Me thinks I quit before I even started

If you have just a few years left I would go flip burgers.
It will take you that long to get up to 6 or 8 hundred a week in dollars you keep.
Most training companies pay next to nothing, you spend money everyday to eat, shower, entertain yourself, do laundry..etc, etc, etc..
Not being negative, just realistic.
Going into it from scratch ne ready to "pay your dues" which means suffer with low pay, low miles, and little money.

 

honestly i think hes doing it to himself not the company doing it to him. he becomes late on loads they want him to increase his percentage of ontime loads so they give him quick runs. his quick runs become late they feel hes not wanting to work so try to get him out the door on his own. Now he not reporting money being spent or anything yeah they would dock his pay just like if you took $200 bucks from your company and not show where it went people would think you stealing.

 

An honest suggestion- maybe a job close to driving, but working for trucking companies? Dispatch, Safety, (usually, but not always the entry level office jobs in Trucking), diesel shop.. You get to work in the biz, but you don't have to get bruised and bloody. Might even wear a tie to work...

 

Between Stevens and CR England, I'd get in touch with the guy from Nigeria.

 

Yeah, it takes 3-5 years to get seasoned. By the time you get there, it would be time to retire. Plus it could leave a sour note in your memoirs. Most new drivers don't stay long.

You're gonna have to adjust to SSI. You might as well do it now with a low paying fun job. Flippin burgers on the beach sounds fun.

 

BigJohn54 your default post keeps getting longer and longer every time I see it. Your going to have an encyclopedia in the near future. Maybe you could start a wiki and just link the wiki.

 

BigJohn you better copyright that!

GSWx sounds as if you are wanting to do this for the experience and if that is the case then what are you worried about? Make a list of your wants and needs and start checking out companies. When you have narrowed your search down to a couple dozen then start calling those companies and talk to their recruiters to see what more they have to offer. There is no right or wrong company. Some of them have reputations but I wouldn't dwell on that. Your going to get out of a trucking company what you put into it. Here are some sites that may help:

http://www.truckdrivingjobsin.com/

http://www.newtruckdrivingjobs.com/student_%20driving_%20job.php

Now get to work!

 

Dooood your hat is on backwards.

 

GSWx, if you are within 5 years of retirement, you "ain't no kid no more." You've been around enough to know about life.

What you need to ask yourself is this: "Do I really WANT to get into trucking?" Is this something that you just see as a lark, as a filler until you can collect social security?

Or is this something that you always sort of wanted to do, but life and other things got in the way? That is where I was coming from when I got into it after retiring once. And my only regret was that I didn't do it in my 20's when I would have had the time to get my act together and probably own my own company by now.

I actually looked at buying a business, instead of going into trucking. But I KNOW that I would always have regretted not doing something I'd always wanted to do.

Don't let the negatives scare you off. There is nothing in life that does not have negatives. (Including that awkwardly worded sentence. . .)

 

So true. When I started my programming business I was so happy that I could work my own schedule and made good money without a boss, however I work every single day every day, and my competitors force me to have to upgrade if I want to keep making money.