Feels good and some words for recent grads

Well, there you have it. Actual testimony from someone that stayed with it, despite what I'm sure they had to go through. People today want the path of least resistance, easier the better. Not many make it to the end, but this person CAN sit back and boast a little. They made a difference, and I say, good show!
Now, whether that optimism holds in the future, remains to be seen, odds are it won't, but going into it positively is the best way, and I wish them a career full of success. It can be done.

 

The OP's chances for success is higher than the typical newbie that does a 15 second internet search for "free CDL" signs a contract with CR England and only then starts asking questions and comparing companies. It you are careful, measure what companies DO, not what they advertise on their website and their recruiters say, you can last a long time & have a good career. The passive "what are they gonna give me?" types are short-timers.

 

No excuse nowadays for anyone to not be able to research companies now..just like they do background checks, drivers can do them as well..you keep your record clear, you can for intents and purposes name your price and whom you want to go…short time researching companies can save headaches down the road.

 

There are good companies out there
It’s your job to find them .

I know a young man that went to the 320 hour CDL class at the local community college.
At the class lots of recruiters came in .
I helped make a list of questions for him to ask the recruiters .

what training they provide ,
Annual Turnover rate ?
Home time ?
cargo they usually hauled ?
Etc

One company he was leaning toward did a lot or maybe all of hauling for Lowes , and they were home every weekend and slowed to park the rig at any lowes store .

Then another recruiter came in for a heavy haul oversize load company .
Average salary first year was $35-40k because the first 9-12 months were riding along as a trainee at Half pay.



And this company requires spotless criminal , credit and driving records .
Which eliminated 26 of the 29 students in the class .
Unpaid child support, repossessions , Liens, foreclosures , etc

no criminal convictions ever ,

no DUIs ever , no street racing or reckless driving ever , no ticket of any kind in the last three years .

he got hired , and he had just turned 20, when he finished their training program they just had him run loads without crossing state lines , until he turned 21 .

He’s home every weekend and will be very close to hitting $100k in his third year .

there are good companies out there . You just gotta find them .

None of the companies are perfect , the one this young man works for has some weird quirks , but overall it’s a good place to drive for , and their almost non existent turnover demonstrates it .

for new drivers , “turnover “ is how many of their drivers quit every year . It’s listed as a percentage . And most companies brag when their turnover rate is less than 100%
That means that if this company has , let’s say 50 drivers , if they have 100% turnover , they will have to hire 50 drivers next year to replace the 50 that quit .

this doesn’t mean that every driver quits , it’s usually about 1/3 of the drivers will stay and 2/3 will quit after about 4 months .
In trucking , most new drivers quit the company they are working for within the first three or four months . And these drivers have to be replaced , over and over .
If a local elementary school or hospital had half their teachers quit every year , it would be considered a national crisis and something would be done about it .
But since truck drivers are invisible , no one cares , especially the trucking companies , they simply do not care .
And they don’t really want the drivers to hang around , that means they have to pay them more as the drivers get more experience. the trucking companies would rather spent tons of money with recruiting brand new drivers every few months than take the time to properly train the new ones and pay them a competitive wage and treat them with respect .

 

Dream Job.