Wanting to Start My Career

Greetings everyone!

I am looking into starting a career as a truck driver and have spent the last couple hours looking through these forums, and I have found a lot of useful info.

Still, there's no substitute for asking your own questions and getting a response, and there seems to be a lot of helpful and experienced drivers here.

So let me start off with giving you a little info and history about me. I am 28 years old and currently live in Lubbock, TX. I am single, the only family I have lives in Fort Worth and I usually only see them every 4 months or so.

I am currently a driver for Yellow Cab here. I am desperately trying to find a different job, because the conditions at my current one are absolutely horrible. I work 12 hour shifts, and lately have been taking home around $10 - $40 per night, with the rare exception of really good weekend nights. My bills are really starting to outrun my income. And that's not even counting the conditions in the office, which are enough to make me want to hang myself, despite spending less than an hour there each day.

I've always loved driving, and have a distant family member who is a truck driver, and I'm going to be talking to him for advice as soon as I can get ahold of him. I know I'm capable of doing the job, and have never minded solitude.

So here is a list of some of my basic questions.

1. Truck driving schools seem to be hard to find in north and west Texas. I recently replied to an ad for Stevens Transport, but after reading about them on this forum, I'm now thinking that they might not be a good choice. Does anyone have any school recommendations near the Lubbock area, or the DFW area?

2. I pretty much know that I will have to be an OTR driver for at least a year before I can get hired on with someone as a local driver. I do know that there are plenty of driving jobs here in the Lubbock area, many of them local, that pay VERY good salaries, but require a year or two of experience first. So, from the long time members of this forum, what are some of the best large companies to work for starting off? Are there ANY companies that will train you and then hire you that are worth anything, and won't rip you off or treat you like crap?

3. I know that I won't get paid a ton of money my first year. But I am willing to bet that no matter how new I am, I'll make more than $15 or $20 per day, so I'm not expecting to make $60k right out of the gate. However, can some of the experienced drivers tell me how much I can expect to make for my first year, on average? What salary range should I consider to be too low, even as a new driver?

4. Some of the big companies I have heard of are CR England, Swift, JB Hunt, and Stevens. What are some of the other large, reputable companies operating in the US?

5. I've read that community college programs are the best, but there's not really a community college in Lubbock, and the ones in Fort Worth don't have truck driving programs. So I may have to pay for a school myself, but I don;t have $4,000 to pay up front. What financing is available for attending a truck driving school if I don't get training through a company, not including bank loans?

6. I've heard lots of rumors about companies forcing drivers to break DOT laws in order to get the job done. I know from a couple companies I have worked for in the past that the DOT does NOT screw around when it comes to regulations, and I DO NOT plan to break the law. Is there any truth to this? Does a majority of the industry break the law to get things done, or is that a load of BS?


That's all I can think of off the top of my head, and I'll post more as I think of them. Any advice would truly be helpful.

Many thanks in advance!

 

Thank you for the responses, guys! I've looked at Central Refrigerated's website and they definitely look promising. I think I'll give them a call and see how they do things there.

If there's any more helpful advice out there, feel free to drop in and say hello

 

Thanks for all the info guys!

I sent an application to FFE last night and got a call from them this morning. They've put me down for a tentative start date of December 5th. My app should be approved by the end of this week, and they told me to just let them know what date I wanted to start once I have it set in stone.

Their academy in Fort Worth is less than 5 miles from my parents' house, giving me a close place to stay for the school. Everything seems to be finally falling into place!

Thanks so much again for the advice. And, of course, feel free to post any other tidbits that might be useful, every little bit helps and is appreciated