New to Truck driving, Need help and information on what to do.

Driver, I don't know much I can personally help you but there's some fine folks here that will be glad to help. You need to give them some info about yourself, though. Where do you live, you got the hometime preference down but what are you interested in pulling (vans, flats, refers, tankers etc), that sort of thing. Then they can narrow down some good options for you in your area. Best of luck hand. Also, you mentioned class A with an automatic restriction and coming from a utility company. I've seen a lot of utility drivers in my State (SC) with a Z restriction meaning they can't pull anything with a 5th wheel (pintle eye hook only), and also a hydraulic brakes only restriction. The more info you share, the better they can help you.

 

How are you restricted to just an auto transmission? There isn't a separate test for transmissions. *shrugs* I'd honestly save your money and just take the tests at the DMV. I have doubles/triples, tankers, and hazmat, but I've never had to use any of them.

Without knowing where you are, or where you are willing to go for work I'd suggest United Transport in Rogers, Ne. Talk to Dean he's always looking for drivers, and he just bought a bunch of new Volvos with semi-automatic transmissions.

 

Interesting. I took the written driving tests in California, and I don't remember any restrictions like that. I know they messed up air brake restrictions all the time. But this is irrelevant.


Back to the topic at hand. Local/short hauls are hard to find. Especially in Cali. Even if you have your own truck it's hard to get. If you can get a local route, and you work for a company, you're probably not looking at much more than $10/hr. OTR you can start making over $20. I understand that you want to be close to your daughter, but everyone else doesn't like being on the road 4-6 weeks at a time either.

Maybe apply for a dump or cement truck and get your air brake endorsement? Or if you are really ambitious, a garbage truck driver. I know it's not glamorous work, but around here there is ads on the radio all the time. With any of these you'll probably be home every nite.

 

Many companies are switching to automatics. Might have to get a refresher to get that restriction removed.

Try this company that runs a lot between Southern CA and Las Vegas:

Tru-Line Corporation - website is trulinecorp

There's some good money in long haul with the right companies such as Old Dominion (LTL freight) or hazmat/tanker. With those two types of companies you can make $55K - $65K and sometimes much more.

 

If he took his class A exam in an automatic then he is restricted to driving autos only.

 

Cents per mile is only a small part of the equation. You can be paid .50 cpm and make less per week than a driver making .34 cpm depending on assessorial pays. Assessorial pays are pays for example; stop pay, unload pay, detention pay, layover pay, etc. Some tanker companies like I worked for even paid 1/4 hr. pay for fueling, pretrip, post-trip, drop & hook. We got $25.00 unload pay for about an hours work and if it took longer than an hour, then $12.00 an hour until the job is complete. Look at the whole picture.

 

the last thing you want todo when working for cpm is try to figure out hourly pay. Especially if you're new. You'll be very disappointed. A good cpm rate really depends on how many miles you get. $.50 a mile sounds great but not if you're only getting 1000-1200 miles a week. $.30 a mile is ok if you're getting 3000 miles per week.

Let's talk hypotheticals for a second. Say you're making 30 cpm and you drove 3000 for that week. Your check before taxes would be $900. Say you used all of your 70 hours. $900/70= a little more than $12 an hour. Doesn't sound so good does it? And that's just straight time. No overtime pay. You can raise that rate a little depending on the type of trucking you do. Stop pay, layover pay, tarp pay, etc.