A New Career, Need Advice!

When I said trucking is tough it is because you don't learn everything overnight. It might take you up to 6 months to be comfortable with backing your truck. It might take you a month or more to get comfortable with shifting. They teach double clutching in school, and that is hard. But when you get in your truck you very seldom ever double clutch. Or even use the clutch for that matter. CDL schools are only trying to teach you how to past the driving test. Which is usually around a couple of blocks. Also dealing with cheap companies who don't want you to idle in cold or heat. Or dealing with laws of a town or city that say's you can't idle. Dealing with Log books and the constant changes. That effects your pocket book. Taking showers and using public bathrooms if you are not use to that. It's a whole lot that most don't tell you about and that's why this industry has such a huge turnover rate. The money sounds good until you figure the hours you put in to make the money. Then even if you have the hours to make the money you need to have the freight to move. These companies hire 20 drivers and only have enough freight for 10. Then they have 20 more drivers coming in orientation next week. The op seems to have a good head on his shoulders, and a great attitude. These companies can care less about a sick girlfriend. You mother passing away. Or how many times they make mistakes on your check. Hoping you will forget so they don't have to pay you. All they care about is having meat in the seat that can get their loads from point a to point b.

 

just don't be too surprised when you don't get home as often as a recruiter tells you. their job is to put butts in the driver seat. and most of them will tell you what you want to hear, because most new drivers believe that whatever a recruiter tells them is the gospel truth and don't know how to weed out the B.S.

 

While you're with your first job, plan ahead and be prepared for better opportunities. Get your endorsements ; tanker/hazmat, passport, TWIC. With this planning, you will be able to make around $65K per year within 36 months. Ask questions, keep a little notebook of potential future employers. Some drivers make that and more & home every night hauling chemicals & fuel. Pay attention & study what may be available.

 

and now you see why the questions and the answers about trucking are never simple. there are many experiences, and varying degrees of truth when relating them.
youre asking about home time and pay and drivers who are answering (at least me) are giving general responses based on experiences having nothing to do with mct.
my experience in 1st year...low pay-think i started at 26 cpm. miles were actually fairly consistent. there were bad weeks and good weeks. i was on paper logs, and miles were between 2500-4200 per week. ive heard of drivers getting REALLY bad miles like 2200 or less. this happened to me exactly 5 times. not 5 times that year, 5 times in my entire history. all had to do with breakdowns or weather. my miles for the first year averaged around 2850-2900 per week. they paid me 100 per month for tuition reimbursement (i went to private school and paid $2k cash- wouldve been $4k if financed). i averaged 28.5cpm for 1st year. i worked about 48 weeks that year, and made around 38k.

my home time was never a problem. when i requested home time, i was home within 24 hours of time requested every single time. when my father was in the hospital for cancer, i got home within 24 hours of the time i told em i needed to get home right away. (i was in a bordering state, truck broken down in shop about 250 miles away from home. options were they offered to get me bus ticket at my expense immediately, my cost. they MIGHT get me load going to the house, i get paid. or if they couldnt, i could drive the truck home empty and pay for the fuel. truck was fixed within an hour of me finding out, so was down to options 2 or 3 and was about to call them to tell em i was gonna drive home empty when they called me to tell me they found a load for me going home delivering the following morning. this happened within 2.5 hours of me informing my fm...guess i a.got lucky and b. was a priority to my fm.

figure your own pay. how much per mile? figure at 2500 miles per week, and 47 weeks per year. thats a fairly conservative estimate in my opinion.

 

You have a good head on your shoulders. You have to remember to CYA. CYA means to cover your #####. Do your homework and make sure you have all your bases covered. Have you thought about your medical issues if any that could pose any problems with passing a DOT physical that the company wants you to get. Alot about driving depends on your relationship with your fm at your company.Remember, the recruiters job is to get you through the door and into the drivers seat. The rest is up to you.

 

I'll just keep it short and sweet. If this is a problem. You might want to look at another Career. This is why most people quit and if you look around at some of the other threads. The biggest complaint is lack of home time or getting home in a timely manner. Then you have the ones who when they finally get you home the next day they are calling you to see if you can come back out because they have this hot load that needs to go.

Biggest thing to know is. There are no set rules in this industry. Things change as fast as the weather in Texas. Don't base your choices off what 1 super trucker did, but the averages. Just look at the threads. Many come in with a big smile and excited about this industry. Then 6 months later they are down in the dumps and can't wait to get out of it. It's a dirty job but somebody has to do it. God bless