16 year old wanting to be a trucker

The best thing you can learn now is the value of time and money. As a driver you will trade a huge portion of your time in exchange for not a lot of money. If you are a long haul driver, it will depend on what you value any time at home with family and friends is worth to you.

If I knew then what I know now, I would have stayed in school. Yeah, I like trucking and how it all works, but at the end of the day, I could have been an engineer or a lawyer, but at the time was too lazy in school and didn't see the benefit of doing many years of school when I could make money NOW. I have a few friends who work Monday to Friday and make a very comfortable living - much more than I make. If you count only the time I am actually working, they make about double, and are home with their families every night. Truck drivers have not had a raise in years. The reason for this is people like me, who got into it because after a short training school I was earning what I thought "good money."

If you have the brain power, stay in school. Get yourself some degree or diploma that in the end you will have a defined job, engineer, accountant, lawyer, or do a skilled trade. Don't get one of those useless degrees where you won't work in your field. I got into trucking as something "to fall back on" and I never intended to stay in it. If something were to happen and I am no longer able to drive, I am up a certain creek with a turd for a paddle real fast.

 

I only WISH i thought about this at such a young age.................................

LEARN all of the rules... (go get a commercial drivers handbook from your local dmv and read it from cover to cover once every couple weeks)

especially pay attention to the section that covers the penalties for breaking any driving laws (they are more serious when you have a CDL, and maybe it will help you avoid the DUMB choices young drivers (like your friends) will make behind a wheel.)

I cant remember how old you have to be to go get your CDL permit...... but when the time comes (you have a couple years i think) you'll be more mature than other people your age, which in turn SHOULD make you a better driver.


In the mean time: STUDY STUDY STUDY, and read whatever you can about the trucking industry.... with this place here, you should have more than enough information to decide if trucking is what you want to do when you get older.

last thing: ignore the people that might say something to deter you from this..... its YOUR JOB to do as much research as possible (besides reading on here) to determine if this is what you really wanna do.

 

Well, the first thing you will want to know is that you need to be 21. Some companies won't hire drivers until they are 23.

My quick advice to you would be, if you are considering college, do it. You CAN get a good start just going to a community college, getting an Associates Degree in a general topic. If you lost interest in trucking, you could at least build on that degree if you chose to later. Some community colleges even have CDL programs.

If college isn't your thing - go into the military. You can learn a good trade there,,, even learn how to drive a truck (although you won't get a CDL, you'll have a great start in learning how to drive one in some form).

 

1. How to get along with everyone
2. How to finish each and every assignment as well as you can.
3. How to write neatly and with reasonably good grammar and spelling.
4. How to use please and Thank you.


Learn how to live within yourself, the rest will be easy.
Keep in shape, no drugs or alcohol or cigs because it's way easier to never start.
Have fun, high school is only once! It's forever when you're there, but looking back it only lasted a few minutes.
Enjoy life, there's a whole lot of world to see.
Good luck, even tho what I wrote wasn't what you wanted to hear.
Mary

 

I suggest studding up on the business end of trucking and be the boss. Go to school, get an education. Get a degree in Transportation, Business something related to the industry. Look to the future of trucking not today. You have a minimum of 5 to 7 years before you are of age to even work in the industry, and it will fly by so use the time wisely. Good luck with your future.

 

You will have to be 21 most likely to drive OTR. Check the laws in your state. I started "trucking" so to speak hauling wagons with tractors when I was 13. If I remember correctly I was able to get my class B cdl at 16 for tandem trucks, and CDL-A at 18 doing local hauling grain, sand, gravel. I know there have been some changes since then, but I think you can still get into some kind of trucking at 18. And there is always sprinter vans, box trucks, etc... even if you have to wait til 21 to drive 18 wheelers.

 

You can get a CDL at age 18, but you are resticted to intrastate only. No, interstate (crossing a state line), until age 21.
At age 17, I joined the Army and drove for the biggest transportation outfit, in the world. Free training, plenty of experience, here and in foriegn countries, free housing, meals and health care, plus got a pay check, for 6 years. When I got out, 34 years ago next month, I bought a truck and leased it onto a company, pulling beer from NC to the Northeast. That can still be done. I drove the model truck, in my signature photo, when I was all of 18 years old.