My story...and how I got to this point.

65-70 hours per week, out on the road, sounds fine with me.

Starting my own gig? yeah not gonna happen. My best skills are labor related and working with fiberglass and composite materials often needs a license or a rather large start up, and besides i'm sick and tired of being around toxic materials all day. Cold showers get old, because taking a hot shower after a shift opens the pores and then the fiberglass shards get into your pores and causes infections and stuff like that.

I know there are inherent hardships that go along with driving, being away from family, sacrificing personal life, low money while your first starting out. But hard work and dedication pay off no matter what you do in life.

I'm not a kid, I don't have dreams of grandeur, I just want to gain access to a career, not a job, that will reward me for my hard work.

 

Well sales isn't something I think i even want to try to do. I'm not what you call a type A people person, I am a very laid back and pleasant person, but I'm not the type who is gonna stand out in a crowd.

As far as my area goes, here in Philly there are plenty of labor type jobs I could probably get that might pay a bit more money than what I am now, however none of it floats my boat......Philly's blue collar job market has been hit HARD by the economy, what jobs are there are A. jobs that no one currently employed wants, B. Incredibly cuthroat in obtaining. A lot of the places around here in South Philly, If you don't know someone or are related to someone or have someone who owes your dad a favor.....you aren't even getting a foot in the door.

So yes there are some jobs here in Philly, but I am ready for the road. I need to get out and see the country, maybe go to Canada for the first time, etc etc. I am more than willing to make the sacrifice for a little personal sanity and self respect. So no I will not be hopping into a truck because it is the only thing available, I will be hopping into a truck because I want to.

 

Forgetting the family will never happen. Without my family and their support, well I would have never gotten this far in this decision.

Yeah, 4 years from now she wants to do this as well. She is all over websites, looking at team driving this team driving that. She currently has a receptionist job at at a cold foods distributor. She sees trucks all day long. She has never really been anywhere of note, so the idea of hitting the road has her all excited, she realizes she needs to wait 4 years, but already wants me to be sure I have a company that allows ride alongs so she can come ride along from time to time.

Who knows she may end up hating it, hating me or both. Maybe I end up hating driving....

But thats the way it is, If I put 100% into it, I should come out ok no matter what happens between point a and point b

 

Got an email and a phone call from Central Refrigerated this morning. Not nearly as pushy as Stevens was at first about making a decision.

Asked a bunch of questions, and Jose took the time to answer each and every one. While he did paint a very positive picture...he is after all a recruiter...he did take the time to make me feel at ease.

While he mentioned a few times about making BIG money, he did say it would take some time to get there.

School with them seems allright i guess, one year contract after I finish, They dont have a full fledged terminal near me, but they do have an agreement with a couple of companies that do. This would give me somewhere close to park the truck and what not while I am on home time.

Speaking of home time, he did mention, and was honest about it, that my home time during the first 4 months would be scarce. I would get 4-5 days after school and before getting my mentor. They like to try and get you a mentor withing 50-100 miles of where you live so when the mentor is scheduled for home you can get home also. I live in Philly, he mentioned that is on a major lane for them so it should not be a problem. Not really worried too much about the home time thing at first as everyone in my family knows that I have to be away on the road to make money, but it is nice that the company at least appears to be comitted to getting you home when they can.

After I get assigned my own truck, they will usually give me another 3-4 days at home, but then after that its probably gonna be one long weekend a month till i gain some experience and get to my first year.

The trucks are all 3 years old or newer, and he claims they have the best service department in the world.....whatever.

The pay for new drivers once assigned to their own truck seems ok at .29 and then raises to .30,.31,.34 in the first calendar year. They also have a safety bonus, and a fuel mileage bonus, as well as bonuses for voluntarily attending optional training throughout the year. He said they just finished one such course last week about something as customer service while at a customers site or something like that. It seemed like it was a course on how to act and look professional when not in your truck.....something like that.

Benefits look real nice...compared to what i have now anyway. I asked some on this, you get a choice of 10 buck copay and lower out of pocket or for less money a month a 20 buck copay and slightly more out of pocket.

My overall impression is pretty positive, cant say i'm ready to sign up just yet, but I will be receiving everything in the mail like literature and an official application.

If I decide to go to school on my own, they offer tuition reimbursement and start you off at .31 a mile vs. .29.

Still leaning towards going to school on my dime, but if I had to make a decision tomorrow, I'd probably lean towards Central and their school.....if i had to.

 

Yeah that is a good point. I have read up some on the whole per diem thing. It gets real confusing.

As I understand it, With no perdiem, you get taxed a bit more, but at the end of the year you qualify for a bigger return and you can claim all wages as income.

With a Perdiem such as .10 a mile(just an example) you get taxed less, less of a return because you saved money through year, but you can only claim the lower rate as your income for the year.

Its all confusing as heck.....some people like the per diem, some dont, I've never been in a situation where per diem has been offered, so i am not sure how I feel about it.

More easy to understand input would be appreciated.