New career path, dumb move or smart?

Check out Norfolk Southern Railroad. They have some openings around Harrisburg for different positions.

 

Top out at 10 an hour for a mechanic?

Where you work? Wal-mart
Geez.

How does your woman feel about it?
Can you convince her to go team and see the country with you if your 18 yr old is out your hair by then? If not they can pay you rent and baby sit the house lol.

Ethier way start putting money back now if you are serious.

Ideally you would want to run team. H&w team= highest pay possible starting out and most marketable in the industry.

 

If you are a good mechanic you will make more money,,living on the road is expensive a, expect little home time each month,,
mechanics I know in Las Vegas, LA etc make more than $25/hr many work 40 hrs/wk and get paid for more than 50hrs flat rate,
Expect to work 60-70hrs/week as a driver no overtime pay ,

 

A little more about me. Worked all years at the same place. Never a day of flat rate. Rare for over 45 hrs a week.

 

Trucking is a good move for you; go for it!
The mistake people make when changing careers to trucking, is choosing the wrong company. They jump on the first job offer without doing any research, thinking all truck drivers are making big paychecks or the trucks are pretty so the pay must be great.

 

Well I haven't made any moves yet. Considering a part time mechanic job for the time being. Just to raise some $$ to put towards going to Sage driving school. I keep thinking I want the license and training to be "my own". That way I will not have commitment to any one company. Sage claims to have lots of companies that come in and hire out of the class.

 

My brother-in-law is also a mechanic and has been since '79, he has reduced his hours to a flat 40 and still this past year made $125k.

I took him out in one of the trucks to drop it off a couple years back to show him what it was like, he said when I was dropping him off at his house that he would rather be a mechanic at 90 than to ever get into a truck to make a living.

He also in his spare time builds engines to sell to people, he makes a couple grand a month from that alone.

 

Were is your heart?. I to am a mechanic but I can also drive a truck..lol... My problem with mechanic is I found out it is more of a hobby then a profession. Can I make more/keep more money turning a wrench?. Sure but I am not all about money.

To me trucking is a lifestyle. I love the freedom of the road. Granted I am just now getting back in and I see some things that may make it less FREE.. Maybe I had been fortunate in when I was driving OTR most of the companies I worked for wanted loads picked up and delivered on time. Not much out of route miles and ofcourse running as legal as possible.. Other then that I set my own schedule, drove when I wanted as long as I kept my appts... Hopefully the new company I go to will be this.

I will say if your heart is on seeing the country try to be somewhat financialy set to were you can stop and smell the roses time to time.. If not all your going to see is a lot of blacktop and a lot of the ugly side of the industry.. When your chasing the dollar you do not see a lot of the country. As far as running team with your wife it depends on what you both desire.. Once again if your chasing the dollar you will see a lot of blacktop and the cab can get small..

To me Trucking is what you make of it.. Go to the bad trucking company forum and I bet you can find someone having a gripe about most of them. Ive only had a truely bad experience with 1 but I am sure some have had a good experience with them.. Only time I missed an appt is if I had a mechanical failure I could not patch together to make it on time. You get a few bad apples when it comes to dispatchers but I found often times if I proved myself to them that I was there to drive not sit in a truck stop I was treated way better. You have to train them..lol

If you think it is a passion go for it.. If your chasing the dollar and or enjoy wrenching I would say dont.