whats the deal???

1. is it true that the first couple years i will only make about 25-30k no matter what the recruiters say?

if you're lucky, you might make that. but what you have to look at is how many hours you have to put into that paycheck you get each week. once you realize that, you'll be wondering why you wasted all that money on driving school to get a job where you have no life, and are making just a hair over minimum wage.

 

30-35 is more of a realistic number... I made 41,000 with Sni my first year out but I only seen the house maybe 2 times in that year.. And my average was over 3100 a week, very hard to get unless you get hooked up with the right people..

 

Tankers tend to make a bit more than vans, though, if you work hard. The downsides to tanks are:

1) they can slosh. Handling is a bit more difficult than dry van or reefer
2) You do the loading/unloading (usually)
3) loading/unloading is typically out in the weather, not some warehouse. You WILL get wet and cold

(hrm.. think of it as a flatbed the sloshes )

 

Google trucking schools. They are all pretty much the same. They train you and you have to work for them for x amount of months. Swift is a good training company. Stay away from Werner, England and Stephen's. If you wanna be a trucker you can make money but you have to learn the job first. Just like every other occupation. You should start out bringing home anywhere from 4 to 6 hundred a week. Thats after training and you get your own truck. If you dont want to be a trucker and just looking for a good paycheck you are wasting your time. Good Luck

 

Swift is a good "training" company. They are one of the first company's to train. They used to be the slowest trucks on the road and it was well known that they train thier drivers. When I was there, their trucks topped out at 57mph. They were always in the way. Experienced drivers liked to pick on swift drivers because of alot of different reasons. Some of it was because they would let a driver with six months exp. be a trainer. They wernt the only company on the hit list though. JB Hunt has long been a target. Swift treated me with respect and did not try to scam my money. If you want to get your foot in the door I am not promoting ANY company. There are just a few I have knowledge of and thought you might be interested in my two cents.

 

Their just like any other company, you get out what you put in.
Go in with a good attitude, keep your nose clean, try to avoid the complainers "there are many in the trucking world" and do a good job, even if you dont get a pat on the back you still have the self satisfaction of a job well done. Be your own judge, thats all I can say.

 

On a more pragmatic note... if I'm interested in Swift's CDL training, who should I be calling?

I went to their website and called the number that was in their training section... turned out to be their main recruitment switchboard, I punched in what appeared to be the right selections when asked, when I finally got a live person and explained what I was after, she put me on hold and transferred me to their "training specialist". After 10 minutes or so on hold, the "training specialist" answered, I explained again, the "training specialist" had some trouble understanding that I was calling because I wanted training, and finally she gave me the number of some recruiter in Ocala... I called him, left a message, and never received a call back (this was 3 weeks ago or so).

That doesn't seem correct...

I wasn't too impressed, but at least I got to talk to a live person. Schneider's computer hung up on me when I punched in my ZIP code. Werner had to transfer me from their main recruiter to their CDL training recruiter, only for her to say that they're not training at the moment.