Can Trucking Provide For Your Family? HECK YEAH!

We often times have people join the forum and they're looking to start a truck driving career to better provide for their family. This post isn't meant to brag but to show those worried about this job paying peanuts and needing government assistance to survive is simply not true. We try to stress that your first year you will earn roughly anywhere from $35,000 to $40,000 as you become more efficient which will result in your income continuing to grow to $70,000 or more by around your 3rd year from what I've seen posted here. Trucking has allowed me to support and provide for my family in ways I never thought possible. Yesterday we bought our very first home! We've tried multiple times and never have been approved for anything close to the type of house we wanted but this time is different. This year I was approved for $250,000 if I put $0 down. We bought one for about $170k so we don't become house-poor. We've also bought 2 brand new vehicles in the last couple years which is another thing I never thought possible for me. Growing up my parents worked alot of mediocre jobs that paid just enough to keep a roof over our heads and food in our stomachs with not much left after that. Home ownership was never really an option for my parents. Financially it isnt the smartest idea to buy brand new vehicles but its something we wanted. Trucking has provided me a means to give my family the life we want while allowing my wife to be a stay at home mom for our 3 young kids. The look of enjoyment on their face running around the backyard not needing to worry about stepping in dog poop from lazy owners, knowing that we don't have people living on the sides of us, or people honking horns in parking lot at all hours of the night makes me feel so good. If you're worried about not being able to support your family I completely understand. Your first year or so will likely pay the least but your pay will go up drastically. We have members here making $90,000. It may take a couple years to reach that level but once you do and you're able to reach personal milestones you'll be amazed at how great this career choice truly is! It still feels surreal. Not sure if that's from now being a homeowner or going from a city with 66,000 people down to a city with only 1,100.

Coming from foodservice, these numbers feel weird to read.

Congratulations on the house!

I agree 100% with everything you said, I wish I would have gotten my license at 21 instead of wasting years working at a 1099 cab/limo company.

I can say that driving is allowing me to keep my house til I'm ready to sell.

Laura

Congrats Rob, buying your first home is always surreal. It is an experience you will never forget. Well done Sir!!

Great to hear, Rob. Congrats on the home purchase. I recently joined and am looking to train for my CDL and change careers. I've worked as a cube truck, 12-pass van & luxury vehicle driver for 10 years in the film industry. Also been in retail and food service. I'm tired of making crap money and never having stability and I want to be able to provide for my future family with a real career. Do you recommend any companies that train in the North-East as opposed to private schools? I talked to a trucker who recommended that I look into Sysco, YRC and UNFI.

Thanks y'all! It's been quite strange to see people hanging out at the only gas station in town (Casey's)after riding their lawnmower there to fill it up, and a tractor drive in front of our house. I talked to our neighbor across the street who is in the city council. When I mentioned how different things are he said for FFA week they'll have 60 tractors parked at the school as students drive them to school that week LOL.

Joseph asked

Do you recommend any companies that train in the North-East as opposed to private schools? I talked to a trucker who recommended that I look into Sysco, YRC and UNFI.

We almost all agree that Paid CDL Training Programs is the best way to get started in this industry. G-town went through Swifts school and now runs on a dedicated Walmart account for them in the northeast. Up in that area of the country it isnt unheard of to get on with an LTL company like Old Dominion or YRC straight out of school but we highly encourage a year of over the road experience before taking on the challenges of local driving. At Sysco (or any foodservice companies) you can make great money but its brutal physical labor. I got my start at PFG which is similar to Sysco. You can read about my rookie year doing Food service my first full year I made about 85k if I recall correctly doing that work but my body took a beating to get it. The challenges you would face in the northeast would be much more difficult than what I faced in Des Moines. UNFI delivers to grocery stores right? I'm currently delivering to Hy-vee grocery stores in the midwest and absolutely love it. I make great money and am home nearly every night. I don't have any particular insight to UNFI as a company but I know they've been buying out Supervalu in most, if not all markets. Use this link to Apply For Paid CDL Training put in a safe year and then you'll have a ton of places wanting to hire you for local work if that is your goal. Please stick around and keep us updated

Hey man congrats on the house! That's the middle goal for me right now, hopefully i'll be able to buy a house by the end of next year or 2022. I just have to find out where i actually want to live first lol, not going back to Louisiana.

Unfortunately, now is not a good time to get on with a LTL company most if not all have laid off or furloughed employees. I doubt any LTL companies will be hiring for their driver trainong programs for awhile if at all this year.

Your best bet is a company paid CDL program through a OTR company, get your year in and then look at other opportunities.

Thanks again. I started reading through your experience with the food service company. Wow! It sounds as grueling as my time at UPS...maybe even more so. That's definitely not what I'm looking for. I'll check out Swift school and plan on doing OTR until I have enough experience for a local gig.

Thanks for all the help and I'll keep you posted!

-Joe

Thanks y'all! It's been quite strange to see people hanging out at the only gas station in town (Casey's)after riding their lawnmower there to fill it up, and a tractor drive in front of our house. I talked to our neighbor across the street who is in the city council. When I mentioned how different things are he said for FFA week they'll have 60 tractors parked at the school as students drive them to school that week LOL.

Joseph asked

Do you recommend any companies that train in the North-East as opposed to private schools? I talked to a trucker who recommended that I look into Sysco, YRC and UNFI.

We almost all agree that Paid CDL Training Programs is the best way to get started in this industry. G-town went through Swifts school and now runs on a dedicated Walmart account for them in the northeast. Up in that area of the country it isnt unheard of to get on with an LTL company like Old Dominion or YRC straight out of school but we highly encourage a year of over the road experience before taking on the challenges of local driving. At Sysco (or any foodservice companies) you can make great money but its brutal physical labor. I got my start at PFG which is similar to Sysco. You can read about my rookie year doing Food service my first full year I made about 85k if I recall correctly doing that work but my body took a beating to get it. The challenges you would face in the northeast would be much more difficult than what I faced in Des Moines. UNFI delivers to grocery stores right? I'm currently delivering to Hy-vee grocery stores in the midwest and absolutely love it. I make great money and am home nearly every night. I don't have any particular insight to UNFI as a company but I know they've been buying out Supervalu in most, if not all markets. Use this link to Apply For Paid CDL Training put in a safe year and then you'll have a ton of places wanting to hire you for local work if that is your goal. Please stick around and keep us updated