Career change, looking at trucking and need advise.

I love it when people think of trucking as a job of last resort.

Trucking is a great job. It doesn't pay the highest for the hours that you put it but it has many great rewards that you can find no where else. My highest paying job was that of an Executive Director of a group of banks. I made $70,000 per month. I make $70,000 per year now. The banks were head quarter in Lagos, Nigeria. I quit the day the Muslims shot at the bank with an RPG. No one shoots at me in my truck. So far at least. The day they do I quit.

Alone at night in your truck you can listen to the radio or take classes over the internet. No boss sitting next to you telling you to speed up or slow down. Nothing. You are in charge of a $200,000 company. If you get there on time, so be it. If not, the world does not come to an end. You get to see some amazing parts of the country and meet some of the finest folks out there. Independent people who are just trying to make the best of things. I had the tarp on a grain hopper fly off and truckers stopped in high winds to help me wrestle the #### thing back on. No one comes to your aid at a bank.

I recommend trucking to any and everyone out there. Just don't take my run or work for less money then I make.

 

As jgremlin said, and seems many others agree about the possibility of starter companies treating you poorly, possible to give bad marks on your DAC report that aren't deserved....I don't doubt it happens out there....but someone like me that wants to go OTR, gonna have to go to a company who takes newbies even if I get my CDL first. So not even speaking about tuition reimbursement, I'm getting confused as to why a company would treat me any better if I got my CDL first? Still have to go to their orientation program, go out with a trainer, pretty sure same low pay rate in the beginning, but at least with the goal in mind of getting experience time under my belt, SAFELY.....how does any of it seem different? Help! really am confused about this!

When the majority of people say company sponsored is the last option, are they mostly talking from the perspective because they would rather get a local job that probably pays more? If that's the only reason, I can understand the logic, but for me, I want to go OTR.

I've read a lot on this site and others, talked to some drivers, for a couple months now. What I understand so far is regardless of how you get your CDL, if you actually want to go OTR, your choices of company are gonna be limited as to which companies will hire a newbie.....those will be the larger companies, not a smaller one....am I understanding this, or not?


Appreciated the business accounting perspective from jgremlin, and responses from keyster. Wooly Rhino thanks for sharing some of your history, first thought you were displaying your somewhat-warped sense of humor as usual, then thought about asking how you worked up to that banking job, then remembered no sense for me to lament about the type of job I had in the past that I was miserable with....so put me in the category of a guy who probably has options when it comes to work, now wanting the lifestyle of the road. Where I'm at trying to make a sensible decision getting into it. Do believe I will experience life very differently than what I've grown accustomed to and its a good feeling....just a lot of unknowns currently. So thank you all for being here and sharing your time and thoughts. Blessings to you.

 

the thing about the "cdl school" that many do not realize is once "XYZ Company" demonstrates financial control sufficient for Sarbanes-Oxley ( yet another accounting controls legislation ) those operations, be they commercial or whatever, get the burden for accounting controls, Ed The Fed gets a "Pinemeadow Pre 16-Piece Complete Golf Set" so there is some shifting of the ($) yes, but paying several thousand for CDL "school" is neither an option for me nor do I agree with the idea of sitting hour upon almost endless hour in a class-room and nearly as reluctant to go to someplace on the idea that I will have to perform at a simulator when I cannot in advance determine whether the simulator is sufficiently realistic so as not to foul responses that took ten thousand hours in the field to put in place

if you know nothing of the industry why and how did you select the industry ....? not to be overly critical I have done that several times with good or extremely good results ~ it is just that we find things like a thread I posted early here "Pioneer or Gold Spur" - got several inflammatory / derogatory hammers on Gold Spur but when I saw their trucks in operation at a truckstop it was obvious several of the critical observations were either trolls or people who could not take it, possible for very just reasons ....

backing a trailer in is not easy for anyone, bend a few inches of sheet-metal and have a bad DAC report for it then bust out on thousands spent on "CDL School" ...?

not me, maybe someone else but not me = there are dozens of issues to your question that are right at the front of the discussion but to protect "future sanity and stability" there =>are<= trucking operations that will not only do right but as well float the training ($) until you get a few months in operation

if you bust out during that time, would be better to look for a burger-bob's job

 

Even if the company pays for your CDL school, you still go through orientation and go out with a trainer. But you're not financially responsible for the cost of orientation or the trainer in either case. So you can quit and you won't owe the company anything for those expenses. The company just has to suck it up and write it off. Also when you get hired with a CDL in hand, you don't sign a contract. Those two differences mean the non-training companies have more motivation to want you to stick around. Remember as well that when you sign up for company paid training, you don't get to negotiate the cost of training. How do you know the cost of training is what they say it is? Any smart accountant would recommend the school figure out what percentage of new hires flame out earlier than the company already wants them to. Then they figure out how much of a loss for orientation and running with a trainer that translates into. Then you divide that loss among the percentage of drivers who are likely to stay long enough for the company to break even and you pad the cost of everyone's training to absorb that potential loss. All of that adds up to fact that these training companies have NOTHING to lose if you quit. Whereas most other companies will incur at least some loss if you quit before a certain amount of time has passed. I will readily admit this fact does not automatically motivate every non-training company to treat you any better. But it does increase your chances of being able to find a company that does treat you better. That alone should be reason enough.

You're not quite understanding it IMO. I make no secret about the fact that I never worked for a mega-carrier and I never went OTR. I went regional for a few months and then right into local. My first job was the largest company I've worked for and they were pretty large. Nationwide in fact with several DCs/terminals spread across the country. But they treated me just as honestly as any of the smaller companies I went on to work for later. Working for a smaller company does not automatically mean working for a mom & pop. There are lots of medium size companies out there. And lots of those medium companies do OTR work. And some will hire recent grads. And a few will hire recent grads and treat them well.

Don't get me wrong. Options are ALWAYS more limited when you're got no experience. But opportunities are out there if you look for them. I firmly believe in working for smaller companies no matter what. Not because smaller companies always treat you better. They don't. In fact there are plenty that are just as bad as the big guys if not worse. Its not guaranteed. What is guaranteed is being treated like crap if you work for a mega-company. The schools, the recruiters and tons of drivers will have you believe that going to a mega-carrier is your only option when you have no experience. I am simply saying that isn't true. You can find smaller companies if you knock on enough doors. And your chances of being treated well are much better with smaller companies than with large.