How much money to take to orientation and training ? - Star Transport

I don't know how it is to work for Star specifically, but I would rather take more money than I can think I can spend than not enough. That is, if you have the resources to do that.

Bring enough to get you back home if you need to, and make sure you have enough to eat on for a couple of weeks, because it will probably at least that long before you see a check. Probably longer. It is not cheap to eat out of a truck or hotel room, especially if you have no way to keep anything cold.

Most companies will feed you something at lunch during orientation, breakfast is the stale donuts at the hotel, dinner is on you. That said, there may be no place to eat by the hotel, I don't know where you get put, but find out in advance what is near by. If you can get a fridge in the room you can save money by making sandwiches etc.

How long is orientation, but to be on the safe side, at least $15 a day, so you won't starve. More money when you are on the road, remember no check for a while.

 

Ill be leavin for orientation in late september, and I will be going with $100-150. Its all I am able to have. Times are rough. Im sure others have made it through far worse off. In a perfect world, it would be great to have $500 or $600, know you are covered under any circumstance, have a few credit cards to fall back on.

Not now, in this world, for me at least. The real world says make it with 50 bucks or move on.

 

Ramen noodles are 18 cents at wal-mart, which translates into you can buy lunch with a quarter and get CHANGE back. there is no reason to starve during training or orientation, just apply common sense.

 

well, ramen noodles are great, if you have a way to heat the water. You may not be staying at the nicest accommodations, and they may not have a microwave for you.

You may be in a hotel 6 miles from the nearest Wal-Mart, and no way to get to it, and the only food around is the convenience store a half a mile down the road. And you already took all you could with you on the bus since you are leaving right from orientation.

Have a yard sale before you leave for some extra cash. We did that last year, because it was nice to have the extra money to leave with.

 

Figure approx. $10/day for food. That's just enough to keep you're stomach quiet. If you smoke, you WILL smoke more. Either stress, or boredom. Quit smoking, at least until you start getting paid. And keep enough to get you home, just in case. Companies may pay to get you there, but I've heard horror stories about getting stranded 500 miles from home because of stupid crap (usually means the company doesn't have enough trucks for all the new drivers), with no ticket and no cash to get home.

 

No, its not enough. Grab as much money as you possibly can. They will feed you 1 meal a day during orientation. You will go about 6 to 10 weeks without income. Can you say, "starve to death"?

I feel bad for you guys going through orientation and riding with trainers. By the time you get your own rig, you will have been starving for weeks. Some of these guys when they get into a trainer's truck and get their $300 a week will send most of that home and try to live on cheese crackers and viennas. I think thats a mistake.

You have to take all the money that you can get to get what you need to start trucking. The start is the first few months, not when they issue you a truck. Things will be extremely rough the first 2 months of you going solo. Yea, you can get cash advances and all when they dispatch you under a load, but cash advances leave huge holes in your paycheck. A week down the line, you will be expecting income and have nothing.

Sell your car or a couple guns or whatever and see if you can dig up about $600-700 to float you through the first 10 weeks.

 

There is a hardees and a taco bell next to the hotel. Across from taco bell is a Mobile truck stop with an arbys. across the street from the mobil is a burger king. there is a walmart about a half of mile from star. if you dont mind the walk or can get someone to take you there. Star will also give you an advance just ask someone how to go about it. They are not a bad company to work for. I was laid off from them in Feb due to the economy. Good luck. As to an actual amount depends on how much you want to eat. you will be in orientation for four days. the hotel has breakfast and Star should give you lunch.

 

during orientation, they do supply lunch. the motel they put you in has continental breakfast.
so mainly you take care of supper. there are plenty of places to eat. there is also a KFC across the interstate along with a mcdonalds. also there is a steak and shake, ruby tuesdays, at the BP there is a family resturant. and a burger king too.
now if you were going on the road, you could get a $75 advance while in training. then when you get out of training, then you go to orientation. it is 3 days long, then you get assigned a truck, if one is available.
i find about $100 per week is more than enough for on the road.

 

And if you carry a thermos, you can get hot water any truckstop and most have microwaves to heat up stuff too. Also you can carry instant oatmeal with you. I know this don't sound like great meals, but when your starting out or are broke drivers always find little tricks that get us through. Oh, you can take a apple or banana from your hotel breakfast and they won't say a word about it. If you have other drivers in your class for supper 1800dominos works anywhere in the usa, if there's a dominos around they can find out which one is for your area. When you get on the road, they will deliver to your truck. Just tell them who you drive for and the address of the shipper or receiver and about where your parked, they will deliver to you. If you have a fridge and your going to eat a meal at a truckstop, get a meal with the salad bar. Eat your salad for your dinner today and take the meal with you and heat it up at a pilot the next day. 2 meals for the price of one. If you drink coffee, carry another thermos with you. You get 2 or more cups of coffee in a thermos for the same price as a large coffee at most truckstops. If you'll be drinking water on the road, you can get a water jug from rubbermaid, fill it with water and ice at the truckstop when you fill your other thermoses up. I hope these tips help you out a bit!!!