What am I missing?...

Elendil just gave you the key! The only companies you can name are the ones that are spending millions of dollars in advertising to get YOU to work for THEM!!! So if they are spending all that money just to hire people where do you think all those people are going? Blackhole? I'm not bashing just stating the utmost obvious! Some drivers are perfectly happy and have long lasting careers with the mega-carriers. Its just that the odds are favored in the other direction.

You a want a good shot at success right out of school, then find yourself a good smaller company. There are many sites that can help, Craigslist is pretty good too. You just punch in your city then look under the transportation section. Here is a site that is pretty good too. You just type in the state and it will give you a pretty good list of companies. There are many sites like this so do your own research and find as many as you can.

http://www.truckdrivercentral.com/truckingcompanies.html

Good luck....

 

That's pretty good advice starting with craigslist or monster jobs.com. It's a good way to find a local job even if it's not your dream job.

Once your somewhat local get yourself a really good CB that sounds good and get to know the local guys. They're the ones that will tell you who the good companies are in your area. They're also the ones that will tell you when a job becomes open with one of those companies, and if they run with you a lot they will give you a recommendation. Working nights on the line everyone knows each other, and if you can get one of the older hands to give you a recommendation that's worth more then any amount of experience.

Another thing to remember is that any kind of specialized experience you can get is gold. Tanker and doubles are where the money is for a company driver. Flat bed is good to because a lot of smaller outfits run them.

The phone book is good to. My outfit is hiring right now and we don't have a single application in the box. No one ever applies because we never need drivers, but we are now and a rookie could get lucky as we have to hire someone. So you never know, you wont get the job unless you apply.

 

That is a great idea, I am going to call them on Monday and see how it goes.

 

This may be a stupid question but if I complete the training and get a class A license does that mean I will then also be able to drive class B stuff or do I need to complete another course for it?.

 

You can drive "B" with the "A"......but not the other way around.

 

Like the next poster said you can drive up to 11 hrs a day not 10.What you're missing is all the brake downs,all the sitting at shippers and receivers.all the waiting for load info,many customers have strickly appt times.So you could be at the cust early but not get unloaded for a couple hrs.All that causes drivers not to receive consistant miles every week.Some weeks you'll receive good miles then other weeks you may only do 1500.Many times you'll think you have a good run ,write all the info down head to the shipper and all of a sudden loads been cancelled.

 

Go in with your EYES WIDE OPEN!
The typical career path is you work for one of the "name" companies for a year or two, get your experience cred and move on.
You'll work hard, rarely see home, put up with all measure of abuse, MAYBE gross as much as $40K and its a dangerous job.
If you can pass the litmus test to deal with the first year or two, the better companies feel you're ready.
It's like Boot Camp or Basic Training for rookie truckers.
The "name companies" business model is to churn and burn drivers, to keep expenses low and stay competitive.
I recently read "Sweatshops on Wheels", and I now have have utmost respect for today's truck driver.
They're unsung American heroes IMHO.

 

This is the reason so many new drivers fail.

They expect that they have to work for one of the big companies----WRONG

They expect that they must get a first job that requires you be away from home for weeks on end----WRONG

They expect that they must expect abuse at any company they work at as a new driver---WRONG

None of these has to be the "norm" for a new driver. I see way too many "veteran" drivers on this board that perpetuate theses myths as well. I do not understand why. Maybe because they are so unhappy with their choices that they want to make other people believe that suffering is required.

Look, every job has its problems and there will be some bad days and weeks even with the best companies, but they are many many companies that do not abuse the drivers and that do get home on a regular (weekly or more) basis that you can earn a good living at.

Do these companies offer CDL training?--probably not. That is why going to school yourself is important
Do these companies advertise online or in the papers every day? No they don't need to. They know people who are motivated will find them.

The people that have the most problems are the ones looking to take the path of least resistance into this career. People do less research into their first trucking job than they did into the last car they purchased. Why is that?

 

There are a few, and I mean few NEW drivers ( out of thousands) that get there CDL and find a good to great company right out of the box. Even fewer of those realize a $50,000 dollar year right away. There are WAY to many "if's" along the way.

A good attitude and a GREAT work ethic will go far in this industry or any, or life in general.

Knowledge is money, the more you learn ( it never stops) the more you make.

I think that there are tons of new drivers that while they may not be making huge bucks, are gaining the knowledge they need to achieve their goals by going with the large "Mega" companies.

 

I see a lot of people putting down the big companies. If you can't hack it with one of them then you're in trouble.