gitting ducks in a row

Every company has their own training schedule.

The afore mentioned Covenant.

Would place you with a trainer for a specific amount of time/miles.

Then, they would place you on the world famous "Dumb & Dumber" list. Teaming you with another driver who had recently gotten off his/her trainers truck. I do believe this extended training period last 6 weeks. A Covenant driver within this forum can confirm or correct that.

Watkins & Shepard, would spend 10 days working with you hands on. Then send you out solo.

As always...... check every company thoroughly. Leave NO stone unturned.

 

Most of those small outfits don't have training programs,they want drivers with experience.You can get your experience with Swift,Watkins Sheperd or a bigger carrier willing to train you,then apply to one of those smaller cos.The reason the small outfits can't take you is the insurance on a new driver is cost prohibitive.Many of the big ones are self insured,that's why they can take newbies.

 

Hey guys welcome to the forum! You can expect to make pretty good money but you can also expect to be running your butts off! Husband/wife teams should do 7000 miles a week or 1000 a day. We drove for Central and that is what they expected of us. Team driving is very, very hard work! If driving coast to coast three times a week is something you don't think you would enjoy then do something else. If sleeping on a roller coaster in the dark bothers you then find something else. There are a lot of goods and bads to the job but in short I will say you can make lots of money but you are going to be hustling more than you ever have in your life!

Right now there is a another couple that were posting on this forum that are in training at Central. They lucked out and found a trainer that will train the both of them together. This is the luck of the draw though and may not happen to you. Just something else to consider.

On the good side, My wife and I are in our mid 30's and retired! We accomplished our goals and now own a horse training facility which is what we had set out to do when driving.

If you have any personal questions feel free to "pm" me. You can also check out my profile picts to see what husband/wife teaming is like!

 

I wouldn`t do it. You have a lot of experience in CNC machining, you should be able to find more of that work. You are not going to like trucking. It is not what it used to be. Rates dropped, because a lot of people do it for nothing. Taking cheap loads, and then have no money for repairs, or fuel. I look at things like this in trucking- As soon as I climb in the truck, the clock starts, I climb out, clock stops. Add up all the hours your in a truck, then compare them to your paycheck. Not good these days. Good luck for which you choose. And a big Welcome to the forum, Great info. here.

 

One good thing about driving is that you can do it as long as you can pass the dot physical and have a good work history. Older drivers are actually more sought after due to their work ethic. Most new people start at the bottom of the payscale regardless of background. You can expect to earn about $30-35,000 your first year with most carriers. Once you get past that first critical year, your opportunities will expand and you will see your pay increase.

 

One thing to add, I would maybe avoid those small companies all together. They aren't going to have the freight to keep you guys busy. Plus another big factor is the amount of trailer they have. As a team you want to try and drop and hook as much as possible and this just won't be feasible at small companies.