What I've gotten from browsing here...

Hun, don't kid yourself that we don't need the salary. We do. As for a team supporting 2 families, that's and issue for that team. We're a two paycheck family now just like MANY American families and I'm not one bit ashamed to say I'm getting paid.

As for kids being grown, yes ours are and we have one to finish putting through college. It's not cheap. We have retirement to try and amass now because we spent our retirement on raising other people's children.

I'm in this for a great many reasons and money is one.

 

Nana, just for clarity, remember I'm not back into trucking just yet. I'd like to see either a private deal go down or the freight pick up before I risk that much.
As a matter of marriage, I'll probably let my wife's mother come live with her and just deal with it when I'm home. We actually get along pretty well; she's a conservative. I haven't told my wife this yet, since I may not get back into it if things don't change.

Unfortunately I told her if I go out she could have a dang cat...now it's all I hear about once a day at least!

 

Get your #### together. attention to detail.

You got your input. Now cowboy up and live with it.

Your 29, starting a new career in a falling economy...and it's a passion? Oh Please... One in 20 newbies come to trucking because they feel compelled to. The other 19 are looking for a fast buck, and what they perceive to be saving moment.

But you expect us to respond differently to you, because your the 20th person today...who stated they found religion at 29 (or older) in the trucking industry. WoooHoooo !!

You're original post takes a cheap shot at every post made within this forum. There are 1000's of positive post made within this forum. Many directed at the new and incoming driver/student.

You never once mentioned anything positive had been gained. You've made only 9 post throughout your time on this forum, all in this thread... to tell us you thought the doom and gloom was basically bull####.

Did they also tell you, that 98% of the remaining 50% would quit within 18 months ??? And about half of those who remain, would never really have a personal life ever again, and those that are married have an extremely high divorce rate.

An economically fueled midlife crisis is hardly the kind of soapbox you want to use as the foundation of your new career.

But, I would say you got what you were looking for.

BTW...What is it exactly that you're running from?

 

Let me give this a try. I am curious, 1) You don't say where you are from, even just the state,or zone. 2) You say a 6 month school, so I will assume a govt. granted school through a community college (can be good or bad to many factors to know in your case). 3) You say your "recruiter", now is this a school recruiter or a company recruiter? 4) You have "flagged" the negative posts, and no mention of the positive, instructional posts...WHY?

You might be asking me (through your computers monitor or screen) what do you care of where I am from? Well certain zones of the country have been hit harder by the freight slow down, the East coast has been slow for most companies for much longer than say, the West or Mid West. This could be due to total numbers of trucks in the area, and/or to the manufacturing slowing. Either way, where you are starting your career can have a direct result in numbers hired by local or regional carriers.

What school you are attending, can and will have a great effect on the students getting placement with a trucking company. This will depend on how the school has aligned themselves with the "training companies" and with how many companies use your school for hiring the student driver.

Keep this thought in mind, (especially when you are deciding which company you will choose to start with) recruiters are salesmen! It doesn't matter what the industry is you are loking at, Trucking, Wall Street, Military, recruiters are recruiters. Some say outright liars, some say gross exaggerators, some have other descriptive words I will not use since they will just become asterisks. The recruiter gets paid on commission, just like a car salesman, or any salesman, depending on the number of students they "recruit" is what they will get in their paycheck. So, yes they will fudge up, sugar coat, and if real dirty, blatantly lie about something (numbers) and deny the words when confronted down the road.

Freight, in some sectors, is gradually picking up (no pun intended) as of today. However, it has been doing a bit of a see-saw effect in numbers for the past month or so. Some weeks fair, the next week very slow. To this, the "training companies" have started to open their orientation again. But not in the numbers they were doing, say last year at this time. Recently they have been downsizing their fleet numbers, (getting rid of trucks, and trimming office staff) also many companies have reduced the pay structure, especially for the new-hire, no matter what the experience level. My company last month dropped top pay from 38cpm to 35cpm for drivers with 5 years or more, (that was for any new hire coming in, they left current drivers pay alone) they also took away or reduced stop pay, unload pay, and increased the employees cost for the benefits package). They didn't stop with the drivers either, they reduced by 15% the office staff, and consolidated some divisions. All this to have a better position for surviving this down economy. We are still running, but about 300-500 miles per week less per driver.

You say you are not in debt, and you want this. Excellent, wanting something makes getting it even better when you do get it. Keep that attitude, keep wanting it, that is the best position you can have, it makes learning easier, and more fun.

There are many threads here on this forum designed to help the "new trucker", questions from newbees, answers form experience. Sites for the spouses and families of truckers, to help them deal with the new life style their trucker has chosen. Fun and games sections, Politics (can get nasty in that one), Religion (caution there, got some heated discussions in that one), jokes, mechanical issues, flatbedders section, best company, worst company. All in all, there is more available right here, in this forum, than was available when I started trucking, I had to go down to the truck stops and simply ask some drivers questions. And there, just like here, I got some bad info, and some good info. It was up to me to filter the information, decide what was tainted by anger, and what was simply BS.

Keep your dream, or desire, and go for it man, give it all you got. The fruits of your labor will be rewarded exponentially to what you put in it!

Good luck, study well and hard, and be safe always.

 

Before I ever parked my wide load in a truck I found this forum. Obviously there are those having a bad day/week/month/year/life...Thats true of any industry. But I can honestly say I have made it this far in my career due in part to the great advise I always get right here. Food for thought tho. I now train student drivers, every student I have had in the last year has come from a manufatoring background. Most of those had CDL school paid for by unemployment. Why would nearly every state offer to retrain thousands of people if this industry would put them right back in the same boat? They want to inviest a little now and get people back to work and off unemployment. This industry is as good or bad as the driver makes it. It is hard out here right now, but is the factory in town hiring? We are...the simple truth is drivers are people too. I always **try** to say positive things here. But I assure you I have made posts on a bad day that are far less than positive. The good folks here have never once held that bad day against me!!

What you will find here is a mix of personalities. Good and bad. Always a lot of advise and answers. And the folks here, well if we were as good to each other on the road as we are here we would all have better days! I dont always get the answers I want. But I do always get honesty and thats all I can hope for!

 

So every state trains thousands of workers .Do you deny there is an oversupply of drivers ? Don't you know freight is at it's lowest level in five years ? Many states don't pay unemployment if you get fired or quit . So these people get off unemployment but they don't keep jobs long . That's why 90% of people get hired - to replace somebody that quit . Why do you think carriers are hiring inexperienced drivers when there are tens of thousands of experienced drivers out of work ? Because experienced drivers have too much self respect to be treated the way bottom feeder carriers treat drivers for the 1970's wages they pay .

 

Why not take a trip to your local truck stop. And spend the day there asking questions. Or, you could have a forum member post a survey for you.

Instead of trying to deny information given you.

Better yet, I'll do it for you.

 

Dance , this guy isn't worth wasting your time with . You know the type . If he manages to get hired dispatch will give him a real quick lesson in humility . That's if he gets past a company trainer , which I doubt will happen .