Starting in Trucking

I had to learn how to deal with it. Once I got past the frustration and figured out there’s money in confusion, union job sites are a gold mine.

 

You can get better results if you focus on where you want to work, thoroughly investigate them, and then decide how to get your license. The differences between schools is insignificant in most cases. The difference between trucking companies is huge. You wouldn't focus on where to get married and later think about which woman to marry after you got the details of the wedding ceremony decided. You would focus on the wife and she would decide on the details of the ceremony.

About half of the trucking companies offer Tuition Reimbursement for newbies. Some trucking companies have their own schools or routinely hire newbies from certain CDL schools. Every CDL school can direct you to a company that will give you a school loan.

To decide where to work you need to make decisions about what kind of trucking (local, regional, Over The Road OTR), dry van, reefer, flatbed, tanker. You need to decide how often you need to be home, how long you want to be home, and is it more important to be home often, or say home longer if you have to trade one wish for another wish. You need to talk to drivers at any company before you make decisions about a company. The web ads and what a recruiter tells you about the company is as reliable as a used car salesman trying to make his monthly quota. They will say whatever you want to hear or they will say things in a way that lets you believe whatever you hope for.

CDL school is too quick and dirty for you to search for companies while in school. The CDL school will have a couple of companies visit and tell you why you should work for them. You won't know anything and won't detect the things they are not telling you. You will think your only choice for a job is the first copany or the second company. There are THOUSANDS of trucking companies to work for.

 

Great advice.
Worth repeating from time to time.

 

To supplement the already-excellent advice above--if you really do your homework, you can find threads here on this Forum that discuss and/or compare the different types of trucking--& what each is like (the good, the bad...& yes--the ugly).

So...you can thus make a much more educated choice up-front, about what type(s) of freight you'd most like to pull.

That info is indeed here.

You just need to use the Forum's "search" features (& also, maybe ask the right questions) to find it.

--Lual

 

You know the one thing I promise everyone when they come to Landstar or to drive under my flag?

That they're going to have it shoved up their ### on occasion through no fault of their own.

And we have it going on about as good as it can go.

Still interested?

Cause that's the business of trucking.

We have a few members on this forum that haul unicorns and glitter. I personally have not found that yet.

But, I never was that smart.

 

But do they have cookies?