Turnover

What is the turnover rate of drivers not making it through their first year? Isn't it like 90% or higher ? Reason I ask is because it's still weighing heavy on my about not continuing training. I wake up every day asking myself if this is really what I want to do. Being young I still have alot of options. One of which being college

If college is an option, as you say, and you are willing to put in the work and get your degree... go for it. There's no good reason to not give college a shot. Having a degree will not disqualify you from getting into this industry :-)

I'm 58, have advanced degrees, founded, grew and sold my own business to a NYSE listed company... and now truly enjoy driving OTR. There's no reason why you can't scratch your trucking itch after you complete your studies.

Also, more directly to you question, it doesn't matter how many other people fail at something... e.g. rookie driver turn over rate. What matters is if you have the desire/drive and ability to do what it takes to succeed at any particular endeavor.

Thank you for the reply. I've been in training for about 4 weeks now and just don't think this is the life style for me. I've been wanting to try for my emt license for quiet awhile now and live only about 10 minutes from a school that offers a course in it. My dad was a emt/p and I've been thinking about trying to follow in his foot steps

Thank you for the reply. I've been in training for about 4 weeks now and just don't think this is the life style for me. I've been wanting to try for my emt license for quiet awhile now and live only about 10 minutes from a school that offers a course in it. My dad was a emt/p and I've been thinking about trying to follow in his foot steps

It didn't occur to me that you were already in training. That complicates things because it's never a good idea to bail on something you have started/made a commitment to completing. Are you under a contract? If so, it may be best to complete your training, meet all of your obligations and then switch directions.

No sir no contract of any type. The state I live in payed for my school and I never signed anything with my current training company. Only thing i owe my company is the 82.50 or whatever it is to get finger printed for hazmat license

Kyle, I was looking through your comment history a bit and I have a pretty good feel for what's going on here.

First of all, you were given a gift, for whatever reason, a gift of other people's money:

actually have a little advantage over some people being that my cdl school was paid for by the state through a jobs program so I don't have to worry about paying that back

You should worry about paying that back. A lot of really hard working people paid taxes so you could have a free ride through school, and now you just want to quit on it? As one of those hard working taxpayers who doesn't get any freebies in life, I think you should stick to your commitment and see this through for a little while. The people who paid your way put in a lot of effort so the government could take their money and give it to you. You should think about that a little bit.

Not only that, but this from a few weeks ago:

My question for you all is how do you deal with homesickness?

Man, you don't have a wife or kids or anything. Do you know how many drivers out there miss the heck out of their wife and kids but are out there everyday making sure they keep a roof over their heads and food on the table? It's perfectly fine to miss your buddies, but come on. You've gotta have a little grit in you too.

I think your problem is that you're 21 and you haven't had to tough anything out yet. You're talking about college, you're talking about being an EMT. It seems you think everything is a good idea until it's time to get down to work, and then you'd rather quit and go do something easier.

If you ever want to get anywhere in life you need to learn to start pushing through the hard parts. I think a lot of people gave up their money to put you through school, and you owe those people, and yourself, a whole hell of a lot more effort than quitting after a few weeks cuz you miss your Facebook buddies.

Almost everyone wants to quit at some point, especially early on in their career. The beginning is the toughest part of your career. It gets easier after you adjust to life on the road, learn your job well, and start learning how to have more fun out there.

You have the rest of your life to be an EMT or go to college or do anything you want. You're still a kid yet and you have no obligations to anyone, other than the people who paid your way through school. So I personally feel you should see this through. At least put in your very best for one year and then decide what you want to do. Heck, I'm 45 and I'm just now sending out messages and getting ready to put in applications to get involved in outdoor guiding and search and rescue. I'm a full quarter century older than you. So there's no reason to bail on this just a few weeks in. Toughen up, get back to focusing on your job, and learn to appreciate the wonderful opportunity you've been given.

I have no problem if others feel the exact opposite of how I do, but I'm the kind of guy who feels that seeing your commitments through is important, especially when other people worked hard to give you that opportunity. I also feel it's important to be able to dig deep and find a little courage and show a little character when times get tough instead of just giving up and walking away after a few measly weeks.

And I have to say, I was 21 when I started driving and I thought it was anything but tough. I mean, it's challenging as hell driving a truck, but being on the road was an unbelievable blessing and I loved every bit of it. I knew how lucky I was to get to drive an awesome American Big Rig and see this beautiful land. You don't have to do it for years and years, but quitting after a few weeks would be a really poor showing in my book, especially considering your circumstances. That's my opinion cuz that's just the kind of guy I am.

Think long and hard. You said "I don't think this is the lifestyle for me"... Which is a fair and legitimate point. Not everyone can adapt to this.

However, training and going solo are two completely different things. Training is intense and hard. Going solo grants so much more freedom..along with responsibility. Even messing up is easier cause there's no one over your shoulder making you feel embarrassed. You get to plan when and where you stop. Etc.

How are you going to pay for school? What if you went solo for the first year, saved your money for school for EMT then went and had no debt to pay off?

If things didn't work out, you'd still have your driving one year experience and a good reference. If it does work out, then you have no student loans for the EMT and are in a better position to start that career.

We have several drivers on this forum who wanted to quit during training. Two are successful solo drivers and one just finished training and is upgrading to solo.

Good luck in all you do.

A very good old timer friend passed on this little nugget of wisdom to me and it helped me through those times. "If you keep the commitment on the outside you'll keep the commitment on the inside."

What is the turnover rate of drivers not making it through their first year? Isn't it like 90% or higher ? Reason I ask is because it's still weighing heavy on my about not continuing training. I wake up every day asking myself if this is really what I want to do. Being young I still have alot of options. One of which being college

Like others have said, I would recommend sticking it out and getting your CDL and at least some experience. If nothing else, then at least you'll have a CDL to fall back on and you'll get to experience something in life that most people don't, being a trucker. It's kinda ironic to me that you are considering transitioning from trucking to being an EMT, cause in my opinion those are probably the two most underappreciated and underpaid jobs in America. The general public has no clue. The truckers literally keep the country running and the EMT/Paramedics literally save lives all day.

Back when I was around your age, which wasn't that long ago, I was going to college with the intention of being a doctor. During my second year, I decided to drop out and join the military. At the time everyone I knew, all my friends, family, classmates all told me not to do it, that I would regret it. Fast forward to today and I don't regret it at all. The military was a great experience for me. I got to travel all over the world and experience things that I never would've otherwise, including deploying to war. It also taught me discipline, structure, purpose and not to be complacent. Things that I feel like most people from my generation(millennials) don't get. I also don't have that massive student loan debt that my classmates and friends were racking up.

Basically the reason I shared that is not to try and persuade you to join the military or anything. I just wanted to get the point across that at the end of the day, you have to do what you enjoy and what makes you happy in life cause it is YOUR life. I would be absolutely miserable today had I become a doctor. I realized as I got older and more mature, that I love to travel and be outside versus being in an office type job. So that brings me full circle to now where I'll be getting into the trucking industry in the near future. I'm actually from Missouri also, so if you'd care to share how you got hooked up with that free state sponsored trucking school, I'd appreciate it. I'm currently considering my options right now and I didn't even know that was an option in MO. Whatever you do in life do your best at it and best wishes to you.

I'm 58, have advanced degrees, founded, grew and sold my own business to a NYSE listed company...

What is the name of the company?