OK Here's my plan...

At least you have a plan that's a start.welcome and good luck,hope you get what you want it's not always easy out here,but i just dont see me doing anything else,I still love what I do. that's pretty much may plan-still drive.

 

does happen

 

I've heard good things about Prime. Not far from my wife's home town. Nice facility too. Good luck out there. I'm catching up with ya. I'll be 49 in a couple months ha!

 

expect to spend first couple years paying ur dues out here. hell, I'm still paying mine 23 yrs later lol. ask a lot of questions and do not believe everything you hear no matter the source. get plenty of sleep and think about every move you make in that rig before you make it. have fun and good luck to ya.

 

your a kid at 51....Trucking can be pretty demanding , not only of your time but on your heath too...since you don't have any health problems, make sure that when you do start trucking you continue to get some exercise in each day, drink plenty of water and eat as good as possible. You're going to go from a fairly regular work schedule to one that will turn you and your metabolism upside down. But you can still accomplish all those things , all it takes is good time management. Good luck!

 

If you are serious about this endeavor and want to be successful out there I would highly recommend avoiding these companies. You really want to try and stay away from the mega-carriers and super large companies. Being a newbie I'm sure you see and hear a lot about these companies so they are more familiar to you, however that really isn't a good thing. These companies are spending millions of dollars in advertising to get YOU to work for THEM! That should set off some kind of alarm in your head. Do you know of any other business that does that? The good companies don't usually have to do this because their drivers are happy working for them and they have a low turnover rate.

The biggest factor in choosing a company boils down to your dispatcher. Your dispatcher is going to be your ultimate key to your success. At these mega-carriers dispatchers are responsible for hundreds of drivers making you just a number. Its vital to establish a really good working relationship with your dispatcher if you want to make any kind of money at all out there. This is next to impossible at these large carriers. Also god forbid you ever have a problem or need to get home for some reason. At a smaller company communication with your dispatcher will be a lot easier and building a back scratching relationship with them will help you tremendously.

As a new or up and coming driver you most likely are only going to hear about the mega-carriers or top 5. Swift, England, Werner, Prime, CRST etc.. These are the sweatshops of the trucking industry. They want a constant flow of fresh meat so that they never have to pay more than trainer level wages for their freight. They don't want experienced drivers!

Do yourself a huge favor and do your research and home work. Find a good smaller carrier to drive for. There are thousands of them in your area. Here is a site that will help and also you can check Craigslist daily. They often have some really good gigs posted on there.

http://www.truckdrivercentral.com/truckingcompanies.html

Good luck....