Some questions about trucking as a career

Thats really just an office building. Their main yard is in Blairsville, Pa now.

 

That always ground my gears. A trucking company with a large, fancy headquarters, with no truck parking. I guess their “open door policy” involves a cab ride.

 

Could always start as a dockworker at one of the LTL companies. Most of them will promote dock guys to driver

Pitt Ohio is hiring for apprentice in your area

 

Sure seems that way. They had a very nice hq in Monaca, Pa for years. The new Shell cracker plant bought up all the property on both sides of rt 18 when they started building, so ol' pat gallagher had to scurry to find somewhere to house his empire. An office building 2 exits up got the executives and the old Parfetti Trucking property got the trucks and maintenance people.

 

a) By the time you get enough experience to apply to Walmart, you may not want to.

b) Depends on the company and how many miles you run.

c)Why would you ever want to run as a team?
But, yes you could, very easily. Sharing a small, very small space with another person. Trying to sleep in a bouncing truck with what else going on around you. Trying to arrange home times between the two. The list goes on.

d) Yes, you would owe it to them.


And really, you are asking all the wrong questions.
It isn't about how much experience certain companies require. It isn't about first year pay.
It isn't about if you could run as a team driver. And it isn't about what you would owe if you failed at the school.

It is about what you want to do and what you are willing to risk to get there.
It is about what your passion might be, to be a trucker, and how much you want to get there.

Getting into this is more than just wanting a job, it has to be a calling.
It has to be something you were born into.
If it is, you will make it work just fine.

 

1. No. There are companies that only hire experienced drivers with good records, but there are plenty of other companies that will hire new drivers.

2. Few, if any driving jobs pay a salary. You'll be paid by the mile so your earnings will be determined by your CPM * miles driven. A good driver can cover 3,600 miles in a week. Your company may or may not have that many miles though.

3. Yes! Why would you want to? I got started team driving and team driving companies have lower standards for drivers. Because they have lower standards, they get less desirable drivers. At one point I was asked to drive with a convict who just got out of San Quentin for MURDER! The biggest reason not to drive team is that the other driver is one more thing that can go wrong and cost you money. If he gets sick, doesn't feel like driving his shift, wants home time, has trouble passing his physical or quits the company you can easily be sitting idle for weeks, unpaid.

The only way team driving makes sense is if you KNOW and TRUST someone well enough to live in tight quarters with while risking your livelihood and LIFE. Husband/wife, brother/brother, brother/sister - that kind of thing.

4. If you go to a private school YES. The failure rate is around 40%. I know a guy who failed twice then had to pay a guy $800/day to practice driving his truck because the school wouldn't let him use their equipment after his first two failures. At company school the failure rate is close to 0% because they get paid to put butts in trucks. If you fail, they will, "recycle" you - put you in the class a week behind yours and let you try again. I didn't see anyone sent home who had a good attitude and was trying.