military veteran, recent college graduate in logistics, wants to get experience in trucking

greetings from Charlotte and welcome to the forums.
as you peruse these pages ,you will see there is a lot of information to be gleaned.

your career is just beginning and mine is ending soon. gonna retire next year me thinks. 30 some odd years is enough. lol

 

The big paychecks are with tankers. You will need to complete a good 160 hr. cdl school though and many tanker outfits will reimburse the tuition. Most tanker drivers make $65K+ per year.
@19d is a vet and doing well with Schneider Bulk.
Here's some tanker companies that hire new cdl grads:
Schneider Bulk
Superior-Carriers
McKenzie Tank Lines
Trimac Transportation
CTL Transportation
SVTN - www.svtn.com
Tidewater Transit
Some of the above websites may have "experience required" so ignore that; they all hire new cdl grads.

 

@tscottme tmc used to show inverters in the trucks, drivers had to purchase a specific one, and then the wiring kit, the terminal shops were the only place authorized to install them. As of now, with the new 579s, I have no idea on inverters. They still don't have apu's, and probably never will due to weight.

 

Dry van is probably half or more of all trucking, I'm guessing. It's easily the largest section of trucking if not half or more. That means it's ON AVERAGE the easiest type of trucking to get into. And ON AVERAGE it pays less that other types of trucking. But getting on with a very god dry van company will pay more than and average company of the other types (flatbed, reefer, tanker). There are more jobs pulling dry vans so getting a job isn't as hard as say pulling tankers. But your area is probably more important than the number of jobs in each type of trucking. In general I'd lean toward a company close to you, whatever type of trucking they do, over a big national company far from you.

Dry van, IMO, is the best choice for entry into trucking because it requires the least attention from the new driver. About all you have to do is comply with the regulations, go around corners, back into docks, stay right-side up, and report immediately if your truck bursts into flames.

Reefer has longer wait times, washouts, some minor/major hassle with the freight & trailer if something goes wrong. Flatbed requires lots of work, lots of checking on your work, and has higher injury rate for drivers (falls, knee/shoulder injury). Tanker is so much smaller that it can limit job entry, especially if you are away from heavy industry. You also can't haul filled tankers with a permit under a CDL holder's supervision like you can with all other types of trucking. Until you get your CDL you are limited to pulling empty tankers. Whatever type of trucking your do get a Tanker endorsement on your CDL. A few years ago tanker rules changed and to haul certain liquid storage containers INSIDE a van or ON a flatbed requires Tanker endorsement. It's just a few question test. Make sure you get it.

 

You'll see large blue tanks on flatbed, sometimes they will be filled with water or a environmentally safe soap. I've hauled 48k of 250 gallon totes of roadway paint. Seen several loads of 50 gallon barrels of chemical that's used in cement mixes. Usually not enough for a tanker.

I'm one for suggesting flatbed, but only because that's what I've been doing since I started 3 years ago. I like it, and it's rewarding. If you like a challenge it's worth it, and can open up a whole nother section of trucking. Specialized freight. Which is what I'm looking to get into

 

Your financial struggles will continue in trucking. Pay is based on miles and if you don't get miles that week, you will get by with two bowls of Chili every third day until the miles (Work) comes in. Until the Industry changes over from driver pay which is literally less than minimum wage. (Consider wife and I, we teamed one year and ran 65K gross. Over 306 service days. Each one of those days were 24 hours at least 150 miles from home rolling as hard as she can go.

306 days out working, times 24 = 7344 hours worked. (Our virgin 2001 century with the 500 detriot accumulated just about 7500 hours in 10 months flat. If it was not rolling it was sitting at high idle providing hotel support to two people.

Divided by 65K payroll. = $8.85 per hour, further divided by two people = final pay for each wife and I... drumroll please... $4.42 an hour. Mimimum 6.25 overall.

Your talk about logistics etc makes you more of a Broker type person than a driver. Drivers do not "Do logistics" much. ANY thing not already processed by a computer somewhere or remotely handeled by a drone in the office via satellite to your cab and logs etc there is nothing else for you, the driver to do other than hold on to that wheel, give it a drink when the tanks are thirsty and fix it when broken. Deliver on time is the number one problem.

Basically a monkey well trained can drive a truck. Your college education and so forth places you more towards a desk duty such as a dispatcher or literally a organizer of freight assignment to your drivers in your region of the USA.

I hate to be difficult or burst anyone's bubble. There is a certain amount of idealism that goes into serviing the USA by trucking the food people eat every day or the medicines etc. That's wonderful. But frankly half o your provided information ltierally overqualifies you to drive a 18 wheeler. You need to be working towards providing Uncle Sam a logisitics solution to any number of his real world problems.

The biggest challenge as I see it is this.

If Maersk Slowboat needs 2 weeks to cross the Pacific accumulating boxes in TEU form until it FINALLY arrives at the west coast, impatient people suddenly cannot stand it, and absolutely lose it if that box is not in say... Bayonne NJ by the 5th day. Preferably sooner.

 

A logistics desk jockey makes less than a truck driver at the same company.
One dry van company that hires new cdl grads and also has their own cdl school is East-West Inc. in Swannanoa,NC www.goeastwestinc.com

I'd still go tankers though for the big paychecks.