Newbie from San Antonio, TX

Well sir, if Snow and ice is your problem then you grab a bobtail and find yourself a snowed or iced over (Or better both, to learn how snow gives traction and ice taketh away) and master a circle in each direction then a controlled figure 8 under your complete and total will and mastery.

If you can walk on it, trucks can roll on it because ground pressure on 18 tires is close to that of the human foot. If you slip and fall on your ### you can bet that big lug is going to slide any way it can do it.

You'll learn. But lesson one, power divider, 15 mph in a low range top gear or very small high range gear with a eggshell on your hammer. Just enough turning over the big desiel at torque or better above and below horse to maintain a smooth application of power always.

More advanced issues will be taught you eventually. If you are doing battle against a winter storm and salt lake is still 300 miles away with two mountain ranges still to cross, one potentially on chain... you will see that it will take you most of a day to get some driving done.

Winter driving is too much to write about here. If I had a choice I would ditch my 4x4 tahoe and use a loaded tractor trailer against snow and ice instantly. It was one of my fears decades ago hammered out of me by a trainer dedicated to GM glass out of Kentucky across WVa and Md into Baltimore before there was a I 68, 3 feet of powder is doeable. But to do that all night with snow in your face then ice every time you hit the valley bottom then back to snow... it's battle.

Regarding the failures of drivers, some do it to themselves. They get weak and then quit. You can see that on some of the posts in this web site. These are the ones who are told to suck it up buttercup. Others get run into the ground by a overjoyed dispatch who thinks this 90 day wonder can make a overnight deliver 600 miles away every night of all the week for a couple months, they burn out and boom done. Abused and tired they quit.

The culture has changed. Drastically. What was my uncle's time with California 10 days due is my 60 hours due. No time to sit and eat 3 meals a day in the ye old truckstop.

 

Being a company driver vs a lease driver, you won't have to worry about getting your paychecks as long as you're with a high quality company, such as those I listed. There's plenty more, but those seem to fit your plan.
As to drivers not making it the first year; most just can't handle the lifestyle of a long haul trucker. You won't have that problem which is proven by your past work history.

 

I think most of the people who enter trucking have no idea of what they are getting into. They hear how they can make $$$ per year and they convince themselves they can do it. Anyone that can pee in a cup can go to school, and with cdl in hand can find a company to train them. Its not that its all that difficult its just that many people nowadays dont have any work ethic or sticktoitavness. Also people dont consider what being away from home will be like. Then you have the group that cant keep from hitting stuff. Get a few minor accidents in a short period of time and youre out. Trip planning, communication, and a good mindset goes a long way in this industry, some folks dont do that.