First Steps

Much of that is by poor choices though; low pay, unhealthy lifestyle, overworked, out of shape. All this can be avoided and still be a long haul trucker. Many long haul truckers make great money, eat healthy foods, not overworked, and in great shape.
By great money, I mean over $60K per year. Staying in shape by brisk walks during down time & some jumping jacks beside the truck. I only ate 2 meals a day my whole life; hate breakfast with a passion. Maybe unbuttered toast and coffee for breakfast, have a balanced meal for lunch and eat off the salad bar with no dressings for supper and that's it for the day. I drink maybe 20 cups of coffee with powdered creamer, no sugar, every day.

Get all the endorsements for a good start with a good company and enjoy your new career.

 

No driver starts out making $60K/year and I'd bet that only a small percentage of company drivers earn over $60K. I'd bet the industry average is closer to $40K a year. But it's all relative, to a young man starting out with no marketable job skills then $40K looks pretty good!

 

Hazmat/tankers and some LTL start out at that. One new CDL grad posted he made $60K his second year at Tyson Foods. You're probably right about the industry average though. With no endorsements, TWIC, passport, $40K probably drags the industry average down to $40K or somewhere between $40K - $50K.


Poor_Dog, Tidewater Transit has a terminal in Decatur, AL just South of you.
With hazmat/tankers you have to get with the top companies that hire new CDL grads to make that; Superior Carriers, SVTN, Trimac, Tidewater Transit, etc.

 

The thing that jumped up and surprised me about trucking -- the thing that nobody mentioned or that maybe I never heard properly -- is the number of hours truckers work in a day.
DOT rules limit commercial drivers to 14 hours on duty and 11 hours of driving.
Consequently, the industry norm and common expectation is that a driver use all those hours up.
This makes for some grueling long hours driving and doing driving related things day in and day out.
The HOS rules have distorted the industry in a way that makes a joke of the intent of those very regulations.
Once your 14-hour clock starts, your day begins until it's time for your 10-hour break. Tick-tock.
Exhausting isn't the word for it.

 

It's a hard adjustment, but if your wife is the type and you can be together 24/ 7... it is great having a companion and seeing the country together. Don't forget teams make good money, especially if both checks are coming into one household.