First Truck Driving Job

Been filling out applications, a lot of them. Have a few standing offers too. One possibility is a dedicated route with US Xpress that's supposed to get me home every week for my 34 hour reset. Any input?

Beware if that dedicated route is a dollar store. That is one tough gig for a rookie.

Beware if that dedicated route is a dollar store. That is one tough gig for a rookie.

It is. What's so tough about it? I was told probably 3 loads a week. 2-3 stop per load.

Beware if that dedicated route is a dollar store. That is one tough gig for a rookie.

It is. What's so tough about it? I was told probably 3 loads a week. 2-3 stop per load.

It's one thing to handling physical demands of unloading 40,000 pounds of loose loaded merchandise, it's entirely another for a rookie to handle the challenges presented with very close quarter maneuvering and at times extremely difficult, blind-side tight backing. Remember, once you have your CDL your skills are very, very basic and undeveloped.

I highly suggest getting 3-6 months OTR before considering a Dollar Account.

We've had a lot of discussions in here about those accounts. You can probably find them if you will put dollar store in the search bar at the top of this page.

There's several problems with them. For starters, you are responsible for unloading the truck, and that means hand unloading about 80,000 pounds of boxes or crated containers each week - that in itself is very hard work. On top of that you are pressed for time to make everything work out right and half the time when you get to the store you have got to coordinate the unloading with them. If they are busy they may make you wait for several hours before they can help, and then they may take their lunch break in the middle of everything - it is just a lot of things that have got to come together at each store to make it work right day in and day out.

Then there is the fact that the store locations are in ridiculous places to get an eighteen wheeler in and out. Often times they are free standing stores with very small lots so that you actually have to back in from the street. As I'm sitting here writing this to you I am watching a driver with Averitt trying to back his rig into the dollar general store across the street from the truck stop I am sitting at. He is across all four lanes of the state highway with impatient drivers honking at him, and cars that are in the parking lot are zooming around him to get out because he is taking so long to get in - it is a circus and he is sweating bullets. He's got two deep ditches on either side of the driveway that he could fall off into and a host of other obstacles in the parking lot, not to mention the moving ones who don't have a clue that he could squish them at any moment.

They are just really demanding jobs that require a lot of physical endurance, and a lot of high level backing skills. I just don't recommend them for rookies, and I was pretty sure when you described that home every week job that it sounded like one of those accounts. I don't even know why they offer them to rookies, other than the fact that the experienced guys already know what a nightmare those things are. They need drivers and the pay is good, but you will earn every penny of it and be thinking that what you are doing is worth a lot more.

Just to give you an idea of how physical it is, I had a friend who went to Werner on that account for his first job. He injured his shoulder so badly during the second week of training three years ago, that he has just recently recovered well enough so that he could start driving again.

Thanks for the advice. The money they were talking sounded great!!!!!! Told me I would average $1550 a week. No pit bull, so that is a downfall. Again, I'm still weighing options and a lot can happen between now and when I get done with school.

Thanks for the advice. The money they were talking sounded great!!!!!! Told me I would average $1550 a week. No pit bull, so that is a downfall. Again, I'm still weighing options and a lot can happen between now and when I get done with school.

I'd be highly suspicious of a claim of $1550 per week for a rookie driver. For the first year it's realistic to break the 40k annual barrier, possibly 50k. Averaging 1550 per week even for 50 weeks is $77,500 annually. Not gonna happen...

The Dollar accounts are starving for drivers,...keep that in mind. Unless they are willing to put a number like that in writing on company letterhead and signed, "the discussion never happened".

Before I go off to any orientation I will have a packet and I will have a sheet that spells out exactly what my job offer is. As a veteran, I understand the importance of having something in black and white.

Just remember when a recruiter tells you that the average pay is 1,550 per week, that leaves them a lot of wiggle room to tell you later that you were not "average" when you start complaining that you didn't make that kind of money. Trucking is always performance based pay, and there is just no way a beginner will have the skills necessary or the ability to make that kind of money consistently. You are going to have some good weeks that may get near that mark, and you are going to have some terrible weeks where you might only make 350 dollars.

So it's time for another update. Been online, searching and reading, texting and talking with recruiters, and filling out applications. All while going to work and school, finding time to sleep, and I'm currently in the woods hunting.

But I think I have found a company I am now leaning toward. Spoke with a recruiter at Roehl today, and I like what I heard. I was told training is only 3 weeks, as compared to almost 6 months with some companies. Decent pay to start, I believe he quoted .38 per mile to start, and this is with a flat bed. And said 10-14 days out with 3-4 days home.

Can anybody give me some first hand knowledge of this company?