Trucking school, will I make more money?

You will have to consider how expensive it is to live on the road. Truck school these days are expensive. Several thousands of dollars. Fed ex is supposed to be a stable concern, if you don't like your position there, find another? Try to stay with what you know rather than risking everything on something you have so much to learn.

 

$1000 bi-weekly is chump change in trucking if the pay period is every 2 weeks.
Yes, go to cdl school and start making some decent paychecks. Get all the endorsements before graduating from cdl school.
Where is your location? Need to know the hiring area you live in.

 

The school time is zero dollars and orientation is about 500 bucks for around 6 weeks. That's 10 weeks with little to no income, but as you said, you were at a grand every 2 weeks, so not much of a change in pay during orientation and training with a trucking company.

If you live with your parents and are actually interested in trucking, I'd say to go for it. This really is a personal decision though. I'm an older guy, (48), and just finishing CDL School with Roadmaster.

For me, it is worth it. I have a wife who is a Director of Nursing, and as for me, I am retired after 20 years in the Army. Being gone for 23 days and home for a week is a decent fit for a year or two. I was a BIC and licensed Real Estate Broker making decent money but just didn't care for Real Estate. My three youngest aren't crawling around in diapers, so I have a great relationship with them. Look at where you are and where you want to go and then decide if trucking will get you there.

I am in Fayetteville, NC. I want to make enough to buy 20 acres and build a cabin. To get there, I need a fat money making gig with someone like KBR fueling Apaches overseas. They require OTR tanker experience. OK, trucking school, a couple of years driving bulk for Schneider or Superior, and I meet their criteria. Voila, land and cabin built, retirement to carry living expenses, and my wife can snag a job in the mountain area where we are headed.

Prosit!

 

Does your significant other have a cdl?
FFE (Frozen Food Express) hires Illinois residents. They pay for cdl school at Prairie State College in Chicago. You can run teams there or solo.

Contract Freighters Inc. (www.cfidrive.com) also pays for cdl school and probably send you to Joplin,MO for their inhouse school. They pay for transportation to get there plus meals and lodging while in school. Can run teams there also if you want.

Get a year experience then go with Old Dominion Freight Lines where a hard working team can make $225K per year.

 

When you say trucking school.. are you talking private vrs company? I feel, if you can afford private... go private. If not, and your partner already drives for a company that provides the school... and she likes the company, go with their trucking school. Either way you will have to go to some kind of training if you don't have your CDL and once that is done you would definitely make more money, especially once you get out of the "training period" with a company.
FYI-- we are going to a private school in Texas. 3rd week of a 6 week program. If this is what you want to do... do it by the end of the year. I'm hearing (from my school) they are trying to make it where you have to go to a private school to get your CDL.

 

Also cost for my school once everything is paid for (Hazmat endorsement included) 4K.
If they are able to make private school mandatory I'm sure the prices will go up.
I don't see how doing this will help the driver shortage but that is what they are saying. Plus it could also become a longer process. I know from experience... if our class was any longer... we would not be able to do it.