Not a driver yet, but prospective student with questions..

Hello, I'm seriously considering obtaining my cdl but I'm doing as much research as possible beforehand. I know I don't want to go to a school ran by a trucking company because 9 out of 10 stories are about how they work you too hard for too little pay because you don't have experience. The flip side of that is, how do you get a job with no actual experience? I have post 9/11 gi bill so I'm trying to find schools that accept that so my costs are minimal (hopefully non-existant) for training. Also I am married with one child, in my first year of driving on the road would I be able to afford to live if I had around 1200 a month in bills? (rent/utilities/car note etc.) ? That's my biggest question, I don't want to get into a career that I can't support my family with, the alternatives aren't great but I could just go to school and use the monthly housing stipend of schooling in la county to cover everything. But I really feel like this is something I want to do, but I can't take the plunge and put my family at risk of not being able to live, any advice/insight/feedback is greatly appreciated from everyone. Thanks!

 

if you have the GI Bill go to the VA education website and look under Non College Degree. Use the word trucking for school. These are all Department of Education approved so that is good. Just curious where do you live? I am also about to use my GI Bill for my CDL in the Los Angeles area.

 

Hesperia, but I plan on commuting down the hill. Most likely pomona area maybe a little further than that.

 

Have you ever considered going into industrial maintenance? Starting pay is around $18-20hr. With a year or two of expierence, the pay goes up as much as $30hr. You can go to a state technical school. Here in Tennessee for example, the tuition is around $900 per semester. http://www.ttcshelbyville.edu/
Industrial maintenance technicians are in high demand. They talk about a shortage of truck drivers. There is a shortage if industrial maintenance technicians. Especially those who can work with PLC programming on high speed machines. So if you want to make the big bucks. You might look into this field of work. For a small monetary investment, there is a big return on your money in this type of career.

 

There are no shortage in truck driving jobs the reason they say that is because they are not enough people out there that are willing to work 70 hr's /wk for 2500 miles@ .30 -.40 cent / mile about $12/hr avg then they are away from home and no overtime which brings the wage back to $10 hr or less
Mcdonalds pays $8/hr and you are home daily & they don't have a Lawg Book

 

Guess what, when you graduate from a private trucking school vs. a CDL driving academy at a training company, you will not only have a much larger bill for your schooling, but you will also have to go to work for one of those dreaded training companies as well, as most companies won't touch new CDL holders without experience. Moreover, those people that went the CDL driving academy route vs. the private trucking school route, if they stay with the training company for a year will have the cost of their school forgiven. Meanwhile, people who attend a private school must pay back the full amount no matter what, which is considerably more.

Of course, if you have the GI bill to pay for your private school, then go for it, but don't expect your CDL to be worth anything more, because it's not. All it is, is the bare minimum requirement necessary to get a job. A newbie with a brand new CDL with zero experience cannot drive a truck without a lot of supervision.

 

No, you won't.

And it really is that simple.

You 'might' be able to send that much home every month, but if you did you would starve to death in short order.
And then you would be both out of a job, and your life - and your family would be even worse off.

This is not a job that has a reliable and steady income. Some weeks you will pull in 900, others only a couple hundred.
Do you really want to put your family through that, week after week and month after month?
Choosing which of you should get the money to survive?

I am trucking now because I DON'T have a family.
I never considered it a viable option before, because I did.

And now, being on the road and seeing first hand what my income is from week to week - I'm really glad I did not try to do it when I had a wife and kids to support.

Truthfully, do not venture into trucking at this point in your life.
You would do much better to get a job at IKEA and become a team-leader.
(and I'm really not kidding about either the company or the position!)

Even starting out you would be able to support your family better than beginning an OTR driving career.
And you would be with them a lot more than 3 very short days each month.

 

I appreciate the feedback, but my most important question goes unanswered: Would I be able to live on a newbie salary at one of the trucking companies that hires brand new drivers? I never stated I expected to get a much better job but I've heard people have better luck if they go to a private trucking school and then try to find maybe a smaller company that will pay a little more than the bare minimum the bigger companies pay.

 

Go to a school, get your CDL w/all endorsements (you never know). Then, start looking for smaller companies. Use the phone book, Internet, word of mouth... Then, get your driving record from the DMV... It costs $10 here in Minnesota.. So, it will be about $20 in California... With your clean driving record(it is clean right?) Go in person to the smaller companies with your CDL and driving record. Bring your work history with too, you may need to fill an app out on the spot... Talk to them, show them your willing to learn and work hard. Your chances are really good that one will give you a shot... Hey, it worked for me. Good luck.

 

See my post... You don't wanna work for them mega carriers anyway. I sure wouldn't. We always warn people about it... but most new drivers don't get it. Using myself as an example, after I got out of school, I got a seasonal job right away but didn't even start there when I went to another company in person. Talked to the boss there in person, he had me fill out an app right there... took me out to a truck had me get in and drive around the yard and back a trailer into the shop while he watched(suppose he want to see if I could actually drive it). He called me the next day and said I could start the day after(so I called the seasonal job and told them I found full time work).... following one of there veteran drivers on a route with my own truck and trailer... No trainer horror story! My goal was to make $50,000 my first year... What I made was $48,000 my very first year. my next year was over $55,000... I haul fuel now and I'm home almost every night and make $65,000-70,000