Hello everyone,

I just wanted to say that I am very happy to have found this wonderful forum.

So after reading in this forum for months I have finally decided to register and ask the advice of wise and experienced truckers.

So here is our situation, my wife and I have talked about trucking for a while now, and we said we would consider it after marriage. Well here we are married in july and now looking to go trucking. Our original plan was to start school in march or april of 2008. However we need to start sooner. My wife is currently unemployed and having a hard time finding a job (Michigan) need I say more? Also after being laid-off myself I finally got back to work but making less than half of my income before. But thank God we live a simple life with a small house, 100k mortgage and one low car payment (almost paid off) plus the average utilities. But with my low income of under 18k it is hard to even try to make ends meet let alone having a penny to save. We know there is good money to be made in trucking, but we are realistic too. We know its not millions or even close. But better than we can make with two jobs in michigan and living in our house and paying for daily home expenses. we have been reading that husband and wife teams make good money. We are 23 years old with stable work history, clean driving records and all other records. Good health, good working habits, good ethics, and always proud to do a job and do it well. Ok that's all for the introductions. here are the questions.

We know that trucking envolves long hours, being away from home, time limits, some crap from dispatch, free Miles, etc... But we still want to persue this career/job. I also personaly want to get 1 to 2 years otr experience so I can work locally. We can’t affoard to pay for school and I know that most on this board say to never pay out of pocket PERIOD! We also can’t get a grant. So we are stuck looking for a company that will hire us and train us and pay during training because we can’t go more than a week without income. so who do you guys recommend we go with? And do any of the companies train husband and wife team together? What should we expect to really make a year 70~80k? We are really interested in hearing from husband and wife teams but all comments are appreciated. My uncle works for werner as a team driver and he loves it there and says we should join werner. He averages 15~22k miles at .29cpm and only been there for 10 months. He is a new driver as well. I know to stay away from stiffed I mean swift and CRST, but what about werner or schniders for newbies? Or any other companies you all can recommend to us.

Thank you for taking this time to read and any healp would be appreciated greatly. God bless you all.

schneider does not pay the first 2 weeks of there training and dont get a paycheck till the third week (including training) they pay 350 while your with your trainer then a garenteed 500 or your milage pay if its above $500 once you get into your truck.

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Pumpkin Driver - we got problems but so does every one else
Army Driver
"Wars come and go, but my soldiers stay eternal." tupac

My wife and I just completed academy training with Schneider and they have kept us together the whole time. We had a room at the hotel together and training was top notch. You will have to go three weeks without a paycheck. We started Feb 3rd and our first training check of $350 will be paid on Feb 22nd. As far as expences go we had to buy dinner every night for the 14 straight days of training and also there were other expences such as flashlights and other tools of the trade. A lot of info and testing at the academy but the instruction we felt was top shelf.

After training is completed we will be on a home run account where we are out 2 weeks and home a week. This comes at the expense of not having your own truck assigned (there are three married couples and two trucks so that the trucks wheels almost never stop.) The recruiter told us to expect 42-47k each the first year. I hope this is accurate. Our recruiter was right on with everything that she said and did (no suprises so far)

Every where we went to check we found out that teams are a very sought after commodity in the trucking world.

If you don't need/want to be home that much, you can make a lot more money in a year. A lot of team drivers like yourself are barely home at all but it's all a matter of want/need and choice. Driving two weeks out of every three isn't really a lot of driving. Most single drivers get one day off for every week out but they drive half the miles you two will.

Sounds like you got good training, though, and are pleased so far. As you've noticed, team drivers are very sought after so you should be able to go anywhere you want after a year or two. Good luck!!

My wife and I are considering this to thanks for the info.......

Not being able to go a week with out pay is going to be a problem for you guys. No company is going to pay you while your doing CDL training at least no company I know of. And that alone can be 2 to 6 weeks right there. Most companies also do not pay all or most of orientation time. And you have to take into account that most also hold a weeks pay. So you can figure that it will be about your third week with a company before you see a physical pay check.

The best advice I can give you is for your wife has shes not working atm to start the process. She gets her CDL, and or hires on with a company you may be able to combined those two steps. Dose her first 6 weeks with a trainer. Then goes solo and starts to draw a pay check. Once she has stable income then you start the process. Once you have your 6 weeks of training done then you two can start running teams. Or if needed quit and go to a company where you can.

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Save a target... Shoot a Tweeker
Why is common sense so damned uncommon?

(Spoiler) Swift kills Dumbledore

Hani, I would be curious to know how your decision went as My wife are in MI, newly married and have been trying to find a company that "preferably" does not separate us during OTR training . We can relocate and have a months wages saved for the time out of work. Did you apply anywhere? We have been looking for MONTHS, Schneider team not hiring in MI, P.A.M separates 4-6 weeks of OTR, Watkins Shepard great school, does not separate either. Applied there and waiting on financing option. We can't wait to get it done, but it's a lot to think about as I've been in a career for 15 straight years!
Hope it all worked out for you.

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Gary & Carley

Think about that for a second the point to OTR training is for you to learn and develop the skills and tools that you will need to do the job. With both of you being new and having no exp just what would you teach each other about driving? Are you just going to try and figuer it out has you go? If so that sounds like a sure fire way to fall flate on your face to me. And most likely get a few tickets along the way "Im new and didnt know" or "Nobody told me" means squat to the DOT in any state.

The one company that I know of that "might" let you train that way is C.R.S.T. But please rethink it and get some training other wise youll both be in for a real tuff year.

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Save a target... Shoot a Tweeker
Why is common sense so damned uncommon?

(Spoiler) Swift kills Dumbledore

You're right of course. We are considering me going first for 6 months OTR and then spouse training. Just don't like the idea of her being off for 6 weeks, but she's a big girl lol and if we want it bad enough it will all work out. But I have heard from couples that don't get separated, I'd be interested to see how they are doing in their careers with that type of training.

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Gary & Carley

Interstate Distributors out of Tacoma lets you train together. They send you out with a trainer for about 5 weeks, so it's the 3 of you in the truck.