CDL/Training question

Frankly, if you can work into managment at Autozone, you'd be better off
the going into trucking. Had I to do it all over again I'd have gone into mechanics. Trucking these days is old and getting older. Pay sucks and soon there will be camera's inside the truck, watching everything you do (www.smartdrive.net). Is that really what you want to do with your life?

BTW, local gigs are hard to find unless you have lots of experience or you have your own rig, just so you understand that being home every night isn't in the cards for most new drivers.

 

i have to agree with much of what you say. long before i got into trucking, i was an auto mechanic. not long ago, i had also applied working at auto zone, as management as i do have that type of experience mechanics/management. my application is "pending"..also again you are right. i am seeing ad's that start drivers off at a very low wage and the pay scale does not seem to be as high as it can be or should be. the trucking industry is as many say, "not what it used to be", and frankly will never return to such a "better way"....miles have been reduced, benefits, pay, among a few items. now throw in MORE guberment rules, regulations, and what do we have..?? a very UNDESIRABLE industry/career choice...

i for one am GLAD that i have only a few years to reach 62, as this is my TARGET age to retire from all this crap. even teaching has had it's better days. these days, we literally WASTE our time training those "wannabe's" that only wannabe collecting unemployment benefits and NOT wannabe an actual truck driver......

i can "see the day" when it comes time to renew those CDL's and every state has a questionnaire as to what one is doing for a living...??

still unemployed...?? pay money to be retested

don't wannabe retested..?? turn in your license, oh and by the way, you MUST take tests all over again just for a car license....because you may have forgotten how to parallel park your car.

we need passports, for what, going into and out of Canada..?? all because of the freaking terrorists, i gotta PROVE i'm an American..??

i gotta have a TWIC card because the terrorists can blow up a sea port..??

I gotta have a full back ground check to haul hazmat, but a terrorist can simply hijack a truck...???

too much BULL SHEET in this industry and we WILL NEVER be the same....only grow MORE TIRED each and every day....

i actually pity the ones that wannabe truckers....THEY ACTUALLY THINK, it's good job choice.......if only they REALLY KNEW what the future holds for them....

all of us "old timers" know the demise of the industry as we can "read the writing on the wall"......but the wannabe's, newbies, and rookies....???

they are going to get blind-sided....but by then, i'll be "happily retired"...and so will many of you..........

 

I have been a Mechanic for 12 years now its worse then ever now in that industry crap pay for a crappy job. I am a full Master Tech and the pay is so small i would be better working at McDonald's at least its a steady pay and not 40 hours one week 15 hours the next. I am Starting truck driving school tomorrow i wanted to be a trucker since i was little but chose Mechanics because i made a bad choice.

You think its so easy to be a Mechanic now with all the electrical and smart cars and electric cars now. I had to attend a 2 week course for electric cars and had to put on a a rubber suit to change a battery because its so dangerous that if i get zapped i will be dead and thrown across the room. You have to have a be a Einstein now to work on cars. The industry isn't as busy as it use to be because more and more people are fixing there own cars and no one has the money to fix there car now with the economy the way it use to be.

I see most on here say there is great money still in the industry and i see a select few say it sucks. A friend of mine just graduated from the same school i am going to and is making 900-1200 a week just drop & hooks. He is home by 5:30 PM and can work on weekends if he wants i find that really great money. As a Master tech i was lucky to bring home 400 a week.

With all the regulations im sure some of them really suck but i am also sure most of them are there for safety reasons some maybe more extreme then they should be but it the law and we all need to follow them like it or not. As far as the driveing camera i dont mind it at all it will stop the 4 wheelers from trying to take advantage of us by a easy lawsuit and it will also stop the bad truck drivers who give the rest of you a bad name.

 

you are actually LUCKY that you can get training in advanced items on a car...back in my day when electronic ignition came out, all we got was a "clinic" of sorts and THAT WAS a sales pitch to buy THAT company's replacement parts...!!

the only thing we learned in those "clinics" was how to substitute the OEM for the name brand parts the store was selling, like Napa, Neihoff, Standard, whatever...getting training back in my day was NOT like it is for you.

you think being a mechanic is crappy and trucking isn't...??

man are you ever being mislead....and lied to......

you'll end up making as much as a mechanic, but your only "benefit" you'll escape from...???

"mother's day".....you know when that is don't you...??

it's the day when the Snap-On, Mac, Proto, Cornwell salesmen come to your garage, and you gotta pay, "this mother, and that mother...."mother's day"......

i wish you well, but getting into trucking because being a mechanic is crappy, well.......just isn't the right reason.

as a mechanic, you can get into management, service advisor, partsman, you name it, those jobs are way better....

 

I didn't get into trucking because mechanic sucks i got into trucking because its time to change into something i wanted to do since i was a child.

I was a Sales Manager for Goodyear tire and rubber company and the job wasn't much better and the pay was worse. I was up for the store managers job and lost out because i got taken to the cleaners by the other candidate where i did all the work he took all the credit.

Mechanics and truck drivers run in my family my grandfather owned his own trucking company then he sold it to roadway my uncle was a truck driver and he was a part of teamsters now is retired. Three of my uncles are Techs 4 of my cousins are techs i know both industries really well from family.

When i was a kid i was taught that doing what you love as a career is not called a job and you never look at it like a job you look at it like its a part of your life and enjoy doing it day in and day out as a mechanic i never felt that way. Do i know if Trucking will be that for me i don't know but i can guarantee i will enjoy it more then being a Tech by a 10 to 1 margin

 

I'm a new driver but i can't see anyone taking you on even for training until you're 21 yeas old. My school wouldn't even talk to me until I passed a drug test, physical, and back ground check. then one of the first test we took was our driver's permit test which you need to be 21years old...I believe for over the road at least. My best advice I recon, is pick up a CDL hand book and Regular drivers hand book from your local DPS office. Then study the related as well as non related materials. My permit and general knowledge test had school bus and taxi questions mixed up with CDL question on the actual test.

As for choosing to drive, I realize college isn't for everyone, so is managing an Autozone. So if driving is something you like and want to do, or if it's simply a means to an end, I say go for it. You don't always have to drive and a CDL is a good fall back just incase other avenues don't work out.

Now I work in the oilfield and can only offer oilfield related job advice...and that advice is simple, if you hate money and hours, stay away from the oilfield. The oilfield is hopping right now and a young man could make a killing...and in a safe environment. Check out the Great Jobs in Texas for more info.

 

I became a Diesel mechanic... err, Technician... because the pay is still pretty good (in these parts anyhow) and because I do agree with what you all are saying that the trucking industry has gone down a lot since its heyday. Its the closest to trucks I can get without actually driving for a living. Too many rules, regulations, and BS to deal with any more.

It still a great choice if you literally like having every type of enforcement agency over your shoulder every minute you're working.

 

You are who I was thinking of when I mentioned mechanics.i.e. a Diesel Mechanic, not so much auto mechanics.

A good one is worth his weight in gold cause you are on the road again, with no issues to fix over and over. Last I heard, lots of Diesel techs around here working in a shop, were pulling down 60 to 80 bucks per hour, or more.

No way most of us drivers are making that kind of money, and now the companies want to watch us in the cab while we are doing what we always had to do, like taking lunch (drinking a soda and eating a sandwich while driving on a non-packed strech of highway _IS_ quite safe.) all the while making money for them _and_ we PROFESSIONAL, certified drivers?

To hell with "Big Brother" and "1984" in my rig watching and recording me.

I didnt start driving rigs to have the "boss", or some PC geek in East India looking over my shoulder with a spy camera and audio recording in the cab too, 24/7/365. If that happens where I am at we are parting ways fast!