? Im stuck need to see what you guys think

Probably be making about the same amount of money.

 

Watch this series of videos, beginning to end.
He chronicles the life style, job functions and pay.

http://www.youtube.com/user/yourboyethetrucker/videos

 

My name is Mark and I've been trucking now for 23 years or so. I am not going to say anything about Swift except that every one trucking today started somewhere. You're going to get enough BS about what company to start at as it is.

Only thing I want to say is this- make real #### sure trucking is what you want to do and that you are suited to it before you jump in and spend the money for school. This is industry can be real hard on a body both mentally and physically. You're not sight- seeing or a tourist- you are hauling somebody else's stuff which they expect in a timely manner, safe, and intact. This how we get and keep customers and it these people who pay our bills. They have a right to expect the above and it will be your job to deliver it. This is the hard part because to do this, you have to do so under a whole bunch of federal regulations and standards that are basically stacked against you. And it will be you- you who will be held responsible for all of them. Because freight is what it is, you will find yourself rolling nights one day and days the next and through all types of conditions. You will be expected to make it work. And you will be expected to stand up for yourself when it doesn't come together- before you accept a load assignment. You will be responsible for all the decisions, even the ones you were not aware of. It can be very very tough. And the only way to learn it is to do it. Be very aware, it will not be as the schools and recruiters describe it. It is unlike anything you have probably done before. I don't know the current averages but, most rookies don't make it past the first year for a variety of reasons.

You can make a decent life doing this but don't expect to get rich. But make no mistake, you will work for it. No one tells you when to start, to finish, how to load your load etc- you gotta figure all this out- for each run you do.

Don't ask me why I do it- I am a trucker. I truck because that is what I do. The reasons why have been lost in the mists of time and don't matter anyway. Anyhow, beats an office anyday.

Hope this helps-
Luck
Mark

 

Best answer yet!
Thanks.
Mary

 

Never heard of a truck driver being laid off ? I guess you didn't hear about Arrow Trucking having the finance company repo all their trucks and their drivers all being stranded when their fuel cards got shut off .
FMCSA is shutting down more and more carriers due to safety violations CSA turns up .
Dedicated retail contracts are short term . If another carrier bids a lower rate on renewal the drivers on the old contract lose work.
More and more private fleets are selling their trucks and having bottom feeder carriers distribute their product .
The amount of freight being moved has decreased over the past few years. Carriers aren't hiring because the increased their fleet . They are hiring to replace drivers that left .

 

IS THE RISK WORTH THE REWARD? U MAY WANT TO DRIVE A TRUCK BUT DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOUR DOING? ITS NOT A WALK IN THE PARK OR SO I'VE HEARD. i WISH U WELL IN EITHER VENTURE.

 

Believe me, these are NOT the only two jobs in the world that are available, though it may seem that way to you right now. I don't know if your old job was a "call center" or not, but I know that there is no way that I could work at one. EVER.

As has been said, trucking is no picnic. The vast majority of folks that go through the trucking schools never last a year in trucking. SWIFT is certainly not the best company in the world to work for either. Just look at the threads devoted to them here in the forum. OTOH, most of these "get your foot in the door" companies aren't any better.

Rather than us going back through all the same old tired stuff we go over all the time here, why don't you take a few days and start really looking at this website. Look at the main forum page, and pay particular attention to the forums, threads and posts in the first section. This section is titled :Good and Bad Trucking Companies.

Then take a long look at Truckers and the Trucking Industry. After all of that, then peruse the rest of the forum at your leisure. Perhaps doing that will answer a lot of questions for you. Because it doesn't matter what you will ask, it has undoubtedly been asked and discussed here, at length.

Meanwhile, don't give up looking for some other type of work, while you are doing this research.

Whichever way you go here, I wish you a lot of luck!

 

I agree with Big Don with the proviso that you are not getting un-biased posts in these forums- especially in good vs bad trucking companies. Don't get overly carried away with either really nasty or super good descriptions- the truth is always in the middle somewhere. Having said that, let me throw out this- by and large, the only two things separating companies is color and logo. The trick- find the company whose bs you can put up with the best and stay there.

Mark