I have a class A w/Hazmat & Tanker... Now Im thinking about going to CDL school

Apply at a ltl company for a non driving position, as dockworker. You will be able to get an internal opportunity and even get trained by that company while on the clock. You might sacrifice a couple months of driving but you could end up in th 60+ within a year.

 

Many LTL companies are now hiring new CDL graduates right out of school. They didn't a few months ago, but are now. Old Dominion was recruiting in Pennsylvania CDL schools recently needing 100 new CDL drivers.

 

The ones I've seen that hire new grads place them under P/DC and part time dock work. They won't put you on line haul unless you have at least 2 yrs under your belt.

 

I didn't put too fine a point on that, did I?
Depends on every driver's personal situation if it worth it.
If everything is all about the money, then there it lies. But it's not like that for everyone.

 

It is the insurance companies that are requiring that little useless piece of paper from a cdl school...

all the school does is prepare you to pass the state test.

You have already done that... I would go and find a company that will hire you, with your limited road experience. they are out there... many of them in the construction and oil fields.

 

You're in your first year of driving. It's going to take you another 3-6 years before you start earning the better money, and rightfully so.

Im sorry, but rookie drivers aren't worth 6 figures. Some of them are barely worth 30,000 a year.

The longer you stay behind the wheel, the more you learn. The more you learn, the more you're worth. The more you're worth, the more you'll get paid.

You can easily tell the difference between rookie and veteran drivers by the way they handle their truck, and like I said there's no way a rookie is worth what a veteran makes.

 

I was making crappy pay too when I first started. We all were, because none of us came out of the womb an expert.

 

JCCC is a great school..one of the best for trucking...but before you spend the $ for school , I see that you're in the Raleigh area....you might take a short driver over to Garner and put in an application with GSF....I worked for them for over 30 years retiring in 2011...great company , great pay , home almost every single night , great benefits programs , along with a really good retirement plan too. Pay is way above the average for the area also. when I retired I was at the 70 k plus level and ran only 3 days a week. Only real down-side is the work , pretty labor intensive , but it will keep you in great shape.

 

Well OK.
New drivers being hired at 36 cpm for various dedicated dry van accounts by Werner, regardless of how they handle their trucks.
So I'm thinking there's a pretty significant supply/demand factor in what people are paid, particularly new drivers.
Only qualifications? Be hireable and fog a mirror.
Yes, I'm in my first year of driving and at my first company I grossed 47 cpm, netting 36 -- believe it or not.
(Unfortunately, the money wasn't worth risking my license and my life running the freight like an outlaw cowboy.)
Times, they are a changing...

 

If you think 47 CPM isn't worth your time as a newbie, then you picked the wrong career.