melton Truck Lines
  • Mesilla Valley Transportation
  • Paschall Truck Lines
  • Salmon Companies
  • Waggoners Trucking Company

Felony Must Be 7 Years or Older

  • Barr-Nunn Transportation
  • Bennett Motor Express
  • Estenson Logistics
  • First Fleet Inc
  • Hornady Transportation
  • HVH Transportation
  • Super Service (no drug or sex offender convictions)

Felony Must Be 10 Years or Older

  • CT Transportation
  • CTL Transportation
  • R. England
  • Dick Lavy Trucking
  • G & P Trucking Company
  • Hunt Transportation
  • Navajo Express
  • Ozark Motor Lines
  • Swift Transportation
  • TMC Transportation

No Experience Needed (Trucking Industries)

No Experience Needed (Trucking Industries)

If you don’t have verifiable CDL driving experience, there are plenty of felon friendly trucking companies open to hiring you.

As a new driver, you’ll typically need to complete a company training program that pairs you with a trainer for several weeks or months.

You’ll be paid a flat daily or weekly rate until you get the required experience, and then you’ll switch to the standard per-mile rate.

Felons with a brand new CDL can apply to these companies with no experience:

  • Celadon Group
  • Covenant Transport
  • R. England
  • G & P Trucking Company
  • Knight Transportation
  • Maverick Transportation
  • May Trucking
  • Melton Truck Lines
  • Mesilla Valley Transportation
  • Millis Transfer Inc.
  • Ozark Motor Lines
  • PAM Transport
  • Navajo Express
  • Prime Inc.
  • Roehl Transport
  • Schneider
  • Southern Refrigerated Transport
  • Stevens Transport
  • Super Service
  • Swift Transportation
  • TMC Transportation
  • Trimac (will hire graduates of Trimac-approved trucking schools)
  • Tutle & Tutle Trucking
  • S. Xpress
  • USA Truck
  • WEL Companies
  • Werner
  • Western Express

Some local trucking companies hire felons with no experience.

See Also:

Find Local Trucking Companies

CDL holders naturally want to drive for the big national and regional trucking companies, where the pay and benefits are better and the trucks are the newest models.

But it’s still worth investigating local trucking companies, especially if parole or probation conditions restrict your travel, you need to get home to your family every night, or your felony disqualifies you from other carriers.

To find local trucking companies, search the Fleet Directory database at https://www.fleetdirectory.com/.

Local operators are listed by state, so finding trucking companies closer to home is easy.

Go through the list and call each company to ask if they would consider hiring you.

Companies offering truck driving jobs also advertise on employment sites like Indeed. Follow these steps to find employers willing to consider CDL drivers with a criminal history:

  1. Go to https://www.indeed.com/
  2. Type “trucking companies” or “CDL felony friendly” into the search bar
  3. Choose your city or state
  4. Click on the “encouraged to apply” button and select “fair chance”
  5. Click “update”

Your search result will list all the available CDL A and CDL B truck driving jobs where the employer is open to hiring drivers with criminal backgrounds.

Click on each job listing to get more details. The fair chance hiring information is usually listed toward the bottom of the job post, specifying “criminal backgrounds considered” and “people with a criminal record are encouraged to apply”.

Create a free account on Indeed to submit your job applications.

Next Steps

  • Talk to every trucking company that will consider you based on the age of your felony conviction.
  • Run a daily CDL jobs for felons search on Indeed to catch the newest felony friendly CDL job listings in your local area.
  • Contact trucking companies listed on the Fleet Directory database.

Good luck with your job search!