Introduction thread 2.0

Hey guys - doing yet another trucking thread since I'm finally getting into the industry.

I did one of these a year or so ago when I started researching about going to school to get into trucking, and now since I've completed cdl training I figured I'd say hello again. During school, I received pre-hires for a bunch of companies - most of them were "fallbacks" such as Werner, Swift, etc., but I received prehires from KLLM and TMC and basically had to weigh the pros and cons.

I've decided that for my first couple of years I'll work for KLLM since they have a terminal about two hours away from where I'm currently living. Eventually I'm sure that I'll switch companies, but for right now they just seem to be the best fit of building my career with a nice truck to boot and plenty of miles as I've been told by many of their drivers.

I'm basically starting with nothing - I've never really had a "big boy" job, just little crap jobs all over town doing stuff like cooking and portering at a bowling alley for 40+ hours a week. It's going to be great to be earning a living for myself finally.

It's like this. I could live on $.32/mile to start on and work 2000 miles a week if that's what they start me with. That will be about $400 more per week at that rate than I've received on any other paycheck.

I'm excited to get out on the road. I've done my research, I know that I'm starting on the bottom. I've read these boards for months, I've watched most of the videos on youtube by AmericanTrucker, KE5WP (I think?), etc. I've talked to the guys at the Petro. I've done the training in school.

On the 17th, I'll make this a reality when I head up to orientation. Can't. Freggin'. Wait!

 

Well I passed my cdl tests with flying colors this week - no cones died, no extra pullups, etc. No points taken during my road test, and pretty sure I got all of the pre-trip.

I get my Louisiana Gold Card (CDL) tomorrow morning with all of the endorsements - HazMat, Tanker, Doub/Trips. We graduate tomorrow afternoon then it's off to orientation on Monday!

Reality is starting to set in!!!