Starting out for rookies

Well lets see... how do you want your sentence to go... death by hanging... boiled in oil... lethal injection or tarred and feathered... tied to a tree and flogged??

 

Goodmorning, being a fellow trucker and reading these forums , bought many in sights back and found memory's, i two found many way's too save money on the truck, from everything from a- z, first is always food, if you dont eat, you mind starves, therefore you dont have a sharp mind too deal with everyday problems, it's is true ,i too stay away from truck stop food, myself i never pay too park at em ether, i park, unhook , king pin it, bobtail down too a local resturant for my once a month meal, rest time what i did was i look up on net for the people who live ,um like on rations or back packer type foods, food sealed in pouches, i can buy a whole box of asst for what cost at truck stop's per meal, add hot water en presto, although not as tasty as a full meal,but it will keep you alive if you get stuck in a blizzard some were , and the shelf life is 10 years,and if i wanted too take frozen food like hamburg, i leave in store wrapper freeze hard, then bubble wrap it tight, en throw in cooler, last a lot longer this way,anyway mc -d's has the doller menue,then if your hauling produce ,like i did or reg grocercy load's like i did, you spot a broken box on dock , i always ask what there gonna do with it, more times then not i get the pallet put back on my trl, like one small water bottle was broken, i took the whole pallet , sold the water too the ta truck stop fer a cool hunderd it was one gallon size, keep three for myself , there always truckdrivers selling juice, ice cream, ect , just hang by the referer people, you never go hungry , laundry i saved there too, what i did was to wash clothes , then took back too truck, then i made a bracket with my load locks across front of trl and wood clamps , took a junky sleeping bag i used for under truck, those rocks hurt under there if you do your insp,and i was a company driver too, but i inspected everything,after all it ,you and road ,and if you break down , well its not pretty sitting along the road, so then i hook my ropes 5 in all ,in this bar pull the tractor forward take the other end of ropes tye off on load lock bar behind the cab, throw down the old sleeping bag over fith wheel , and i was drying clothes, save me 500 bucks over a year doing this,them quarters add up with the avg one person wash is about 8 bucks to 15 bucks, its a big savings, well you get the idea i was pretty thrifty when i was on the road, i just fell kinda sorry them drivers who are bored and go in spend there paycheck on arcade games, come baby one more point and ill be champion, champion of what losing your money, same as vegas, i seen a driver lose his truck , dressed too the nines pete 379 and even took his flatbed load , that was a sad for me, i hate seeing anyboby lose there truck and load and i like too have that red shiny pete with all the chrome en gagets, then they the next day , come up too you in hallway and ask for a handout too eat, i just tell um , go if see if the arcade will give you a handout, Everett.

 

Thanks CBT,
I really hadn't thought much about the local driving companies. I've been focusing on long hauls as the way to go once I finish school. The city maneuvering you mentioned could be invaluable if I have trouble getting hired by a long haul company. I really wouldn't want to go that way but if that's what it takes to get the experience a long haul company is looking for - then I'll do it!

 

txboy10,
Prefaced by saying A great career began as an indentured servant! No thanks to THEM!

In my personal opinion which may matter slightly given I entered the trucking industry for similar reasons (Tired of the corporate management life).

I went the wrong route even after getting great advice from many other truckers.

Unfortunately, when I first began my career, I did so by signing on as an indentured servant for the 12 month employment committment and free school option.
Fortunately, after navigating through several less than desirable jobs the ship righted itself on my behalf. I should mention more than 50% of the guys I went to school with left the industry for reasons I will explain below.
They left as broke as they entered with a growing school loan on their record.

What they do not tell you in advance;
You are expected to NOT complete the year.

This allows them to get you for cheap labor for as long as you can stand the made to fail invironment.

They of course than charge you full price with a rediculous interest rate for the school, lodging and any added expenses they tack on.

The training conditions with these companies in some cases are less than bad and really border on dispicable.

If the beginning stinks (school).
You can be assured training will be worse!
You can really be assured since they have taken advantage of you from day one that once you are out of training and driving solo it will remain the same bad set up!

On a Positive note;

If you obtain your CDL from an another source (community college).

Most companies will reimburse the expense you spent on school to obtain your cdl.
Though you may have to jump through a few hoops you will at least be offering the company something at the door.
You are a trained beginning CDL driver.
Believe it or not this is worth a little something and shows the companies your level of initiative.

You should qualify for tax breaks for education.
You should also qualify for unemployment compensation.
You will have hundreds of companies to choose where to take your license and inexperience too!

The trucking industry offers many levels of training and depending on how long you want to sit as a student you have a variety of choices.

You can go through the puppy mills and within a month be driving on your own. Or, you could go with companies that do complete training and hang on as a second driver for up to 6 months.

You will also open the door to many local companies who are willing to train you as a new driver.

As a professional driver you will learn real quick that being in a hurry never pays even in the learning stages if you get my drift. So take your time in this life changing decision!

I would ask you first if you know what type of frieght you want to haul?
Yes, it really is an important decision. Knowing what type of frieght you are interested in hauling will determine which companies within that niche in the industry you want to pursue.

Driving a Big Rig may seem the same from the front bumper to the fifth wheel, but it changes depending on the type of trailer you pull.

Okay this has gotten wordy!

My advice is pay for school yourself, try and find a company with a mid range agreement on length of training and one that offers tuition re-imbursement.

I would suggest at least 6 weeks of training with a company.

One that shows growth potential for the first 2 years.

I would NOT allow a company to try and make me an indentured servant beyond my initial training even if I had to bare the tuition debt.

Meaning once I was considered to be fully trained and qualified I would not allow forced teams or training ratings such as companies like CR England enforce.

Good luck it's a great industry, with great people for the most part!

 

This nothing to do with your message.
But, I would like to find where you found such a cool image

 

It sound like you a Scrooge would get alone quite well! LOL

 

One that shows growth potential for the first 2 years. Where do we find this information?

 

["In the past, I don't think it mattered all that much. And probably doesn't matter all that much today which road to a CDL-A you take.

The challenge now-a-daze is finding ANY truckin' company hiring newBees already in possession of their CDL-A."

The large training companies, I think, prefer to profit from their 'training' programs though."

Which is true: It does not matter which route you take to get a CDL, school or company sponsored training?
i have to put line in ths message because my previous message was to short

 

I'm not comfortable agreeing with "it doesn't matter" (how one obtains their CDL-A.)

I believe it does matter, just as everything we do and how we do it, matters.
Training is a foundation that should be capable of supporting growth, and determining how high the structure is allowed to progress without overloading the foundation.

If it comes to a point where y'all tell yourself that even though you can't afford the best training, y'all can still go the cheap route and be out on the road in half the time, ---- so y'all can start payin' back that school/company loan --- with interist in the interist that loan is collecting, --- "it doesn't matter", you might be compromising more than you realize.
It's your future.
Does that matter?

 

The truth is it doesn't matter where you go to get your CDL-A. It doesn't matter because the industry is set up to take advantage of every opportunity to profit. Even at the expernce of the drivers. I'm sure this is not any suprise to the veteren drivers as they have had to deal with it for years with all the bogus back charges and shorted fuel reimbursments. Now with the newbees in abundence they can take advantage of a whole new group of inexperienced fools. I have a degree in business and understand the situation but in no way do I endorse their actions. I went to Road Master for my CDL and they told me "There's a shortage of drivers so you'll get hired right away!" But as I got in and paid my 5 grand the truth stated to unfold. I guess some times you just have to step in it before you know it's BS. I have a friend who got a "JOB" right out of school. He came out of school having driven a whole 15 miles in a tractor then had to go through the companies training period. During that time he made a whopping 300 per week and when he had finished had to start paying for the oreintation, transportation, and numerous other charges accumilated during that time. Then, out on the road, due to dispatcher screw ups he was continuly repermanded for taking the wrong route and getting to destinations late. As a result he was let go. Now you might think he was just a screw up. But that could not e further from the truth. What was going on is he was no longer a newbee and represented a higher cost than a newbee. They imediatly replaced him with a newbee and the cycle continued. But he is left unemployed having been let go before he had a year in the seat and with a bad rap! He couldn't even get unemployment! And for all of us who did not get hired right out of school have to take a refresher course before we can drive which is another 1400 smackers. So, it doesn't matter where you go to get your CDL-A. Just get one and get in line. You'll get your turn eventually to bend over and become the next professional driver.