The story of my adventure

Welcome to trucking my friend! You know that question that every newbie asks "how much money do you make a week?" "How many miles do you get a week?" I bet you would love to answer that right now huh?! You will just have to suck it up. This happens! It's great if you have been running your butt off for months straight and then this happens. It makes for a little break. However when you are just getting going it sucks. Could you imagine being an O.O and having to pay for your truck right now? What really burns some guys is the thought of still being away from home and not making any money and now you have to stay out extra weeks to make up for it. On the other hand I use to love being shut down in the bad weather. I would get a cup of coffee sit in the front seat, kick back, turn the cb on and watch the show! It's great watching and listening to all the chaos in the parking lot!

 

Ah - the life of a trucker - hurry up and wait - I will get to enjoy that soon... good thing I like to read!!

 

I've been trying to figure out how to approach this trucking thing for a while now. One thing that's slowly coming into focus is that all of the issues around getting started seem to be what kill a lot of careers/jobs in this business.

At the end of the day, from a financial perspective, it doesn't look that much different from a lot of other industries. The "industry standard" for trucker training, including OJT, is a year, more or less, not the two or three weeks, or in my case, three months, that it takes to get through school. And in a lot of industries, if you can make any money during your first year of training, you're doing well. Mostly, you just try to get through it, and when you do, that's when the payoff starts, if you're good enough to do well at it. Been there, done that.

I'm starting to see some ads for decent jobs available in my area, with a year of experience. I already know if I can get through school and get hired somewhere, I can live with short paychecks for a year. That's part of the price for getting from here to there. After that, it seems as if things start to look better. So, now I know what I have to focus on...get through school, get hired, and get a year of good experience under my belt. There's a bunch of other stuff I don't have to worry about right now; I can deal with some of it down the line.

Good stuff celticwolf; believe it or not, you're encouraging another newbie here.

 

Thanks Zuma,
I to have been trying to figure the best way to approach this industry. I am coming from 33 years in construction and am excited about a change. I am looking at schools in my area and I may get a prehire letter from a local regional firm that accepts school trained CDL newbies. I went and applied for a training position last week. I have some short time experience back in the 70s driving a flat-bed semi around town. It was less than a year. I think the backing and shifting will come back to me as I was totally comfortable driving all day back then. I am checking with a school about a refresher course to save some of the cost. These forums have really informed me of the realities to expect. There are many opportunities in my area for experienced drivers. I think you are dead right about how to approach it.

 

LOVE Anne McCaffery!! Klingon gives me a bad time - 'flying talking dragons - who would believe that stuff - now STAR TREK - THAT'S believable -

 

Star Trek's not real?