Profile For Dominick V.

I moved from NYC to Tampa about a year and a half ago. My initial plan was to get my CDL-A and get working asap but being as its just my wife and I, she was not too happy with me being away from home for weeks at a time, nor was I. I instead got a job doing internet sales for a luxury car dealership. I’ve been there for over a year now but I’m not happy. I still have the passion to drive the big rigs but not OTR.

There is a trucking school called Tampa Truck Driving School that has great reviews. I will be paying my own way as I want the freedom of choosing who I want to work for and not have to be locked into a contract with any particular company. No offense, but I dont trust any trucking school to be honest with you about employment opportunities post graduation. It’s a business like everything else and they will tell you want you want to hear in order to get you to enroll.

Before I go thru with it, I would like some advice from some of you here about my chances of landing a local, dedicated or regional route right out of school? If anyone here knows of any companies in the Tampa area hiring right out of school, your tips will be much appreciated. My background is squeaky clean and so is my driving record. I have 14yrs of verifiable work history with no gaps in employment, as well as a perfect driving record with 0 points, accidents, etc..

Thanks in advance...

Am i the only one that didn't see any brake lights on any of those trucks?

If money is not an issue, your Wife is a professional and gonna pick up a high paying job, why not just buy an RV and go where you want, when you want? I mean, hell, get yourself a pickup truck and haul RV trailers back and forth to Indiana. I don't know. It just sounds...odd.

It's not quite the same when you live in the place you've only gone to vacation.

But seriously, uprooting your family, moving to a completely new location, but you're flush with cash? Hardly sounds like a Trucker's life. Sounds more like you need a hobby. :)

Who said I'm "flush with cash". Certainly I didnt. Being able to pay upfront for CDL school rather than a free ride with a sponsor company is far from what I would call "being flush with cash".

Thanks for all the advice. I'll do some more research before I make my final decision.

I'm scheduled to enroll in Tampa Truck Driving School on 1/9 and have a prehire by Stevens Transport. Upon further review, I see that Stevens while a solid training company, offers lower than average training pay ($350/wk) and starting pay (26cpm). Although I know first year's pay isn't really what to focus on, I will be making a move at the end of the month from NYC to Tampa and going a year without decent income will effect me financially.

I spoke to a recruit at Prime and she told me that if all my info is as I claim, they should have no problem getting me into their program which offers much better training pay along with better starting cpm.

My dilemma is this... I'm moving with my wife to Tampa. Obtaining my CDL-A is something that I've always wanted to do and given Florida's low wages, its something I can do and make a decent living for myself. Problem is, I'll be away for quite a while for the first year before I'm able to land something regional or local and it'll be hard for her to get acclimated by herself in a town where she doesnt know anyone while I'm out. I know its going to take some sacrifice, but that's why I was thinking about paying my own way thru CDL school and trying to find a company who will take me straight from school that will allow me to start off regional where I can get more at home time for at least the first year while we get settled in. Is that something that you think is possible?

Prime would put you on Southeast regional as a newbie. Schneider will too. I know primes is FL to NC and I think as far west as LA and I think every other weekend home for two days. My friend at Schneider lives in Atlanta and home every weekend.

Keep in mind...FL wages are lower cause cost of living is lower. I'm from jersey..I shop down south cause of the cheaper prices ;)

Thanks for the info Rainy!

The move is a mutual decision between my wife and I. We travel to Tampa frequently and love the area. We have a few friends but she'll still be by herself. She has some jobs lined up as she's a professional and will have no problem landing a high paying job right away.

Maybe what I'll do is push back my school start date for a few weeks while we get settled in rather than getting to Tampa and starting school right away. I have about 3 weeks before I make my final decision.

Thanks for all the replies.

Thanks for all the advice. I'll do some more research before I make my final decision.

I'm scheduled to enroll in Tampa Truck Driving School on 1/9 and have a prehire by Stevens Transport. Upon further review, I see that Stevens while a solid training company, offers lower than average training pay ($350/wk) and starting pay (26cpm). Although I know first year's pay isn't really what to focus on, I will be making a move at the end of the month from NYC to Tampa and going a year without decent income will effect me financially.

I spoke to a recruit at Prime and she told me that if all my info is as I claim, they should have no problem getting me into their program which offers much better training pay along with better starting cpm.

My dilemma is this... I'm moving with my wife to Tampa. Obtaining my CDL-A is something that I've always wanted to do and given Florida's low wages, its something I can do and make a decent living for myself. Problem is, I'll be away for quite a while for the first year before I'm able to land something regional or local and it'll be hard for her to get acclimated by herself in a town where she doesnt know anyone while I'm out. I know its going to take some sacrifice, but that's why I was thinking about paying my own way thru CDL school and trying to find a company who will take me straight from school that will allow me to start off regional where I can get more at home time for at least the first year while we get settled in. Is that something that you think is possible?

Would you recommend paying your way thru CDL school so that you can keep your options open and aren't contracted to a company for x amount of months?

Or would you still attend a company sponsored CDL program?

What company do you work for?

I'm averaging around 10,000 miles per month.......and use up as much of my driving clock as I can manage, every day when I do have miles

You still have plenty of time available on your logbook to turn quite a few more miles if you can get dispatch to hand them over. If you're staying out 5 - 6 weeks at a time you should be averaging right at 3,000 miles per week when you're running. Even with the time off you should be able to get in the range of 12,000 miles per month. Make sure you make all of your appointments on time, squeeze every minute you can out of that logbook, and keep lobbying dispatch for more miles. Let em know that 2,500 per week isn't enough anymore with the experience and performance you've shown to date.

In fact, since Stevens does pay less per mile than a lot of companies I would let them know in the most professional and genuine way that they're putting you in a spot where you're almost going to have to leave to look for greener pastures once your contract is up if they're not going to pay you more per mile and you're only averaging 2,500 miles per week to boot. You might have to be the squeaky wheel a little bit to get them to ratchet up the miles.

Yes they do pay much less than other company sponser programs. For example; Prime pays $700/wk for training pay vs $350 that Stevens pays. They start you with 40cpm vs 26cpm that Stevens pays.

I have a school start date and a prehire from Stevens but nothing is set in stone. I will be doing some more research in the upcoming weeks before signing on for anything.

I've heard good things about ST training and equipment, but for a man with bills and resonsibilites, they're pay rate doesnt look like its going to cut it for me.

After watching some independent reviews by current Stevens drivers, one guy stated that their advertised yearly salary isnt really accurate. He stated that if you're looking clear even 40k/year you'd have to run about 3 months straight at a time. He mentioned how if you're looking to get home every 3-4 weeks, you'll get shorter routes with less mileage.

Any truth to this from your experience?