Opinions, Advice, and Suggestions...

Drifter42 · Apr 29, 2012

With you being so close to the Schneider yard, I would consider trying them out. I got my start there and it's not as bad as some people make it out to be. Yes I was otr and was gone 3 to 4 weeks at a time and it is hard at first, but you take your knocks and get in a year or two of experience and many more doors will open up for you such as local, regional etc. Putting in some time to gain experience will help a lot to get on with the smaller companies or a better paying gig. Schneider offers 14 on 7 off, but slip seating trucks is not really my thing for otr, local maybe, not otr where you have to sleep in someone elses filth lol. There are options out there, you just have to gain trucking experience first. Hope that helps.

pattyj · Apr 29, 2012

chompi said: ↑

First off, welcome to the forum! Now for the nitty gritty!

I don't sugar coat any info I give because I want it to register. For some reason the newbies just don't quite understand even when you tell them flat out. For those who know absolutely nothing about the industry its hard to fathom that there is a lot more to this career than just holding the steering wheel, driving from point a to point b.

If you have a family, especially kids, I highly recommend you do something else. All this mumbo, jumbo you hear about 7 on 7 off or 10 on 10 off is a bunch of crap! Even if it were true, trust me, you don't want to do it. But why? Well you get paid by the mile. You aren't going to make any miles in 7 days. If you breakdown (which happens frequently) or need work done to the truck, or you get sick or your loads get delayed, cancelled or whatnot then you are screwed. You just spent 7 days away from home and didn't make a dime! The other big part of that scam is that the drivers that do want to be home all the time are treated like crap and are used for the sole purpose of doing the grunt work. Your job will be to pick up loaded trailers, drive 50 miles and sit for 8-10hrs while they unload you. Then you will take that empty trailer drive 50 more miles and sit for 8-10hrs while you wait to get loaded. " But that load goes cross-country" you say! Yep, sure does. Your job however will be to take it to the drop yard 20 miles away and swap trailers with a driver that stays out for two months at a time. The drivers that stay out and don't get home get the good loads. They are dependable and their dispatchers don't have to spend their day trying to schedule everything around their home time.

Are you pickin up what I'm puttin down?

You aren't going to make any money unless you are staying out for a minimum of 6 weeks at a time. Another thing is that every time you do go home your pay gets screwed up for 3 weeks! The week you are trying to get home is slow. (Why you ask? Because when you are ready to go home they don't just send you home. You will run a whole series of loads in order to get you to deliver your last load as close to your house as possible so that the company isn't paying out of pocket for fuel to get you home. It would be very costly company wide to do that! Say you live in FL. You are in GA. They may send you to TX then to IL then to TN to MO to pick up a load to go to FL!)

Now back on topic, the week you are home you won't be getting paid, and now the week you go back out will be slow going in order to get you back in the freight lanes.

When my wife and I were over the road we would stay out for 3-4 months at a time. It just cost us too much to come home. We did own our truck though so our expenses were more than a company drivers.

Now you say you could just go regional or local right?! Well right now its hard for experienced drivers to get those gigs. Is it possible? Sure. Takes some luck though. I would hate to see you pay $6000.00 for school and then not be able to get a local gig and are forced to go over the road to recoup your losses. Now you hate it and have to stay out away from your family!

Whatever you do, really give it some thought man. The chances of you being gone from your family for long periods of time is going to be very likely. So think it over good. The money is going to be the same as if you had two jobs at home and slept in your own bed.

Hope this doesn't sound negative, just want it to register and hopefully save you lots of time and money. Feel free to pm me if you got ?'s
Click to expand...

Part of this post sounds alot like Werner but the entire post is so true.

farmalltom · Apr 30, 2012

Well, after some consideration, I am holding off on this a bit, I think.
While I am confident that I could/can make it happen and work out for me/us in the long run, I also don't want to be too hasty.
We have one child still at home, although he has just one year of high school left. I'd rather not miss out on that if I don't have to...
So.. I'm thinking it might be wise to first investigate a couple of other avenues first...

First, I saw today that one of the railroads in my is looking for someone in my area with an electrical/mechanical background.
Second, Deere is also bringing on some people and, while I have less interest in a production/assembly line type job, they do appear to have at least one opening for an "Experimental Mechanic".
Last, if nothing else, a local freight company has offered me a P&D position. It's not really what I was initially hoping for but... It would, at least, provide me with driving experience... :/

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