Advice for wannabe trucker?

You got some years a head of you until a CDL is really worth your time... You can get a CDL and 18 But.. You cannot leave your home state in a CMV until your 21. If you have a spotless driving record than some company's might hire you at 21 but as i said all your records need to be spotless. I know Werner will hire you at 21 and i think swift as well. I would wait until your at least most of your way through 22 to get your CDL. if you get it now by the time you are old enough to get a job you'll be considered out of training and have to go get recerted again to get a job.... Its a fun job I'm about to test out of Werner and I love the job. You got the right attitude about you for it but its not all open road fun... a JT load will quickley show you the industry isant like it was in it golden days... Hell You dont deliver that JT in time and your dispatcher will rip you a new one. The only advice i can offer is see about getting a job where you can drive a fuso straight truck or something... my 1st truck i ever drove was a basket case isuzu with a POS crane on it but it was a job and gave me some good experience.. stay on here though.. lots of good people who can point you in the right direction.

 

You need to research and find out what the important questions are. You can make an above average living but you will make sacrifices that other jobs don't require. Read the "good companies" and "bad companies" section on this forum and get an idea of what company you want to work for and what kind of trailer you want to pull. Don't just go to school and then try to figure out where to go.

I don't know your financial situation. Don't take training from a company if you can afford it or get it with financial aid. You will be their slave for up to year. If you leave they will trash you DAC and credit record. Check out your local community colleges and employment office.

Just know that most training and trucking company recruiters will do nothing but lie to you. They will let you talk about what you want and then tell you what you want to hear. Trucking is about moving freight to make money for the company. Your home time, family, paycheck and everything else comes second.

It is not like any other job. Local is usually backbreaking delivery work 10+ hours a day, 6 days a week. Often you unload dozens of times a day or you are a salesman. In my area most dump truck jobs pay less than a good factory job. Regional is lots of loading and unloading time, fewer miles than OTR and not as hard as local but will wear on you and push your HOS limits. OTR is out 3 - 5 weeks with 3 - 4 days home, less manual labor and more miles.

You'll probably have to pay your dues before you get the gravy job. Weekends off, if you are lucky enough to get something like that starting out, may be home Thursday afternoon and leave Saturday night or home Friday night and leave Sunday afternoon. Loads deliver on Monday early and you leave in time to get them there. Often your home time will be in the middle of the week.

Regardless of your driving choice, after school you will go through company training. For OTR this can be six weeks to three months with little or no home time. The first phase is usually $400 a week and the second phase is $500-550 a week. Some pay less. One company pays 12 CPM for training.

One last thing, you don't want to wait around too long after training or you'll have trouble finding a job. If you get out before you have a year in, when you try to come back a few months later you will find they want you to start over.

 

Only problem with most of them you listed is there unionized and have age restrictions (dont quote me on that) but there also considered the "good jobs" in trucking where they want X amount of years of experience. The other thing you could look at doing and they might take you for this at 18 (not sure if you need a CDL or not for it) is a yard dog job drivin a trailer ferry or a lumber yard job. or another thing my buddy started out as was a runner for uhaul. It was piss poor pay and all but it got him good experience when he got his CDL. Now beleave me a straight truck is nothing like a rig but it will still teach you pretty well.

And stay away from swift and CR england... If you have to pick one of those 2 deffintley swift. I've been on the road about 2 months and I'm gettin my own truck sometime this week and have yet to meet a happy CR driver.

 

You're gonna have to go to truck driving school and then out with a trainer for about 6-8 weeks. Then you need to spend the next 6-12 months paying off that school loan and gaining experience over the road. Then with a good driving record many new jobs will open up to you. Then at 2 years experience, pretty much all driving jobs open up to you. Most drivers don't know what it's really like until they try it. You'll work long hours all around the clock. It's no 9-5 job. You'll be away from home and your friends. If you can deal with that, then you can start to adjust. I always tell someone to find something you like to do. Then figure out a way to make money doing it. You have to love your job to be happy.

The money right now is in LTL (less than truckload). Companies like UPS, FedEX and Conway are LTL. Coca-Cola is a fun job for a young driver because you hustle alot with your 2 wheeler toting drinks. But there are much better beverages companies to work for. Coke just throws the drinks in the truck and you have to dig at every stop. Budweiser and Pepsi loads them in order and your work is cut in half. I worked for Coke for a year and have good memories. I had a friend stay with them. After eight years they moved him up into management and now he's making great money. The downside is your in and out of coolers. You'll go from a hot sweat to freezing your **** off several times a day.

It's good you are studying career choices. You'll do good! This forum you can find alot of good advice if trucking interest you. Read and ask alot of questions.

 

As far as starting out, or right now, there isn't much you can do that will have a large positive effect on an OTR driving career.

Most are not going to give much consideration to local experience. If you get a couple of years of local experience, you might get a small company to give you a shot at 21 or 22.

You will need a CDL for local work but a Class B would work for strait trucks. Be sure and get Air Brakes.

If you are highly-motivated, I would get a CDL Driver's Guide from your state. Look up study guides and sample tests online. Get a learner's permit and find a strait truck to test in. Then get a local strait truck delivery job and earn the money to pay for a Class A CDL training course.

Then move to local tractor-trailer work. This might work out to be a stepping-stone to the OTR trucking industry. Just be aware you might have to take a refresher course when you are old enough to get hired OTR. In my area I can take full training for $4,000 or the refresher for $1,333.

I don't know if this will work but it is probably what I would do if I were you. Keep in mind a stable job history for the next three years will be worth alot in reaching your goals.

 

im also wanting to get my cdl. i posted a thread but no replies...I was looking into the conway driver training program. Or just go to school.
Haven't made my decision yet so any advice will help. Im Not hi-jacking this thread. If anyone wants to give me some advice please go to my profile and to the thread that i posted. Thanks.
Jeff

 

You can jump at the opportunity right now and it will work out the best for you and it won't cost you a dime. Go right down to the military recruiting office and tell them you want to drive a truck. I know the Army has a lot of positions.