Wannabe trucker needs some advice

first you need to go to the dmv and take your written tests and get your dot physical done so you have a green card then put an ad in craigslist stating your looking for an o/o to teach you the ropes of driving a rig and your willing to pay. you should get some response

 

If you dont mind my advice here, you wont like it but im going to say it. If you have a good local job, you said you work in a chemical plant. I would stick with that. I would no way in hell (even if on satans nuts) take a trucking job over what you got now. Especially not with your particular family life. You got a 9 month old daughter you said. One I am sure you love to see every day and a wife I am sure you love to see as well. When you go to driving. Especially starting out you will be most likely to drive over the road to gain experience after getting shafted at the majority of the trucking companies taking their training and what not. If you are an actual employee of that plant, and not of a contractor who has an office on site (yeah i been there too) I would latch on to that forever. You say you are off 3-4 days a week, which you wont get that in trucking. Unless you go pay your dues out on the road for 3-4 weeks or more at a time. Away from your wife, and your little girl. Not to mention the temptations every trucker has been faced with a time or two. Trucking isnt a glamorous source of income. Sure it will help you pay the bills, maybe. But you wont get rich. You wont make the equivalent of $30 an hour. Something that if you work hard enough where you are at you will someday possibly be making. My uncle was an operator for B.P in Texas City Texas. You know where he started? Bottom of the pole making minimum wage. Doing gopher work. Sure you will still have to go to school and stuff to become an operator, but you will most likely end up being paid for doing so since you already got your foot in the door. I was the same way as you. Wanted to drive that big truck. And honestly, I have had several jobs I wish I would have kept that werent in trucking. And the older you get, the more difficult it will be when you try to get out of trucking because sooner or later that will be all the skill you have. Driving. I know every man must do what he wants. But I would latch on to that chemical plant job and take it in stride. Sure you will read lots of posts of drivers on here who say they make $1000 or more a week. But they dont say how often they are gone. They dont say how long they were in it before their wife decided she was tired of being lonely and left. Not to mention down time. And contrary to common misconception you arent making any money at all when those wheels are not turning. Unless the company you drive for pays detention time, breakdown pay and all that good stuff. Most will say they do pay it, but the pay isnt worth sitting for the time you will end up sitting. And often times there are crazy "fine prints" to getting that pay. Such as you have to sit 2-4 hours for free to get detention pay. Or have to be broken down 24-48 hours before you even start to get paid breakdown pay. Then when you add up all the time you are away from home, divide by what you make you will end up with an hourly equivalent far less than what you are probably making now. Thats my advice to you. Take it or leave it. Hope you dont regret taking trucking if you do is all I can say. Certainly a lot you will miss of your family while you are away from home though. Good luck to you.

 

There's nothing wrong with your plan if you stay at your current job. You just do not want to give up a job like that to drive OTR and take a large cut in pay. If I were you I'd go and talk with some of the local drivers and see what they can do or suggest. With your time off I would think it would be a great idea to drive locally and you may just have some waivers with your CDL depending on what you're hauling and you state laws. You can check CDL and farming requirements at the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration web site http://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/ or grab you a pocket handbook at a truck stop. We call it the little green book but it's called the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations Pocketbook.

However, I think your idea to get on with a company like Yellow would be a mistake. That's my opinion. They do have casual drivers or did have but you just can not walk into a job like that. You'd have to pay your time to gain the experience needed and then again you'd be away from your family and not making all that money.

 

If you have a school close by I would look into that. For what you want to do you don't need a 160 hour course. The shorter courses are not that expensive. The school will work with you going part time. Basically they will teach you everything you need to pass the CDL tests. Just make sure it is a reputable school and they aren't just selling you a license.