New CDL class A with lots of questions

Spot on with the trades, Lineman is a whole other beast. Big $$$ to stay busy at work doing dangerous high voltage stuff with no second chances. Then when the crap hits the fan all bets are off and work your tail off to restore utilities.

I've heard wonderful things about working in Vegas from trades guys. Same can be said for Nuke plant work once you romance your BA. Construction is ALWAYS construction. You're in the elements hot or cold. Therefore Vegas construction would get brutal, contract/service work is ez money in those environments since no one in their right minds leaves equipment exposed to the elements. The problem with modern facilities is no one wants to take care of it UNTIL it breaks.

When you do your job right you do rounds. You pay attention to temperatures and pressures. You perform amp draws on non-redundant systems knowing that down time = loss of revenue. Unfortunately the economy is so crap everyone is seemingly on government healthcare and the margins aren't fat enough for these consolidated hospital systems if you run that route like i did.

Imagine my lack of surprise then when this burial company job I just fired myself from yesterday went from "Driving" to setting up funerals now 6 days a week, consisting of lowering cement vaults into graves and all requisite rigging on specialty home built equipment they aren't even xraying welds on. When i was watching their main supporting i-beam twist on said specialty home built trailer, well it's just a matter of time. I wont be there, just like a job i quit two summers ago when i warned a "certified pool operator" at the local college that his pump repair had the potential to create chlorine gas. He was the "expert" but the poor driver filling bulk chemical was the one who burnt 50% of his lung capacity out for a moron workers pride.

 

In good times...and with the right freight, the right lanes/runs, and the right contacts/info: something north of 150k is definitely doable.

The key phrase there is...."in good times"......

Read/study the following Forum thread....it's a pretty good example:

My journey at Landstar | TruckersReport.com Trucking Forum | #1 CDL Truck Driver Message Board (thetruckersreport.com)

Especially look at post #484 (on page 49, in the thread).

--Lual

 

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Yeah, it's legit. I worked there as a company driver and we got the scraps left after the 0/0's picked what they wanted. I didn't care because I still made great paychecks. I've never wanted to be an 0/0 because I don't want the responsibility and like long vacations overseas. Can't make truck & insurance payments with 3 months vacations. At least that's my view and opinion.

 

Most companies won't go along with vacations that long, but I was lucky. Easier to work with a temp agency, so you can work when you want to. Good temp agencies pay as well or better than a company driver and some have decent benefits.
One temp outfit I worked for paid $2.00 more an hour than the company I was sent to. I was asked to not mention pay to the company drivers, so I didn't. Sometime I'd say my pay is the same as yours.
Plan to take a 3 mos. vacation this spring. Don't have to work anyway unless I want to, and I don't want to. Plan to go to Hong Kong, Macau, Beijing and Anhui Province. Like to go back to the mountains for a couple weeks also. Love it on Huangshan Mountain.