Starting from zero

Well first off, you don't want fast training. You want quality training. As far as salary goes, the very best salary for pulling dry van and reefer, which I'm inclined to believe thats what you want to do, it'll take at least year or more of experience before you get to the top in terms of cents per mile(cpm). What really tells the story is whether the company you start with has steady freight, without the freight, cpm means nothing. I personally went to a private CDL school and got some of it financed with a grant from the state of Tennessee (by the way, it'll help you get some direction if you post where you're located). I've seen some drivers do the company sponsored training, and have been successful too. The company sponsored training will have you bound to that particular company for a year in order to offset costs of training. If you go the private school way, then you'll be able to choose a company to start with. In this freight market, pickings may be slim for newer drivers but we can get you going in a direction.

Now the neuromuscular disorder could be an issue but I'm not for sure. I'd check with a local DOT Dr to see what you need to do get cleared to drive. I have heart disease and can only get certified yearly. When its time to renew, I have to get an updated echocardiogram before they will renew me for a year.

 

Before you can get respectable help -- you need to tell us where you are.

Not a street address -- just a zip code, &/or nearest city, state.

-- L

 

One advantage of company sponsored training in this tough market is that you are guaranteed a job after training. Take DOT Foods (DTI) for example. Their training guarantees a job, approved school has no guarantee. Likely some fine print that they could back out if market conditions drastically changed. I knew people in Air Force ROTC that this happened to. No slots so report to us in a year or walk away with a free education and no obligation.
Harrisburg, PA is about 80 miles from DOT terminals in Williamsport, MD or Parsippany, NJ.

 

Yeah they are.....its 3 to 5 million drivers, I cant imagine 194000 will move the needle that much lol. This freight recession has been going on for some years now. You're in Harrisburg so that's a good spot if you're looking to get started. Another member mentioned DOT Foods, so that's worth a look.

I see what you're saying about your disorder. Id still call just in case. DOT doctors can be sketchy, and many of them operate in the best interest of themselves, their clinic, or the company they deal with.

 

Don't be so quick to dismiss your neuromuscular disorder. The FMCSA has very detailed physical qualifications, so please do your research on this prior to spending any money on training. Below is a link to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration's Medical Examiner Handbook. Page 50-55 details how the examiner will look at, and qualify, neuromuscular diseases.

https://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/sites/fmc...edical Examiner's Handbook 2024 Edition_0.pdf

Also, since the Handbook is only non-binding guidance, also familiarize yourself with the actual regulations, as below. Subpart E covers the medical, but it is always a good idea to read all the qualifications so you have an idea of what will be investigated and expected of you as a professional truck driver.

Federal Register :: Request Access

As for your question about utilizing your LLC to increase take home pay, there are plenty of shady companies that will hire anybody on 1099, but to legally be anything but a W2 employee you need to have skin in the game and not be treated as an employee driver. No reputable company is going to pay you through a 1099, to your LLC, without you actually owning or leasing your truck and being a legitimate independent contractor. That is not recommended for first year drivers. There is too much to learn about the industry to also learn how to run a business in the first year, and with the rates and market as depressed as it is (despite the potential revocation of nearly 200k CDLs) the market is not ripe for new business today, nor will it be for another year or two.

Just my two cents from a 35 year veteran of the industry that has been an employee, owner operator, fleet owner and Director of a large (more than 1,000 employee) company that now works in the safety and compliance consulting and driver education space. So, take it for what it is worth, after all it is free advice!

P.S., I still love driving (try to get in 2-3k miles a month still as fill in for my team of drivers). As such, I maintain a full class A with all endorsements including passenger and school bus. I love this industry and it has been great to my family, but one must be cautions in how they go about things for the best experience and return on investment.

 

I am going to presume your goal is a job as a truck driver AND NOT JUST WALKING AOUND WITH A CDL IN YOUR POCKET. If that is your goal, a job, then the best way to find the job first AND THEN go to CDL school whatever way makes sense for THAT JOB.

Truck driving is not like being a doctor, where there is a very long process of training and practicing and being an apprentice and then years after you start that process you choose which job offer you like best. CDL school IS NOTHING LIKE THAT. NOTHING LIKE THAT. Trucking companies have whatever jobs the have and they don't have other jobs. So if you want a job where you do A, B, and C, then applying to companies without those jobs is making a mistake. Typically, EVERYONE asking a question like your question either has a deadline by which they have to be employed or their life ends, or they are unwilling to do ANY RESEARCH to find the 3 employers with the type of job the newbie says is a must have. If you have specific requirements, like only drop and hook driving, then you have to find the employers hiring newbies to drive drop and hook loads. "Finding the employers with ,,," DOES NOT MEANS READING A COMPANY WEBSITE. EVERY trucking companies will say something about x% of our loads are drop and hook. Have you ever seen a car commercial saying our cars are junk and break down quite often? But you have seen cars that are junk and do break down quite often. So taking the company's word for what they offer is foolish and you will suffer if you accept their word. You HAVE TO talk to current drivers that just got hired and drivers at that company for a long time who are already doing the job and where they are only doing the thing you say you want. Since less than 1% of truck drivers are online in forums anywhere on the internet that likely means you need to give your contact info to trucking companies and ask them to have current working drivers at the company contact you so you can find out the actual conditions for new-hire truck drivers at that company. Then you have to ask the right questions, not just tell the stranger on the phone what you hope and wish and ask "is that what working at ABC Trucking will be?" You ask questions like how much did you earn last week, where did you drive, are you getting live loaded/unloaded or do you only drop and hook? Whatever questions you need answered, ask the driver to describe what is happening without giving any indication of what you wish were true about that situation.

It is unusual for a truck driver to actually load or unload freight by hand. What is common is backing into a customer's loading dock and sitting in the truck while the company employees/independent contractors load/unload the truck. That is called live load/unload. The driver does nothing but back into the loading dock, wait, and then sign paperwork, drive away. So if manual lifting is the issue you cannot do, drop and hook, is only one way to accomplish what you want.

THERE IS NO TRUCK DRIVER SHORTAGE. In fact there is probably a large oversupply of truck drivers. The media is wrong about almost everything it describes. So new drivers are waiting a long time to get hired. New drivers with strict demands about what they will/can do, or where they want to drive, or what equipment their truck must have, or amount/frequency of time-off, etc all limit the number of places you can work and have that condition.

 

If you're not tied down anywhere, you can live in the truck and bank more money. Thousands of drivers do this.
DOT Foods Transportation was mentioned. That's a good one, but make sure you sign up for the division that's "Driver no-touch" freight.

 

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This one you can live in the truck and travel 48 states & Canada.