I have a few questions to start with. I am looking at making a career change to driving Semi's. I currently have a Class A CDL i did not go to school for my CDL I tested on my own, I dont have the 6 months to 1 year exsperience everyone once. What is the best option for me? And what is the average pay for a trucker starting out? I am currently driving Dump Truck with Trailer. I appreciate all opinions.
I forgot to mention I dont mind going over the road trucking as long as its decent money. I was looking at Schneider trucking Any opinions? Thank you Diesel Dave For the Welcome.
Welcome to the forum, plenty of info here with a few helpful individuals like myself. Any questions feel free to ask and Good luck and remember shiny side up!!!
Welcome to a great forum. Well you're off to a good start, reading and researching before deciding. 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. Find out what is going on in the industry before you jump in. 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. Most companies won't count your local experience. They will probably want to put you through their company training. This can be six weeks to three months with no home time. The first month is usually $400 a week and the other two months are $500-550 a week. Some pay less. One company pays 12 CPM for training. You might find a small company or owner that would take you if you have enough experience. Pay is probably $700 - $1200 a week, most somewhere in the middle. Good luck!
The problem your looking at is the fact you dident attend a school. most company's these days and with this economy want to see that you wenr to a truck driving school and went there within X amount of month's. If you got your CDL on your own they cant really tell if you have been taught everything that you need to learn in school before becoming a company man. You could try Werener or swift one of thoes good starter company's and try your luck but i can tell you this... your going to a whole diffrent ball game goin from a dumper to a rig.
you already have gotten "some advice"..it's going to be tough to go with what we typically call a "meg-company" such as Schneider for a job, unless you agree to attend thier training class for X amount of contract with them. then too i am not so sure Schneider has their school, as they once did, then dropped it, and was "supposed" to have it again. anyway's, maybe if you can get to a driving school and that the "minimum class" of (i believe) 4 weeks or 160 hours, this can open up some doors for you. you WILL NOT need a permit, you WILL NOT need to go to the DMV for another road test. You WILL GET a certificate of completion of a driving course. now YOU CAN apply at much smaller trucking companies, many of which advertise for free on Craig's List, Monster, and others. beware however, many are SCAMS, so you have to weed them out...best to reply to their email address and ask for an IN PERSON interview/application, this way you can SEE a physical office....!!! you DO HAVE some experience, but what you are driving WILL NOT count as OTR maybe not even local to some companies. so those are your options: 1) go to a school for a quick course (160 hours) 2) look for a small company 3) go to a mega-carrier and go through their training, but you have to work for them for X number of months..
go to a school then call: For Dry Vans: Watkins Shepard or Millis Transfer Reefers: KLLM ( DONT LEASE A TRUCK ) Flat Bed: Maverick or TMC Tankers: SNI First Year OTR Driver should GROSS $25,000 - $45,000 depending on who you go to work for, how hard you run, and how long you stay out......CHOOSE CAREFULLY, your first employer can make or brake you in trucking! American Trucker
