Thinking about changing career

Since you going to a community college you can skip all the training mills and have plenty to choose from. Also you waiting to be home I will suggest trying LTL such as old dominion southeastern, AAA cooper, averitt and Estes. Also @Chinatown will provide more options in your area. Also @Moose1958 will also give you a insight about being an owner op.

Good luck and welcome to trucking.

 

It is not impossible to find a local driving job with no experience, but it is difficult. You will need to put in your leg work to find an employer. But as somebody who has done exactly that, I will say I like what i do and Im glad i chose to drive

I would not suggest buying your own truck right out of the gate. Learn to do the job and make sure you like it before you make that leap. Theres a lot of mental load just driving and learning the ropes without the addition of a truck payment, fuel, taxes, fees, insurance, and finding work to keep the wheels rolling. But if thats the way you choose to go, I hope it goes well

Best of luck whichever way you go. I also hope to one day own a truck, but 2 months in to just being a driver I know I couldnt do it successfully yet

 

I have to ask, and if you don't want to say I understand. Is your franchise a Subway sandwich shop? I heard they expect over 500 to close this year. Just curious.

Getting a local job as a new driver will be difficult at best. Don't even think about becoming an O/O with no driving experience. From a business standpoint it will be every bit as challenging as running a small restaurant if not more. There is a learning curve when it comes to driving a rig and it takes most a year or two to figure it out. Local companies will be much more inclined to hire you with even a year of driving experience. If your family can handle your being away for a week or two at a time for a couple years, it will pay off in a big way when you are finally ready to take the O/O plunge. Use that time to learn the business and figure out niche markets in your region that will make your business stand out from the competition.

 

One of the things that make being an OO more profitable than a driver is the ability to spot mechanical issues before they become very expensive and cause down time, the guys who use their time as a driver to learn what to watch and listen for have a great advantage over guys who just look at what their school told them to look at and running till things break.

If you are brand and a driver the company pays for you learning these lessons but if you are new and an OO you will be paying for these lessons.

Trucks can burn through money a lot faster than you can earn money if you don't know what to listen and look for.

 

Where in SC? If you are close to Charlotte, NC, you can run scrap yards (c&c/ omnisource?) down there and make pretty good money with your own truck- no trailer needed. There are options.

At your age, going over the road with a training company will probably end with you killing your trainer or just leaving trucking forever.

 

One needs good training and initial OTJ experience if they are going to have a good experience from the beginning. But I'm not convinced most of the "CDL schools" provide very good training. And where you take your first apprentice (OTJ training) job is critical if you are going to succeed.

All I'm saying is do your homework and don't rush into anything and develop a good plan ahead of time, then make it happen. Don't take short cuts and don't discount carriers who have in-house training programs. They have a vested interest in training properly.

 

Where is your location in SC? We need to know the hiring area you live in before we can make recommendations.
Don't buy a truck yet. You can buy a mansion on the hill for what insurance will cost you as a new driver with no experience.
If you're near Savannah, there's plenty of local/regional jobs available paying $60K+.
There's also Hadden House that's probably a decent paying job running local/regional. There's a terminal in Richburg and some terminals hire "Driver Trainees." I think they're part of United Natural Foods.
Driver Trainee
POSITION PURPOSE:
Responsible for learning all aspects of CDL Class A driving for the delivery of products to customers. To include loading and unloading the truck in a safe and timely manner according to UNFI procedures and practices. The Driver Trainee will learn how to minimize delays and report problems. In addition the Driver Trainee will learn to pick up supplies and back-hauls from vendors. This role is a developmental role to become a licensed CDL A Driver for UNFI.

EEO / VETERANS / DISABLED

 

Like those before have said..
Do NOT buy a truck until you know what you are doing.
It's a whole lot more than changing oil and pumping fuel.
It's a rolling business whose bottom line changes every single day with expenses that you, at this stage of the game, can't even begin to fathom.

Be a company driver for a while.
Food service for a bit is likely your niche.. you are probably in somewhat decent physical condition if you're a recent LEO.
It's tough work, but you'll gain experience.
Then, you can move to a local P&D like OD, or Estes, etc.

If you have children at home... DON'T LEAVE THEM.
You will regret it.

 

If you know anything about food service, you should remember that reefer truck driver unloading pallets of stuff into your eating place business over the years.

It will be in reverse. YOU making sure your freight matches EXACTLY what is ordered by the restaurant in my case MBM, Red Lobster via Darden inc Aberdeen Maryland etc and if you miss a case of steak or market rate lobster becuase someone swiped it it's out of your pocket.

You do not want to be buying a truck just yet. This Nation is enduring many changes related to ELD etc. You will spend some time dealing with this and that. And I can gaurantee you that your previous Police background will give you more stress over the things you will be seeing rolling a 40 ton. You might not want it at all.

Everyone proclaims training. YAH RIGHT. Just enough to get you through the DMV revenuer training test drive for your CDL. Your REAL education begins with your attempts to get after that first load once out of orientation, WHENEVER or wherever you managed to get hired on at. You wont believe some of the things waiting for you inside some of the outfits out there.

Anyone can drive a truck. But we go through so many int he first year because they are dismissed, fired, quit, burned out, starved, etc etc etc etc within that time. Then they find that more than two or three truck hires in a short time means they are not hireable for a while among other things.

There are layers of data waiting to accumulate once you get that CDL and stuff you need added onto it. Part of the problems is post 9-11 security stuff. You will need a passport if you aint got one yet. And a TWIC. (To access seaports etc) and endorsements for this and that.

(MAKE sure you take a train in a manual truck, many states put a restriction for just a auto truck... when tested in one) Manuals are great. Autos can be really nice when done a certain way.

You are not the King of the road in everything you survey anymore. There are driver facing cameras looking at you all the time and so on. Radars on that bumper capable of making you brake out of nothting for no apparent reason and a ELD computer in your cab telling you no more driving after 11 hours. 2 miles from a truckstop. Then there is a stack of comptuer crap telling you that you are drifting out of your lane. (It's a 50 mph cross wind in WYoming on ice and you are doing what you have to do to stay on the road... on ice what lane?) it can be stressful. Actually more than that. battle.

Im not all gloom and doom. When there is a time that the food was good, scenery is better and the weather glorious in a land that the almighty God has made for your viewing pleasure around these USA.. and she's champing at the bit to go and you are running early for appt with a wad of money you dont need for anything and more coming... there is that at least.

At the same time, mountains and other things. (Im borrowing from Scottie67 here...) there are also beautiful places to die. Just don't. It;s messy for everyone.