Howdy,
I'm getting into trucking soon. Not 100% sure who I'm going with, as I'll need to do the company CDL route to get my foot in the door. But I had a thought, which can be both dangerous & mildly painful:
Being that I'll most likely be out on the road 3-4 weeks at a time, & home only a few days at a time, that means I'll be paying for my apartment to spend maybe 4-5 weeks total.
Is it worth it to keep my apartment for any reason?
I'm a single dude, no kids, no pets,... the only items I'd need to find a "home" for would be a singular rifle, a guitar, & some official documentation (Ex. birth certificate, military documents awards, etc). Would a P.O. Box & a storage space in the vicinity be feasible? What is y'all input on this?
Thanks for your time,
-The Gypsy
Any true trucking nomads out there?
Discussion in 'Questions From New Drivers' started by Gypsy88, Apr 6, 2021.
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Truckerswifes, JSanborn103, Lumper Humper and 3 others Thank this.
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If you can claim per diem you need to have a permanent home address. Company drivers used to be able to claim it but with the Trump tax reform now only true o/o or lease purchase can claim it. Don’t need to have an independent address could use a relative if you don’t want to maintain an apartment .
Truckerswifes and Gypsy88 Thank this. -
Change your address to South Dakota. It's easy and only need a PO Box there.
This way you don't have to pay state income taxes out of your hard earned paychecks.
This is perfectly legal and many drivers that like to stay on the road do this.
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Edit: Make a quick trip to South Dakota and get the address change and drivers license change to South Dakota before cdl school.Last edited: Apr 6, 2021
Truckermania, tscottme, snowlauncher and 6 others Thank this. -
I lived out of a storage locker and motels for 25 years , never past up a load , weekends, holidays , i stayed out , old school crazy i guess.
Money will pile up quick , just take care of your teeth and health.
Good Lucktscottme, idriveaholden, snowlauncher and 10 others Thank this. -
Have a friend who lives in a state with no state income tax? Ask him to use his address for your home address. Actually stop by and see him every once in a while so you have it on your logs of going there for "home time."
Otherwise, I'd suggest in your situation getting rid of everything, no apartment, vehicle, storage shed, nothing. Have a friend or family member hold onto your rifle and important documents you don't want to carry with you and go out and stack some cash.
Before you pick a company to go with ask around on this site. Some of the big ones to avoid would be like Western Express and CR England.
Think a about what kind of trucking you want to try out. Flatbed, reefer, or van. There are pros and cons to each. An example of that would be how flatbed guys get to keep a much more normal sleeping schedule than most other truckers.tscottme, Gypsy88 and slow.rider Thank this. -
Yup i live in my truck more or less, use a friends farm for the rare occasions i need a place to be away from the truck, to park my pickemup truck, and store the 3 boxes of crap i own. We have a "lease" that says i pay $150 a month payable in cash or services for tax and titleing reasons but he just writes me a recipt that says prepaid in full every time we renew it.
Truckerswifes, idriveaholden, dwells40 and 2 others Thank this. -
I've got a storage unit and a mailbox in a UPS store. The UPS store costs more than a post office box, but it didn't show up as a post office in the state computers when I set it as my official address, so I was able to use it.
Truckerswifes, tscottme, QuietStorm and 1 other person Thank this. -
Here's a sweet life hack for anyone using a PO Box.... you don't need to list your address as "PO Box 1234". Instead, you can use the actual physical street address of that post office location, such as "5678 Main St #1234" to make it look like a real residential address, which can help you slide thru the cracks in a variety of unofficial or semi-official circumstances. And even if you put something like "apt" or "suite" instead of the # sign, the mail will still go to your PO Box.
Last edited: Apr 6, 2021
86scotty, Northern Nomad, tscottme and 5 others Thank this. -
I have a house, but really I live in a truck now. I only pay property tax though. There is no way I’d keep it if I had a mortgage. Even the couple hundred I pay now for tax and electric seems like a waste. I only go home to make sure it is still there once in awhile.
So yeah, get rid of it if it is costing you money.slow.rider, Truckerswifes, idriveaholden and 1 other person Thank this. -
tscottme, bzinger and TruckerOllie Thank this.
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