Looking For Advice

Hello I am not real sure of where to start and i hope this is the right section for this so here i go. I have been thinking about becoming a truck driver for along time. when i was about 10 years old i got to go on a route with my neighbor and had the time of my life from that point i have always wanted to drive a semi. So far on my lifes journey driving a truck just hasnt been part of the plan. I have been working in the car buisness since i was about 17 and i am 28 now and i am just done with it. I have always like traveling but never had the time to do it. Anyways i am single with no children so i have been seriously thinking that this is the right time to start a new career in the trucking industry. My problem is i really dont know what type of trucking that i want to do. I have been looking at a few of the different companies out there with the payed cdl schooling. I just am not real sure which one would be best for me. Another thing that i have a question about is some companys have you do solo driving after the training and some have you do team driving not sure which would be better starting off. I dont have a house or anything to really worry about so where i go isnt that big of a deal to me. The one thing i do know is i would like to become an o/o at some point. Dont really want to work for somebody else the rest of my life. Anyways i wont waste any more of your time any advice that you could give me would be greatly apreciated. Thank you Joe

Hello I am not real sure of where to start and i hope this is the right section for this so here i go. I have been thinking about becoming a truck driver for along time. when i was about 10 years old i got to go on a route with my neighbor and had the time of my life from that point i have always wanted to drive a semi. So far on my lifes journey driving a truck just hasnt been part of the plan. I have been working in the car buisness since i was about 17 and i am 28 now and i am just done with it. I have always like traveling but never had the time to do it. Anyways i am single with no children so i have been seriously thinking that this is the right time to start a new career in the trucking industry. My problem is i really dont know what type of trucking that i want to do. I have been looking at a few of the different companies out there with the payed cdl schooling. I just am not real sure which one would be best for me. Another thing that i have a question about is some companys have you do solo driving after the training and some have you do team driving not sure which would be better starting off. I dont have a house or anything to really worry about so where i go isnt that big of a deal to me. The one thing i do know is i would like to become an o/o at some point. Dont really want to work for somebody else the rest of my life. Anyways i wont waste any more of your time any advice that you could give me would be greatly apreciated. Thank you Joe

Hey Joe, welcome to the forum and to answer your first question yes you are the right place. It sounds like you have a healthy desire to get into the trucking lifestyle. I would think you are in the perfect place in your life to get into trucking, you don't have anything to tie you down to your current lifestyle (no wife, kids, etc.) and that would enable you to just concentrate on driving. There are plenty of companies that will sponsor your CDL training with a commitment to drive for them for a set period of time and that will get your CDL paid for and guarantee you a job. If you really want to become an owner/op I would say spend a few years on the road as a company driver learning how the truck works, how to handle your logs and other paperwork, and dealing with all of the other issues that a trucker does. Once you have that figured out and you have a few 100,000 miles on the road then you can consider the owner/op route and take on all of the extra responsibility and costs of owning that rig and making sure your getting enough loads to cover you expenses. As for the solo or team driving question, you pretty much just have to ask yourself the question could you handle living in a small space for weeks at a time with another truck driver. To do team driving (with someone other than your spouse) I think you'd have to be a really good match personality wise or it would just be a total nightmare (I.E. the odd couple), as for solo if you would enjoy the long periods of time alone to just drive and think about the wonders of the world than solo driving would be the way to go. Never wasting any time here, i think everyone likes reading and expressing their views on truck driving. Hoping to get started on my CDL journey here soon and know that this forum has been a great deal of help to me.

Joe, welcome aboard, I am considering, most likely, a job as a driver. I have the same passion for driving and seeing the wonders of our country. but from what I have read on most of this forum is that people will tell you you are crazy to be an o/o. I thought I might like that at first but thru the wisdom of the many, many drivers on this forum they highly recommend that you dont do it. I know Starcar is against it,and I know for sure Brett is against it. So I just wanted to give you a heads up on whats what.

Welcome aboard Joe, we're glad you're here.

Here's two tips that I hope you'll find helpful. The first one is that there's a great place on this web site where you can research companies that will train you. When you click on this Company-Sponsored Training link you'll find a good selection of companies with all kinds of helpful information about their different programs. And the second thing that will help you out immensely is to start working your way through the High Road Training Program. If you'll do that you can get your permit before you go off to a company sponsored training program which will put you way ahead of the game and way ahead of the other students in class. Trust me you will be glad you did it.

Now as far as your other questions, teaming is really tough. Most people that start out trying it don't last that long. Your going to be trying to sleep while your partner is driving and playing their music too loud. Your going to be having to smell their stinky feet and looking at their dirty underwear laying in the floor while your driving. They will be having a bad day sometimes and really making you miserable. You're not going to be able to sleep sometimes because the road was so bumpy while your driving partner was driving their shift, and then just as soon as the road smooths out it will be your turn to drive for 11 hours straight. You'll be hearing your partner snoring away while you're doing everything you can just to stay awake for your shift. Do you get the idea? I don't know if you realize it or not but those team trucks don't hardly stop, that's why they are team trucks, because they are hauling stuff that goes a long ways with an almost impossible short time to get there. It's tough, really tough. And don't be fooled by the great sounding promises, a good solo driver can make just as much or more as a team driver.

We never recommend folks pursue becoming an owner/operator. For now just trust me, the owner operator trail is littered with broken families, lost fortunes, and heartaches enough to provide the words for another ten thousand sad country songs. If you want to become a truck driver that's great, and you sound like a very good candidate, but you need to get some real world experience in as a company driver for at least about five years before you go getting yourself in the kind of bind with owning a truck that's going to have you looking for a really good bankruptcy lawyer.

We want to help you anyway we can, so feel free to ask any kind of questions you like. You don't have to duck for cover in this forum, because we will always shoot straight with you while treating you with respect.

Again, welcome aboard!

Thank you for all the great info as there is alot to learn about this industry. As of right now i have only talked to 3 companys swift crst and central refriderated. with swift you drive as a solo driver for 13 months untill your school debit is paid off i guess with crst you drive as a team for 8 months and with central they have a totaly different program you do a lease after 3 months or 6 i would have to go back and look at the info they sent me. I was just wondering if anyone would recemend one company over another from there own experience and explain why. As i have started to do more research i have seen there are alot of different kinds of trucking. I guess my question would be which one has the best longevitity and profitability. One of the reasons that i was talking about wanting to be an o/o is because after i have gained experience i dont want to stay making 30-45k a year i want to be around 80-100k+ and the only thing that i have seen that was anywhere close to that is in hauling crude oil. Like i said i am new to this so all i really know is what is have read. From what i have seen this site seems like the place to be all of the other sites seem to be filled with alot of negative people always talking bad about what seems like every company. They cant all be that bad or they wouldnt still be in business with thousands of employes. But anyways thank you for all the info so far and i hope to hear from more of you. Joe

Joe, you're not ever going to make 80-100k a year unless you're Jack Jesse from ice road truckers. I wouldn't even plan on making 50k. And it you do manage then don't plan on coming home for an entire year and plan on working 24/7. This job doesn't pay as well as you think it does. We say it all the time, this job is for the lifestyle not the money. If I count every minute I worked for the week it would equal to probably 9$ an hour. Seriously..

And with Central Ref you don't have to lease. They want you too though. They'll do anything for you to lease. They'll make it sound like you'll be a millionaire if you lease. But you don't have to. They are so desperate for you to lease they'll let you lease the first day you become solo. No kidding, I saw a 24 year old who was on his first week driving a brand new Pete. I helped him after he jumped the kingpin on the trailer, we spoke after that hour of trying to get him out. Overall it's a good company if you can ignore them flashing hundred dollar bills in your face if you lease. I'm making good money with them. But consider every company not just three.

You must decide what freight you want to haul. Do you want to only do dry products where you don't have to worry about maintaining a temperature? Dealing with an extra fuel tank (refrigerated trailers have an extra 50 gallon tank you need to keep an eye on)? Or would you want to haul a reefer (refrigerated) trailer? You'll be carrying all sorts of foods. For reefer, the runs tend to be longer (coast to coast). But the waiting times at shippers and receivers are much longer than dryvan. For dryvan the runs are a bit shorter?

Once you decide what you'll want to tow it will narrow down the list of companies you can work for and you can go from there.

best longevitity and profitability. One of the reasons that i was talking about wanting to be an o/o is because after i have gained experience i dont want to stay making 30-45k a year i want to be around 80-100k+ and the only thing that i have seen that was anywhere close to that is in hauling crude oil. Joe

thats true you can 'make' 80-100K as an owner op, but that is gross income meaning its before expenses. Your expenses as an owner op will be so much higher. If you are grossing 100K but your expenses are 120K, guess what you are losing 20K a year. What if your truck has engine failure? Guess who pays for that? you do. Not to mention lost driving time

Central has on the front page of their site make 75K after 6 months. That is very very deceiving- I would proceed with caution. They want to get you in and sign the paperwork, then after that like some others have said its nothing but headaches and lawyers.

Hey Joe - the perfect place for you to start is our Truck Driver's Career Guide. It's going to answer pretty much every question you've asked, plus a million more you wouldn't have even thought to ask about the trucking industry. It will cover every topic imaginable that pertains to getting your trucking career started, including things like How To Choose A CDL School and How To Choose The Right Truck Driving Job.

Read through that and then let us know what questions you have. We're always happy to help out.

I hear what you guys are saying you would know a lot more than what I do from experience all I know is from what I read. I have seen a few places that say your truck can bring in between 200-300k a year driving a flatbed. Thats driving between 2500-3500 miles a week and from that money you take home between 100-150k a year. There has to be some truth to it I think or you wouldn't see quit a few o/o driving 90-150k dollar semis also when I was in the car business I sold a few o/o cars and we have to see there taxes because they are business owner and on the ones that I saw take home was between 80-130k so that would be after all truck payments fuel and any other business expenses.

Diggin your own grave sir. I, and we all, suggest you go company driver for a while to learn the industry before even thinking about going o/o. Everyone trucker knows, if there's money to be made - it won't be made by a rookie.