What percentage of people make it

if i recall, when i went to the driving school, the instructor said something like out of a class of 20 students, 5 will leave after the first 6 months.

5 will leave after the first year

5 will leave after the 5 year mark,

and out of the remaining 5, MAYBE all of 2 will retire at 65, or higher..

i definately retired OVER the age of 65...can't say what ever happened to the rest of my class...

one "kid" had a truck already, his dad either helped him buy it, or just bought it for him..

i did meet up with him say about 3 years after graduation...

he was dying to get out of it, but he didn;t want to disappoint his dad.....

i cannot recall if his dad was a trucker, but i'm just guessing he was.

now, regarding driving school and that first 20 students..??

my first day in class...was 50 of us....

when the instructor talked about being away from home 1 to 4 months at a time.....10 quit

the next day, he told the class of the money you need to LIVE on the road....more quit, right at lunch time

the next day he told us about the harassment from customers, cops, DOT, the remaining ones left, leaving us with 20.....

i graduated 3rd highest grade averag and perfect attendance.

whoopee..........i had made it.....

you need to understand, back in the day, when you graduated from school, YOU WENT long haul..there was NO LOCAL for people with NO expperience...

nowadays they call it OTR over the road.....they tried to "clean it up a bit"...but it's still LONG HAUL

 

i looked at it like, i had a job to do, and i did it. however, had i stayed in the automotive field, i could have been long ago a service director in a dealership. i had working management experience, and people that at the time, were calling me to manage for them.

but, i was getting tired of that business, so i went to trucking school

yes, married "with children" and i forbad any of my sons to be truckers, and they are not. my daughters are certainly NOT truckers either...what each one of them does, is a moot point.

made a "decent living", wanted to have my own truck, but then after looking at the lease deals "of the day back then", i was earning more money just being a driver, and NO ADDED responsibilities. as such, i never bought my own truck either, as i LOVE my FREE TIME when i am home, and nary a worry about a truck sitting, needed service, etc,etc....

no regrets NOT being an owner-operator..

but i (to this day) have regrets on leaving the automotive field....

for so many reasons why, like always home, sleping in my own bed, eating my wife's home cooked meals, seeing the kids daily, rather than maybe once a month or every 2 months. (that changed when i went local/regionally)... and many other things that so many RIGHT NOW, take for granted, when they say those famous last words...

"I WANNA BE A TRUCK DRIVER"....

 

If you have anxiety problems and or stress easy, it may not be for you. I never saw a reason in driving to stress a person out, but many,many drivers do.

 

try and get on baord with companies like Estes, Old Dominion, R+L, ABF, FedEx, UPS Freight, SAIA, A. Duie Pyle, Goya Foods, DOT foods, MacClane foods, to name some that you might do a weekly run, or out maybe 2 nights a week.

 

My personal experience most in my class didn't make it for different reasons.

I started first week in CDL school with a large class. After the first week, I would say about 35-40% flunked because they didn't study for the written exam. They screwed around, brought their game systems with them to their dorm rooms, left the school after hours to mess around, etc. After the first week they left or were sent home.

A few couldn't pass the physical and a few bombed their drug test. Three kids were sent home because they went out drinking to celebrate passing their written test, came back to the school and got caught.

Second week more were added to the class because they already had their learners permit.

We started backing second week. Most people did fine there.

Third week we started driving. A handful of people were sent home because they couldn't get the shifting down. My best guess, maybe about 5 people. Some couldn't understand English well enough.

Once the testing started, as far as I know everyone that made it that far was able to pass all 3 tests within their 3rd attempt. After that came orientation. A few people the company to peruse other ventures. One or two were pulled out of orientation, never to be seen again.

After orientation, 3 and a half weeks in, trainers started throwing up within hours, snatching students up, throwing them on trucks, and disappearing. Many students were surprised it happened so quickly and weren't given even just a weekend break before their 6 week road training. One woman who was the biggest know-it-all because she used to drive a school bus was complaining she wanted to go have her hair and nails done. Lol!

I put my name at the bottom of the list for a trainer because I figured they would start from the top and work their way down. I was right. I got the weekend off to go home and say goodbye to family. Monday morning I had my plane ticket to Denver to hook up with my trainer. Six weeks went by and I was flown back to Dallas, given another drug test which I passed.

I was surprised to see a lot of my class mates back there waiting for their truck and assignments. Several people were sent home for safety reasons. That woman with her hair and nails, she looked shell shocked, her hair all messed up lol. She didn't like it and went home. One guy had his trainer fall asleep behind the wheel, Truck rolled, broke his hip, and went home. Another female from my class, very nice lady got cut off in AL and she rolled her truck. She was fine, cuts and bruises.

I only know of 1 guy I still keep contact with still driving along with me and he's in my division. He had an accident where he came on a sharp right curve, he had a car on his left, and he dragged his Tandems into some Jersey dividers. It was a bad day but he is still driving.

I been on the road over 1 year now no accidents/tickets. Nothing special about me at all. Just wanted the job to work bad enough. My backing is still sketchy but I have the patience not to rush it and I GOAL as much as needed.

I keep hearing stories from new guys I get from that school I train them on paperwork and things specific to the account I am on. A lot of people hit stuff, don't take their logs seriously, try to do things their own way, can't drive at night, just aren't willing to work, can't get along with codriver, and they just don't do well. I heard one guy got fired because he got inspected and he was driving on his partners hours.

My best guess for how many people after 1 year are still driving from the start of CDL school, maybe 1 person in 10, being generous. Maybe less than that.

Its like anything else, math classes I took had the same success rate, most didn't make it. But work hard, want it badly enough, don't get lazy, understand your limits and check yourself. Take HOS laws and logs seriously, do a pre trip before You leave. Remember what you are taught in school and have some faith they told You to do something for a reason. You can make it. Its not that hard, just don't be stupid and understand you don't know everything so you might have to take longer to do some stuff for a while.

That's what I know so far. Trucking looks deceptively easy. In many ways it is, but its also hard. Both the easiest & hardest job I've worked so far. And yes its fun too.

 

The guys that go to a company school, pays for it too, it is just a different pay structure.

 

The older people coming from different careers faired a lot better than the younger from what Ive seen. Also the older people I train easier than younger because they have some wisdom and life experience.

I came from a career in IT I did for about 10 years. That job I felt trapped in, not trucking. I don't do straight OTR, but its fairly close. I do a dedicated account in the lower 48, also do some LTL on the weekends.

My "normal" career felt limiting because I made the same amount, I had to go to the same place every day and deal with the same people and all their personal issues. In trucking I get paid for the work I do, not a salary. So my first year out I made almost double what I made when I left IT. Also I team drive, so that helps to make more also. A few times I made more in 1 week what took me a month to earn fixing computers and running ethernet cables.

Personal I have found the lifestyle in trucking easier, not harder. I wake up and I am already in my office. My partner wakes me up to drive and thats it. I dont have to wake up, get ready, fight morning rush hour, get to my desk, get settled in, check 20 voicemails, read 20 new emails I didn't even need to get, sit in meetings all day I dont need to be in, etc etc. Theres none of that. I just wake up and drive and load my trailer.

You do miss family, even me a hard core introvert. But its just one thing about the job.

The hard parts about the job are learning all the laws, staying vigilant on the roads at all times not zoning out too much, and avoiding fatigue. I drive all different hours around the clock. Like last night I slept from 6pm til midnight. Then I woke up and drove until about noon and arrived. I'm just now waking up at our terminal in Atlanta, waiting to be unloaded. Closest grocery store is half an hour away walking. We need to stay parked to get layover pay. Its not a big deal to be. But some folks have a hard time not having access to amenities/facilities. My trainee is having a hard time not being able to shower. Lol I promised him a shower tomorrow.

I think if you decided to do it, you would do fine. You are here in these forums researching, which puts you miles ahead of everyone else who jumps in blindly then ends up surprised.