If you could start in this industry all over again, how would you do it?

I'd stay with the Low-side in the dump biz running local.......Instead of running all over the world.....As B.B. King said..."The Thrill Is Gone"....

 

I started so long ago, there weren't any 'training' companies. I apprenticed into the industry, and it probably isn't a lot different than training companies, except they only apprenticed those they hoped to keep. The company I started with had about 300 tractors, 16 terminals (line haul) and apprenticed in about 30 drivers per year. You had to know someone to get in, or just be plain lucky.
We didn't lose many drivers. When I left and went next door to a competitor two years later, I think I was the 4th to leave from that year. I only left because I was tired of the same route and the other company offered me a different line. Both were good.
I still keep contact with a couple of those guys.
But if I started today, I'd go to a private school for my CDL, then pick the company that I figured I could get the best training from. I'd forget about hometime promises, whether my tractor was green or blue. I'd want to be with a company that gave me a chance to learn, I could pick senior driver's brains and would send me from one end of the world to another. Just so I could gain experience in all kinds of weather, road conditions and more.
Then after a year or two, I'd start looking for a type of freight I'd want to try (flatbed, tanker, reefer, etc), a company that had lower turnover and one that met my wants and needs closest. (hometime, freight lanes, money, equipment). From there, I'd try and hone my career and guide it towards those things I'd be most interested doing.
If I was so inclind (and I was) I'd buy a truck, lease myself onto a company for a while, gain more experience, then go it alone if I chose.
But I have the advantage of hindsight and I have to tell you, conditions have changed so much in the last 10 years, I'm not sure I'd follow the same course I did.
Or maybe I would. I'm just old and crotchety now.

 

I'd have gone straight in to LTL where I am now and ditched OTR all together. I liken OTR driving for the newbie to an experience similar to that of a state prison stay. You have no privacy, you share an 8X12 space with another man you know little about, you eat, #### and sometimes even sleep in crowded public places (thats assuming you get much sleep at all). Oh and you make 17 cents an hour (okay I'm exaggerating that one, but not by much). You have to be a very, very particular person to enjoy the OTR lifestyle. And by very particular I mean an ex-convict.

It's like I heard one wide eyed newbie say while in line at a CRST orientation; They won't disqualify me. I'm sure every ############ in this line got atleast one felony on their record...

 

That was the path I've taken so far, at least the firsr part. Started with mega, ran hard, got one year in and went to smaller, better paying and more specialized company. Still working on buying a truck part.

 

i would have done it about the same, maybe started with reefer. But i had to start somewhere. i went to school for CRST but left during orientation since i heard the 3rd line of BS about pay. if they had been honest and nice i would have worked for that amount. Talked to others Cr England Stevens Weiner Arrow
And they all thought i was a Mushroom, you know keep me in the dark and feed me crap. Swift was only guy who didn't lie to me. Mostly cuz he had flu so he put in a tape and barfed in the bathroom handed out Apps and barfed in the sink of the Hotel room. It was okay experience i lasted 9 months.

 

I've been out of trucking for 3 years what company's will hire me?

 

You have been driving awhile maybe you could answere a question for me. I've been out of trucking for three years will any trucking company hire me??

 

I would have started when I originally got the bug in the 90's.I kinda feel like I got here a little late,and all the good pay days are in the past.