Essential Information for New Drivers

I will be retiring in Dubuque, Iowa. I have signed my GI bill over to my daughter for college so I was thinking of going the company school route. I know there’s a risk there but it’s only a year. I’ve had a few crappy 3 year units in my 20+ years and have found each experience is what you make it. One thing I do know is I can’t have an office 9-5 job when I retire from the service. I like the thought of doing a few years of the cross country driving to get experience and see the country side.

Thanks again in advance!

 

@Chinatown you got any ideas for companies in or around Dubuque, Iowa for an armed services veteran looking to get into trucking? He has signed his GI bill benefits over to his daughter.

 

1. Dont turn down a road youre no sure of.
2 get proficient at backing asap practise at a big truck Stop in daytime
3. Dont go into a city at night except to deliver at appointment time
4 any vibration needs to be looked at
5 being too good can get you killed also. Make sure you dont assume a mountain is clear or winding road. Other drivers may have wrecked ahead.
6. Inspect the truck
7. Practise good driver behavior
8 dont spend money on the trinkets in truck stops. You aint making a great living. Do fool yourself. Trucking is a poor mans sport
Prepare to not have a life or be a father to your kids and husband to your wife unless you work locally.
9 tankers pay more
10 you can do ok at ltl companies

 

11: keep your hands and goodies off the people on 95, 85 and 75 up and down the east coast. You can contract STD's that in some cases will be life threatening to you and ruin your ability not to be sick and rolling on.

 

11a. There's a new "Trucker STD" going around that causes Flesh Eating Bacteria.

 

I’m 15 now and I want to be a driver after high school. I would prefer to be home weekends to work on college and stuff like that. How do you guys think the industry will be in about 2025 or so?

 

Starting a trucking career without needing to spend at least 6 to 8 months as an OTR driver is possible, but you will need to work to find that job, and be #### sure to keep your driving record clean.

You will not be able to drive OTR until you are 21, I think. You might find an in-state job before that though, but again, you will need to look hard for it, and be an attractive employee option for a company with lots of people looking to be hired.

Make trucker friends. You will likely need them to weasel into a job like what you describe.

 

Thanks. My dad was a trucker for 20 something years and in the military too. He just went back to a government job from hauling bridge beams a few years ago and I’ve been with him a few times in the truck. Pretty fun to me.

 

Would It be legal to drive with some else in the truck as soon as I started?(not a trainer) Not company rules, government rules?

 

As far as I know, as long as you have legal seatbelts for passengers, the government doesn't care how many people are in a truck. Companies make that call.