Advice needed for on Trucking industry and employment.

Don't even waste your time. This industry is going into the crapper... LOL

It should get better, but unless you have alot of patience and testicular fortitude, you might not want to stay. I hate seeing guys waste their money on school loans only to make it less than 6 months in a career that they find quickly was a total lie from the beginning, and end up with all that debt from an overpriced "Driving school".

Depending on the company on the unhappiness part, to be honest. SOme companies have a reputation for treating their drivers like crap, other companies have a reasonable reputation but still do some things wrong. IT all depends on what YOU are willing to deal with.

Some things that are universal with all companies, that you will HAVE to deal with for at least a year or two would be long hours that you aren't paid for, not being able to shower every day, sometimes finding a parking spot can even be a chore, you have to deal with dispatchers at most companies that have never even seen a big truck before they started working there, you'll have to deal with the D.O.T and all the new garbage laws that completely ignore the fact that there is a REAL PERSON driving that truck and not a robot, you'll have to deal with traffic, being dirty, tired, cranky, dealing with 4 wheelers who act like you don't even exsist and they are more important than you are, etc. Shippers and recievers that are rude, make you wait around all day, and treat you like you are below them because you're merely a truck driver, this is a general rule for most of the motoring public as well.

After reading information on this board, if you still think 40k a year is worth dealing with all this hassle, then go for it. If not, i'd look elsewhere. They are putting alot of drivers in trucks now a days, and very few DRIVERS. THere are lots of people on this board who are valid CDL holders that no longer drive, mainly because we're waiting around for the industry (companies and government) to wake up from their slumber of ignorance and make some much needed changes.. There ARE good companies out there, but the odds of starting out at one of them as a new driver are slim to none, especially with this economy (People knocking down doors for jobs, now).. You're going to have to deal with swift, werner, schneider, jb hunt, TMC etc.

As far as the bigger companies being bad, I have this objection with these government agencies as of late, and that is this. The state that i live in (MIchigan) has blown so much money on this no worker left behind crap, sending the majority of these people to driving school on OUR TAX DOLLARS. These people went to driving school likely under the assumption that they will make BIG MONEY as a paid tourist, which couldnt' be farther from the truth. The state, and other government agencies seem to believe that becuase they are getting people jobs then there MUST be an overabudance of freight that needs to be hauled, without enough drivers to haul them... Also couldn't be farther from the truth. IT looks good on paper, yeah, they are getting jobs.. But, are they good jobs? Ask them. IF the jobs were so great would turnover be so high at swift, jb, etc? Probably not. IT's not due to an overabundance of freight, it's due to the fact that these companies can't keep people behind the wheel for any significant amount of time.

Lastly, you will need to go to driving school before a trucking company will train you. I don't know of any trucking company besides PRIME that wil actually get you your CDL. Everyone else i knew had to go through a "CDL Mill" before they were hired. ONce you have your CDL the company will train you further. I hope this helps, please forgive my synical attitude, you CAN find a good job. I was relatively happy with TMC until the crap hit the fan, I was given the opprotunity to go back but declined due to the recent changes that i felt i couldn't deal with. I am not saying that all companies are bad, but after i got into trucking i slowly realized that if your industry requires RECRUITERS to go around and lie to people to get them to work for you, it probably sucks. You can make good money, and enjoy it the majority of the time if you have a positive attitude and can overlook alot of annoying crap, but personally i got tired of overlooking things.

Best of luck to you!