Trucking CDL Student, looking for honest input!

Discussion in 'Questions From New Drivers' started by husker rage, Feb 5, 2009.

  1. husker rage

    husker rage Bobtail Member

    19
    1
    Feb 5, 2009
    Fremont, Ne
    0
    Wow, these threads go way back.

    Informative, yet some of it is confusing when you go back a few years on these.

    Can some of you fine drivers give a novice a little heads up on good company's that are worth considering?

    I look forward to hearing from you....

    Would like to have current feedback on the following outfits if you have data.

    TMC - Keim - Werner - Swift - TSL - England - Schneider

    Good bad or indifferent data, but honest data please!

    God Bless,
     
  2. Truckers Report Jobs

    Trucking Jobs in 30 seconds

    Every month 400 people find a job with the help of TruckersReport.

  3. walleye

    walleye Road Train Member

    3,028
    4,306
    Aug 21, 2007
    Land of Cheese
    0
    Right now trucking sucks,....Maybe it always will,...He77 maybe it always has???............
    Good Luck is all I can say...
     
  4. Punisher1985

    Punisher1985 Light Load Member

    57
    14
    Jan 13, 2009
    The 715
    0
    Ditto truckin is ot good right now if you got bills and whatnot it is not a good time to start i would just hole onto the license for a little while and go work at wal mart or something until the freight picks back up! I just started in Sept. 08 and i was only makin like $160 a week tops for 4 months and one week i even had a check that was $2.25 for a WEEK!
     
    husker rage Thanks this.
  5. Starchdoggy

    Starchdoggy Light Load Member

    180
    87
    Aug 6, 2007
    seated
    0
    Honestly, not a good time for trucking. If you need to make money it may not be your best choice. I do not know your options though so you must decide yourself.

    I started with Werner in fall of 07, and still there. Been solo with them since November 07. It has not been easy. As far as the company goes it is as good as any of the options I had at the time. I am treated fairly for the most part.

    I run a dedicated account for them and made over 47k last year. This however is not the norm for newbies. Of the five guys that got there cdl the same class as me I know at least 3 no longer drive. One just did not like it, one says never made more than $400 for a week in the 6 months he lasted and another fired for unknown reasons to me.

    Do not believe the hype about the driver shortage as it is only hype. The shortage is of people that are willing to work and live away from home for weeks at a time for small change.

    I do believe that you could still come into this job and do OK even now, but it will not be easy. You must be prepared to deal with a lot of crap. If you get lucky you could make decent money and do OK or you could be the guy coming back here talking of how this job or certain company sucks.

    Either way best of luck, and do your research.
     
  6. dcedlr

    dcedlr Light Load Member

    206
    63
    Jul 26, 2007
    Aurora, CO
    0
    Find a job waiting tables or bartending somewhere. The money will always be better than driving a truck.
     
  7. husker rage

    husker rage Bobtail Member

    19
    1
    Feb 5, 2009
    Fremont, Ne
    0

    ____________________________________________________________

    The jobs are crap out there in the main stream as well. Can't buy a job making what I used to make. 60K +

    Not a young guy no more (49) and need to keep roof over head and food on table for 3 kids and wife. This is why I spent money on trucking school as they said it was a job that could never be outsourced!

    Father-in Law driver for 40+ years made good money in sunny CA as a driver for local smaller company who treated him like family. He said ran Peterbuilt/flatbed up and down the coast. He said stay anyway from refers as you are at the mercy of grocery stores etc to get you unloaded and if you are 15 min late, you may be sitting for a day or two waiting.

    Like to get a LTL job with local company but need 6 months or more of experience I guess first.

    Back to Flatbeds, have read where most flatbeds are loaded and unloaded from sides which makes it faster to get into terminal and get out faster, but pain in the butt to tarp and untarp if you have 5 stops on one load plus when you had this many stops and had to tarp and untarp, on rain days your load would get wet and darn merchants would ##### and tell you they did not want the steel. He said he had on more then one occasion to oil down rags and wipe steel down before merchants would accept load. (Rust prevention).

    Anyway, need an income... and looking for good company?

    Any suggestion on company’s to check out would be welcome!

    God Bless
     
  8. Waterloo

    Waterloo Medium Load Member

    533
    158
    Nov 16, 2008
    Grass Lake, MI
    0
    Honestly, I don't really know of anyone hiring right now. Maybe a hotshot job pulling farm equipment when the weather breaks? Not good at all out here, I would go as far as to say nightmarish. Me and my buddies, over 200+ years combined driving, are having a hell of a time making ends meet right now. Most of us are home going broke on our couches, beats doing it in a truck stop.

    Mike
     
  9. husker rage

    husker rage Bobtail Member

    19
    1
    Feb 5, 2009
    Fremont, Ne
    0

    Thanks,

    Keep Searching!
     
  10. MO family man

    MO family man Heavy Load Member

    814
    242
    Oct 31, 2007
    Nunya, MO
    0
    You apparently have asked the worst possible group of people for opinions about a career. Most had a year or less of experience and one was a rightfully angry laid off guy. Trucking is what it is and mostly likely what it always will be. A man can make a decent living without a college degree. I made 70+ working for a driver mill and now on pace to make 70-80+ tanker yanking with great home time. The jobs are there for those willing to do them. They provide stability in that you really have to be a tard to get canned these days. They provide valuable insurance which a man with a family really needs...not many bartending gigs offer that.

    As far as what you do? Doesn't really matter. Don't want to mess with grocery wharehouses? Stear clear of reefers. Don't want to wrestle heavy tarps around? Don't go flatbedding. It really is a pick your poison kind of thing. One may wish to get a ride with an outfit that does several things; vans, flats,reefers, etc.
     
  11. RickG

    RickG Road Train Member

    12,812
    6,135
    Jul 22, 2008
    Owensboro , KY
    0
    Again a message from somebody that is out of touch with the industry and never reads financial news or labor reports . Unemployment in the trucking industry is 50% higher than it was a year ago and the rate is climbing . There is no point going back more than a few months reading posts because the industry has gone drastically downhill in the past year . Don't base decisions on opinions here . Read facts like this data . http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t10.htm . Note these numbers represent thousands . That's over 1 million people out of work in the transportation industry , up from 787,000 last January . Google the stock reports on major carriers and click the news listed there and see how much those carriers have reduced the size of their fleets . See how Yellow drivers made concessions with their latest contract and how ABF is saying their drivers can expect to have to do the same . Picking the type job you want is a joke . Getting a job at all and having it secure is a major challenge . Desire and attitude are really no help .
     
    walleye Thanks this.
  • Truckers Report Jobs

    Trucking Jobs in 30 seconds

    Every month 400 people find a job with the help of TruckersReport.