Another Old Guy..career change

I now have 3 solid major league companys recruiting me and even a couple of farm league ones to fall back on.Guess my age ,working for same employer for 25 years ,clean mvr for 10+ years and mid florida tech make for a attractive canidate to the A+++ companys that hire grads/newbs.

 

Yup,I had no trouble getting pre-hire offers being 54 years old at the time with a good driving record and having worked at just one job for 24 years prior to being laid off. (due to the collapse of the housing market)
I started with May Trucking at 30cts a mile doing the Western 11 states dry van division then went to Schneider for a four state dedicated account that got me home Saturdays every week and sometimes overnight during the week.
Once I made the all important one year mark I was able to land a local home daily job with weekends off,that was my goal from day one.
It was a tough haul getting there but I'm pretty happy with the current gig I have.

 

How is local pay vs otr?

 

Well it really depends on what you find and where you are,local jobs vary a great deal.
I'm not making quite as much at the end of the week as I was at SNI dedicated but I'm working a hell of a lot less hours and I have a life again lol.
I work on average about 9 1/2-10 hrs a day ( actually nights for now) and only 5 days a week,that and of course I'm driving a daycab so I'm home every day.
If you figured it by the hr. (no it's no paid by the hr.) I'm actually making more money for the time spent.

 

Madjeeper, I'm thinking about signing on with Swift, but haven't heard about a $2,900 tuition payback in 6 months? How does that pencil in - $483/month, $120/week? That's a good benefit.

 

Hope I get in on time, Swamprat.

I took unemployment from an old job and got my CDL though the state's job training program. This gives you a certain degree of "free agency" when applying for jobs. I've heard company training programs either; 1.) don't really give you enough time/training & 2.) have all sorts of backdoor payback if you try to leave the company under a certain period of time.

Sometimes a good company can still be ruined by a bad relationship with a dispatcher. Nothing you can do about it. So being able to jump ship is always a plus.

Obviously recruiters are just another form of salespuke, probably the ones who couldn't cut in in the freight sales division.

Anyway if you want a little practice,,, go to a local truck-stop and pick up a logbook. You can work on wrapping your head around the 11-14-34-70 rules by taking it along with you for a month.

(I'm really excited, I'm going to start training a laborer to get his B-licence in Jan. We're a small shop, but we're TRYING to promote from within.)

 

I am local and paid by the load, but I always keep track of my hours on a daily/weekly basis then divide the weekly hours in the gross pay for a hourly rate for that week. I just like to know what I am making per hour.
Actually you OTR drivers should do the same thing (line3 + line4) to get an idea what you are making. But then again, you may not want to know.

 

Heh,yeah I did that once..................it was pretty ugly

 

Does the 2900 at swift include housing while in school? just curious....and do they really pay it ALL back in just 6 months?

 

thats what I am trying to figure out...six month payback sounds great...the swift recruiter I spoke with yesterday told me they reimburse at 37.50 per check and I am assuming that means each week.