Wannabe driver with serious questions!! PLEASE HELP

One word of caution on getting your CDL before 21. I went to driving school when I was 19 thinking I would run short haul for a couple years then switch to long haul when I turned 21. However even local/ short haul companies want you to be 21. The only company that would hire a 19 year old knew I didn't have a lot of options. They paid me a set salary instead of hourly or mileage. I worked 6 days a week anywhere from 10 to 16 hours a day. My salary was 200 a week no matter how many hours I worked. Wait till you are 21 and companies will fight over you instead of the other way around.

I stayed with that job till my 21st birthday. 3 days later I was headed to Arkansas with a load of paper smiling all the way.

 

But did you ever consider that the reason you got that job that let you head to Arkansas with a load of paper, was because of the experience that you already had? It's called "paying your dues," and pretty much everybody has to do it, unless your daddy or uncle owns a trucking company. You paid yours, much earlier than most people have, and more power to you!
And I agree that before the OP goes to school, he needs to talk to some of these outfits and find out IF they will hire him.

 

For sure. The experience I gained in that job paid off in the end. However I would suggest to any body getting their CDL before they turn 21 to see who would hire you before you go to school.

 

20 years ago, drivers were bellyaching, saying things like you can't make any money out here or it's not fun anymore and how everything changed after deregulation. I've often wondered why if you guys dislike the business so much, why is it that, 20 years later, you guys are still out here? Can't do anything else? Or can't do anything else where you can make $250000-300000?

 

I like the bedbuggers idea. When I was in my teens, I got a job with MidAmericaEntertainment company. We used to set up the rings and stuff for the National Wrestling Alliance. Back in those days, there was a big concert that happened every year in Ft Payne,Alabama called the 'June Jam'. It was put on by the group "Alabama". We would do the stage and the lighting and set up a party at Teddy Gentry's house. It was the first time I had ever ridden in a truck. Was it glamorous? No, it was work. Hard work. I enjoyed the hell out of it. A kid riding shotgun in an 18. I didn't think trucking was something I could do, but I sure as heck wanted to try.

i guess trucking has always just been work to me. Nothing glamorous...just work. Thing is, it's MY truck. I built this truck. Before, I would always drive what the company told me to drive. Now, things are different. I get paid to play with my overgrown toy. She pulls...God she can pull. Have you ever driven a truck that runs the way YOU, not an office jockey or the beancounters, want her to run? Yes, it's still work, and you have to deal with traffic and stupid guvment officials and all, but I like it.

Know what I like to see? I like to see the old hands in their old iron still running the roads. Most of them only run regional stuff, but it's cool to see them. Ran into a LoneStar driver pulling a 2+3+2 trailer with an old school W900A. Holy smokes is that cool! Or some of these guys still rocking the 359s. Or a stretched out 4 axle cab over. Saw a hand had a black Fl Classic flattop pulling an Rgn. Saweeeet!

I guess that if I had to drive a white generic truck pulling a white generic van controlled by beancounters and not be allowed to think for myself, I would hate trucking too. "Hmmm, I need to think...better call my driver manager!"