Anutter wanna be trucker!

Welcome to TTR and the wonderful, non-stressful world of commercial driving . My last physical (6/16/11) the BMI was part of it...I believe it is now mandated, but I am not certain.

 

The answer my friend,is blowin in the wind,the answer is..WAIT..has been covered in many previous threads,if you do a search.

 

I don't know, learning about a business before investing thousands of dollars into it makes sense to me. Give it a couple of years then decide.
Your previous experience of driving Hot-Shots means nothing. Nobody will hire you with zero experience driving a tractor trailer. You'll spend anywhere from weeks to months with a trainer before going solo.
Good luck.

 

Welcome. You had better do a lot of research. No offense to you, to those of us who know the industry, it is painfully obvious you don't even know what questions to ask. Unfortunately, you will be starting as if you have zero experience because most/all won't count yours.

If you want to lose everything you own, enter a lease/purchase. If you want to lose all that and your ###, enter a lease/purchase fresh out of training. The completion rate for most is proabably less than 10 - 20% and with many you never own the truck. Many weeks equal a negative balance on a statement instead of a check. It makes sense if you want to be a glorified company driver with no money!

Now all these questions could have been answered with a little reasearch, right here on TTR Forum. Here are the answers to the real questions you need to ask. This my standard copy and paste advice. Take it for what it's worth. You need to research and find out what the important questions are. You can make an above average living but you will make sacrifices that other jobs don't require. I want new people entering to find out what's going on and make a plan.

Read the "good companies" and "bad companies" section on this forum and get an idea of what company you want to work for and what kind of trailer you want to pull. Don't just go to school and then try to figure out where to go.

You need to look at your driving record and criminal record. Many don't take this into consideration and find out they can't get a job after school. The school likely won't mention this because they want your money.

I don't know your financial situation. Don't take training from a company if you can afford it or get it with financial aid. You will be their slave for up to year. If you leave they will trash you DAC and credit record.

Just know that training and trucking company recruiters will do nothing but lie to you. They will let you talk about what you want and then tell you what you want to hear. Trucking is about moving freight to make money for the company. Your home time, family, paycheck and everything else comes second.

It is not like any other job. Local is usually backbreaking delivery work 10+ hours a day, 6 days a week. Often you unload dozens of times a day or you are a salesman. In my area most dump truck jobs pay less than a good factory job. Regional is lots of loading and unloading time, fewer miles than OTR and not as hard as local but will wear on you and push your HOS limits. OTR is out 3 - 5 weeks with 3 - 4 days home, less manual labor and more miles.

You'll probably have to pay your dues before you get the gravy job. Weekends off, if you are lucky enough to get something like that starting out, may be home Thursday afternoon and leave Saturday night or home Friday night and leave Sunday afternoon. Loads deliver on Monday early and you leave in time to get them there. Often your home time will be in the middle of the week.

Regardless of your driving choice, after school you will go through company training. This can be six weeks to three months with little or no home time. The first phase is usually $400 a week and the second phase is $500-550 a week. Some pay less. One company pays 12 CPM for training.

 

there is a company running out of dayton hauling radiation using your minivan.we do have a guy from cincinnati doing it.Medical delivery services out of tampa florida