CROSSROADS IN LIFE

I'm with Millis Transfer. I went to school last year in July. They have their own schools, and there are 7 or 8 of them, so there's bound to be a convenient location for you. School is 3 weeks, and is free if you stay employed for 1 year. The training after school lasts for 15k miles (sometimes a little longer). Training wages recently went up. If you go OTR you'll be making $1k/week easily before taxes while you're training. Not sure how the regional guys do, but it won't be a lot lower than that. I was in my own truck 2 months after school. It didn't take 6 months to make decent money, I was making $1k or more per week or more right away. I have short weeks, when I go home, but those checks are respectable considering its less miles during those weeks. Our equipment is awesome, and I can't say enough good things about the folks who work here. If you're interested, send me a message and I'll give you my recruiter's name and number. I have a few threads here describing my time and experiences for school, training, and current time in my own truck. Check them out if you feel so inclined.

 

Their are job that pay $1,200 a week guaranteed but do people want to do the work is. Look at K&B trucking they pay good but seem to push the drivers and you could end up sitting all day in truck stop. Then they call and expect you to drive all night. Maybe send you to NYC or Hunt's point or run Northeast a lot. Those are not fun places to drive in my opinion and parking is a huge problem in the Northeast.

 

Mega's ?

FedEx, UPS

 

I hesitate to recommend this vocation OTR and gone 4 to 5 weeks at a time, to anyone who is married with younger children at home.

DON'T do it, unless you have no other choice.

It will chew you and your family up and spit you out at your age...

If you can find someone who will hire you for local driving at $620 a week, go for it.

 

Look how K&B who guaranteed $1,200 a week paycheck to their drivers is see if you want to work for them and remember they are running 100% legal

 

Schneider Bulk might hire you if you do a refresher course first. Good money in tankers. I think Schneider Bulk only requires a 40 hr. refresher.
Food service as @Pintlehook posted will hire with no experience. They take you as a second seat driver, assisting the first seat driver. Later you will qualify for first seat, then you get someone helping you as second seat driver.
Sygma Network
Reinhart Foodservice
McLane Foodservice
@Oor has a good suggestion with Magnum ltd. Won't find any negative on that company.

 

I call ########.
I was making 3500-5000 a month pre tax at Werner. Some of that was otr, some was at a dollar account.
Granted I stuck out like a sore thumb on my otr dispatchers board.
IE I fixed all minor issues myself and sent in for reimbursement including mud flaps and air lines. Gotta keep that truck rolling.
I also ran 580-660 miles a day.
When they had it to run, drop and hook. I didn't say no. Even if it was a shag/ short haul. I did what I was asked .
You can make as much or as little as you want. Hustler or truck stop diva.

 

So what were you making in training? How long was the training, and did you make 2500 a month take home while you was with your trainer?

If people would actully be quick to listen and slow to speak. They would see why I said. NO you will not take home 2500 every month. If he needs 2500 to take care of his bills. Does he have enough in his savings to last during the refresher course.
Now after training he can probably take home 2500 but it's always best to under estimate. Epeacially in trucking because each week is different. Your truck can be in the shop. You can have a slow week of miles. Anything can happen.

 

If you come into hunts from the GWB side, you can and must expect the unexpected. There are two columns of steel under the EL above you in which you must execute a sort of a 30 mph Off Set manuver just miss the one and swing wide enough to just miss the second. It's not fun and games. You will be paying toll to get inside Hunts and if your dispatcher did not specifically tell you that the freight is PRESTACKED for the specific customers inside Hunts you WILL be paying for lumpers. If you do have a second stop inside the place make sure you kick the first reciever out and move to the stop two regardless of his or her bleating about stop two's pallets. Its not theirs. (Scam to cause you to pay twice in lumping...)

And there is a fence line you will be parking next at night. If it is still the same chain link fence I remember in the far corner you will find it has holes and parasites will come through and bother you for a variety of illegal activity such as prositution. They have however cleaned up Hunts a bit, but some of the old problems will never go away.

You will consider yourself pretty lucky never to be sent to Hunts, Boston Seafood or South Side Chicago and South LA markets. All of these have parasites and predators. If you are a babe in the woods with no concept of street wise and any idea how to handle carefully and quickly threats you are not going to make it out of there without getting hurt or worse.

I was not going to talk about the bad side but someone brought it up and it's necessary to expand on this. Also Memphis. If any place in the USA outside of Chicago and some others this will be one city you will NOT sleep in for a vareity of very good reasons. I don't sleep there, have not for the last 10 years of trucking, I'll break the HOS and get to Earle or up into some other place much quieter and safer before I will stop and get the 8 hours.

 

From date of hire to one year new drivers at Schneider running out of the GB division are averaging about $45,000 gross. That's Van Truckload running mainly midwest markets. You can make more running local food service, but you're also working harder. So yes it is possible to average $2,500 a month "take home"

Will the first few months be lower? Yes. Will the last few months be higher? Yes again. $2,500 "take home" is only about $30,000 yearly. Figure back in taxes and health insurance and you're still looking at about $40k. If you can't do $40k driving OTR there's something wrong with you.