Diving in, hope this works out

Insurance seems a crap shoot to me. My 1st year MC, O/O was $5100 in 2013. It has steadily climbed to $8500 with no tickets, incidents, or claims.

The driver shortage claim is just the megas ploy to keep newbs joining the industry to keep up with their 100% turnover rate..

OP, it can be done. I never drove a truck in my life, or know anyone in the trucking world. Never been employed by a trucking company. Got a cdl, (not through a school I might add) bought a dually & started a hotshot. Dropped the pickup in favor of tractor. Next is a stepdeck over the hotshot. If you have driving skills, & I can't stress this enough, people skills, it's not that hard to make connections. A few times a week, I'm praised for just speaking ENGLISH, in AMERICA!!! Just do what you say you're going to do, be early, or on time at least, communicate & be a bit flexible with your customers. It goes a long way with most of them.. Also think about pulling open deck of some sort. Half the time I'm greeted like I'm their long lost brother. Happy to get their new toy, or ready to get to work with whatever I'm delivering to them. Never pulled a box, & from the sound of it, never plan too.. Would like to try pneumatic, tank, & bucket before I hang it up though.. Good luck in whatever way you steer..

 

I did ok with a freight box, reefer is what I'd never do again.

 

This is such a good post. Thank you for actually trying to help someone, instead of telling them they’re screwed, good luck.
I k ow many people might scoff at this, but YouTube and forums like this contain a plethora of great information. You should be spending every minute that you aren’t practicing in your truck, researching and using all available resources. I recommend the YouTube channel, ‘Smart Trucking’ as a start, lots of good videos and info on there.

 

Ok wait, you were "barely getting by" on your office job yet you could afford a "lightly used" truck? I guess your idea of "barely getting by" and mine differ by quite a bit.