Done with manufacturing time for a change

Finding a good place for YOU to work as a driver is a thousand times more important that what school you go to or how to pay for it. Don't sign up for school until you have found the trucking company YOU want to work for. You WILL NOT Have time during CDL school to do enough research. When you don't do enough research you will naturally, and tragically, steer toward the trucking companies hiring thousands of drivers per years because they have thousands of driver quitting per year. YOU CANNOT CHANGE THE COMPANY ATMOSPHERE. You CAN choose which atmostphere you work at.

 

Dry van requires the least attention from the driver. You just need to close the doors and slide your tandems and make a phone call if anything catches fire . Your freight is not FREQUENTLY rejected by customers and you don't have the 3 am appointment times as you will have with refrigerated freight or "reefer". I did 23 years with dry vans and I don't think I ever had so much as one shoe box rejected by any customer for any reason. The closest I came was one receiver left me with 5 or 6 wooden pallets to dispose of. With reefer you may find yourself with half a trailer of food to dispose of and not get paid for all of the hours it takes for you and your company to decide where to take it.

If I started over again, I would start in dry vans but then switch to tankers after 1-2 years. Dry van customers often treat you like a serial killer/homeless showing up to do your job. Tanker customers almost always are glad you arrived. Many customer getting dry vans get hundreds of dry vans per day so you get treated like you just walked into the DMV. 90% of tanker customers treat you better than all but the top 10% of dry van customers.

Whatever freight you haul get your tanker endorsement. You need that endorsement to haul a lot of freight that goes inside dry van or reefer trailers. In fact, get every endorsement now. All of them other than HazMat is just one test on the computer. HazMat costs about $200-250 and it will need to be renewed every 5 years if you want to keep it. The more endorsements you have the more jobs you are eligible for. Don't sign up to be locked out of certain jobs. You can always let your HazMat lapse if you never use it. All other endorsements stay on your license until you remove them. They cost nothing to keep active.

 

You might consider Continental Express (reefer) or Carter Express (dry van) both of these companies offer good home time.

 

There's a Teamsters Union outfit in Brookfield & Canton that hires new cdl grads. I think they're more regional, so probably make more money doing OTR.
Nick Strimbu Inc
https://www.nickstrimbu.com

 

IWX Motor Freight | With IWX You’re Covered.
https://www.iwxmf.com

 

I think they are claiming Free training now and no contact. Two weeks schooling to get your CDL. Then 10,000 miles with trainer and will pay you $125 per day flat rate for that. No team runs trainers. Most trucking companies run trainers as team truck. No north East run. The bad part is they have cameras. Their OTR driver get 34 hours off as their idea as weekend at home. They work you 70 hours in 6 days. Basically 14 hour day work and you get 10 hours off. They run from Carlisle PA to Chicago down to Alabama to North Carolina back up to Carlisle PA. Some Texes and Arkansas and Oklahoma.

They pay $100 for Sunday layover when they don't get you home. Because you will do a 34 restart every weekend (Saturday night to Monday morning) They do have guaranteed minimum pay, if you run more miles then the guaranteed miles you get paid for all the miles you drive. It's not easy work a couple short runs from dispatch can kill you miles for the day or really push you to 14 hours for the day. You might only get 400 miles in for the day. Your in their hiring area

Keller Trucking - An Affiliate of Keller Logistics Group

 

They also have free training.

 

I'm going to say this, just as a bit of advice. Don't jump right into feeling like you want/need to go O/o. Why? Because what if after 1 year of doing it, you find it isn't right for either you, or your family. Then you are stuck with a TT that you'll have no use for and be hard pressed to probably sell them. Try working for a company, or a few, over the first few years. If the fit is right you'll know, and then would be the time to get your own rig. But remember, any repairs, tolls, fuel...etc. All come out of your pocket.

 

and those repairs are very expensive!!

 

One thing at a time. You said your short term goal is to become an owner operator. So you are...
1. Changing your lifestyle. Even schedules where you are out five days and home on the weekends take some getting used to when compared to a home every night manufacturing job.
2. Starting a business in an industry you have no experience with.
3. If you’ll be financing your truck, you could be stuck with what is essentially another mortgage payment.

Your short term goal should be getting through the school and spending a few years as a company driver. Learn the industry, then consider starting your own business