The career path

After approximately 5 years of driving experience you could apply to become a trainer at a school.

 

why don't do what i'm doing, i'm driving for a farmer hauling corn & beans to market. I'm home every night, get paid by the hour,& right now just driving around NE Nebrs.

 

A local driver can make as much, if not more. With an hourly rate, of say $17.00/hr working 8 hour days, home at night. This would be with Distributors and Vendors such as, Pepsi, Coke, Budweiser, US Foods.....with the new hydraulic lifts, delivering beverages is not the hard work that it used to be.

 

Hauling gasoline is the only way I'd go. I'm retired now but back in 1998 I was making $23.50 an hour for 10 hours and anything over was time and a half. I've talked with my friend and he told me they now make $27.50 an hour. The drawback is that business is a 24 hour business so you may have the night shift but some drivers like it and they pay you a dollar an hour more. Also we worked 4 10 hour days. Overtime was a big deal because we could bring down at least $20,000 a year in OT. But that was at the top and it takes some time to get there but it is achievable.

 

Something you may not have considered is moving up to a "specialized hauler" such as the "super heavy load" specialists. These guys have higher skill levels and better pay and conditions.

Trucking is about the broadest based trade there is with niches for just about anything you can think of. Your only limits are your desire, imagination and of course skill levels.

 

How much experience do you need to haul tankers if you are right out of school with tanker endorsments. Are tanker deliveries harder than dry van loads?

 

no you dont