Waited 4 Years, But Finally Following Thru To Get Behind The Wheel

I was unemployed about 4 years ago, and decided to try trucking. Something I had always had in the back of my mind to do, but it was never the 'right time'.

At that time I got some grant money and attended a local private school, and 4 weeks later I had my Class A with tankers, doubles and triples. I started looking for a job, and kept at it for a couple months. Surprisingly, a job in another field popped up, and I took that.

Fast forward to the past couple months. There is a very strong indication that my present position will be eliminated. They may offer some sort of lateral job change, but I really don't want to do this particular job any more. So, I decided to start looking back into driving a truck.

Turns out, one of my co-worker's husband is in the petroleum sales business, and she asked him about the possibility of him using his contacts to get me on with one of his customers. He told her that if I get my HAZMAT endorsement, he feels pretty confident that he can get me in the door somewhere.

2 weeks ago, I did the TSA paperwork online, paid my money and the following Monday went down to get printed. They told me I should hear something in 2-3 weeks. Sure enough, 12 days later, I get a letter stating that I am qualified to test for the endorsement. I am going down to the DMV tomorrow and take the test. The CDL practice tests here were pretty sweet. I used them extensively.

Once I get the endorsement, I am going to get together with this friend and talk about the next step. I know I will need a refresher, at the very least. I am hopeful that perhaps I can get on with a company that will help share the cost, or even repay me for all of the refresher training. Talking with my old school, he offers a refresher that includes some driving, some backing and some other stuff for $1200. I can swing that, but still hope the company might help out here.

Anyway, nothing more to speak of at the moment, but I am getting very excited to finally try this out. My wife has already expressed an interest in someday riding along to see some of the country. She is Thai, and has only seen Nevada, where we live, and some of California. She very much wants to see more of this great country.

I am hoping to start with regional (Western) runs, and maybe someday, a couple years from now, go O/O if it tuns out we like it and want to pursue it full speed ahead.

Finding this site was a godsend. I am a member of that 'other' big trucking forum, but there is so much negativity, it is hard to maintain a positive attitude there. Glad to have found this place. Good job Brett!

More tomorrow after I get my HAZMAT... Michael

Hey MadManMike!

Listen, make sure before you commit to taking any sort of refresher courses that you Apply For Truck Driving Jobs and get some pre-hires that will accept the training you're looking into. Most companies will have different requirements for the course they'd like you to take and a different set of schools they'll accept students from. So don't take a course assuming someone will hire you afterward. Apply to a bunch of companies for pre-hires and speak with each of them that are willing to hire you. Find out what they'll require as far as training goes.

I am hoping to start with regional (Western) runs

Another great way to go would be speaking with the Company-Sponsored Training Programs. Several of them, including Swift Transportation have options for getting home on weekends or Western Regional fleets. If you're looking for regional work you'll want to look mostly at dry van and flatbed companies. Rarely do refrigerated companies have regional fleets or weekend home time options.

But the company-sponsored programs would be a great way to get your refresher course and a job all in one package will little or no money out of pocket. Most of them will require some sort of tuition repayment, but it's worth it. So that's another avenue to explore.

...and maybe someday, a couple years from now, go O/O if it tuns out we like it and want to pursue it full speed ahead.

Oh you don't want to do that!!!

We always recommend that people stay far away from owning or leasing trucks. The economics of being a truck owner are miserable. The average profit margin in the trucking industry is 3%. Which means IF you're able to do better than half of the owner operators in the country you'll be able to squeeze out 3% more income than you would if you were simply a company driver. And one of the Golden Rules about starting a business is never start a business to make the same amount of money you were making as an employee doing the same thing. You're taking on a ton of risk and a mountain of extra work for absolutely nothing. The risk/reward ratio is awful.

So hopefully you won't go that route but you said you'd wait a few years so I think you'll be fine. You'll do your research and realize that owning or leasing trucks is a fool's game. Let the other knuckleheads take the risk and beat their heads against the wall while you kick back, relax, drive their beautiful trucks, collect your solid paychecks, and then go home and relax on your time off.

Thanks Brett. Will give it some time to see what my friend can come up with, job wise. If nothing comes from that, I am already looking at some companies to apply to.

The HAZMAT exam here in Nevada was a complete joke. Not a difficult question in the bunch. The toughest question was why you needed to know the outage on a tanker. I was so stressed worrying about it, but then got there. You have to answer 24 out of 30 correctly, and when I answered the first 24 correctly, the test ended, and I was done. Relief and feelings of overstudying.

Contacted my friend to let her husband know that I was HAZMAT/Tanker/Doubles-triples certified, so now maybe he can put out some feelers on a job.

If nothing comes of it, I am seriously considering Melton. I like the thought of flatbedding for a couple reasons. First and foremost, is the exercise. I am 52 and don't get nearly the cardio workouts I need, so I feel that tarping and untarping will get me a little workout, and get me in and out of the cab a little more that just driving drop and hook boxes.

I was only considering O/O in the future to get some control of where you get to drive. Like I said earlier, my wife really wants to ride along at some point and see this great country, Just figured we would have a little more control over destinations if we were the 'boss'. Maybe I am wrong, I have been wrong before.

I want to approach my career in reverse from most folks. I want to start local or regional. Get my year or 2 in, then go OTR with my wife and travel around. Not sure this is workable, but we will see.

She will continue to work for the time being to help get us thru the lean times that all new drivers seen to go thru. So hometime from driving local or regional would be great. Then when I am comfortable and experienced, she can quit and join me on the road.

A master plan, for sure, and probably open for changes, but that is where we are at the moment. Cant wait to get started!

Thanks for reading, Michael

Just figured we would have a little more control over destinations if we were the 'boss'. Maybe I am wrong, I have been wrong before.

Interestingly enough, having control over where and when you haul freight is probably the #1 reason people lease or buy trucks. It's then the #1 thing you find out the hard way - in the end, you really have very little control over anything. Sure, you can refuse loads. Sure, you can park it whenever you want to. But at the same time your company isn't obligated to give you enough freight to cover your expenses. They can slowly bleed you dry if they want to. And that's exactly what happens if you start refusing freight, parking it too often, and generally make life difficult on the company you're leased to. So in the end, you really have to go along with things a lot more than you would expect as an owner operator or lease driver. I guess the way you could look at it is this - the trucking industry gives company drivers plenty of rope to hang themselves with. Not only will they give owner operators and lease drivers all the rope they could possible need but they'll even custom-fit the noose for you and push you off the platform.

I want to approach my career in reverse from most folks. I want to start local or regional. Get my year or 2 in, then go OTR with my wife and travel around. Not sure this is workable, but we will see.

You should have no problem finding regional freight that can get you home on weekends straight out of school. Research the various Trucking Companies and see what's out there. Flatbed and dry van will give you the best opportunities. Your reasons for picking flatbed are just fine but you can definitely get plenty of exercise on your own pulling a dry van. So if there are better opportunities in dry van that might be the way to go. But look around and see what you can find. Every once in a while a new driver will pull a rabbit out of his hat and land a local job straight out of school. It's pretty rare, but it happens.

Just want to add a quick thing here. If you are lucky enough to land a local job as a city driver or maybe stay close enough to home within your state and you do not cross state lines then when ya want to go otr most companies do not count any of that as experience cause you did not cross state lines. Dumb I know but that is the way it is. Something to remember for future reference.

Ok. An update on what is going on. My friend had a contact at the local CLThomas depot. They supply a lot of the fuel, oil and gas to Vegas and surrounding areas.

His only available position at this time is traveling driver in the West Texas (Midland) oil fracking fields. The job starts with 3 weeks of training, 21 days in a row, 12 to 15 hours a day. Filling the fuel tanks of the pressure pump rigs every 2 hours or so.

Requires a CDL , but the trucks are mostly Bobtails, 10 wheeled tankers. I talked to another employee just starting, he put in 110 hours his first week. Job pays $16/hour to start. With time and a half over 40/week. Plus $43/day 'away from home' pay. So, a 'net pay of about $19-$20/hour.

I did the math, and for three weeks at 100 hours/week, the paycheck was, well, SCARY.

I understand what I am getting into, although, maybe you think differently. It's some hellaciously long days, but followed by nice days off. After the initial 3 week training segment, we get 7 days off, then we go to a 14 on, 7 off schedule.

Company pays for flying us out and back, all expenses covered.

Living conditions are supposedly private room with a shared bathroom (2 to a bathroom). 3 meals a day provided, room is free, the only recurring expenses I can find are hygiene products if needed. Soap, shampoo, toothpaste, etc. I need to confirm, but I am also told there is WiFi in the 'man camps'.

If man camp space is unavailable, they will provide a hotel room and pay us $30/day per diem for food.

I am doing the drug test tomorrow, and the background and results of drug test should be completed by Thursday, so it is possible we will fly out by the 26th.

Scary and exciting all at the same time. Again, doing the math gives some scary numbers, but this is a way to get my feet wet with a company that is HUGE in the fuel field. My goal is to get one of the runs that delivers fuel to the mines about 4.5 hours north of here. A dedicated fuel run that gets me home every nite. And the pay is pretty dang good.

Michael