Looking Into Trucking And Wanted Some Opinions On My Idea For Starting In The Industry...

Hello everyone, I'm a 28 year old guy who has thrown his hat into motorcross, powersports mechanical repair, Information Technology, Food industry, Factory work and oil field related jobs.

I'm looking into getting into trucking as an actual proper career as those previous forms of employment never really felt fulfilling, Motorcross was too competitive with high risks of injury but fun as hell, being the powersports mechanic netted me 16-17 dollars an hour on average for back breaking work, In IT I was making around 28 an hour but the jobs were so absolutely mind numbingly stupid and tedious, I don't have to explain why I left the Food industry, Factory work hours were too long on my feet/like 12 hours straight pretty much as they were 13 hour shifts, and the oil field work I did was so boring I was falling asleep sitting in a tanker truck just waiting for something to happen half the time, was getting paid 21 an hour though so it was 'easy' money.

I'm looking for something fulfilling in life where I can make absolute bank and explore the country to see how each state feels for when I decide to settle down somewhere one day, I've lived in 5 states thus far in my life and none of them felt like 'home' really...

My idea is to get in with a trucking company for training, then hop to another company after my training/contract period has ended, and drive full time OTR so I don't need a residence, and that's an important part for me. I want to store everything I own at my mothers house in a shed I'll purchase, have my residence set to her address, and live OTR in the truck. The way I see it is I'll be saving TONS of money doing it this way since I won't need a car payment, utility payment, rent payment, home repairs, ect.. The questions I have are as follows..

-Can I bring my wife with me in the truck for long hauls? She is very interested in the concept and wants to 'get out there' as much as I do. -What can I realistically expect for pay my first year or two (Swift says around 66k for reefer which I am going for to start), I am quick to pick things up, have manual transmission experience, have driven large vehicles in the past, and have mechanical aptitude. I see some people saying 32k a year starting and others saying if you break your ass driving and getting at it you can make upwards of 70ish thousand realistically, little less or little more. -What would be a good specialization to move into for trucking, such as hazmat for example, or should I just attempt to get as many endorsements as I can, I'm thinking Tanker longterm.. -When you 'go home for your week/2 weeks after long months', can you just go somewhere else in the country for that time with the truck instead? Do YOU pay for the gas to do that or does the companies gas card cover this expense? This would give me and my wife chances to explore different states to move to later. -What are some of the better companies to train into, I hear schneider is good but the pay is AWEFUL, Swift is 'okay' but there is a stigma, ect... -Any other things I should be looking into for this? I'd be looking to do about 2 1/2 to 3 month stints at a time since I am on life-critical medication and currently can only get a 3 month supply at a time for it.

Thanks you all from the bottom of my heart for your wisdom and experience you may be willing to impart upon me, in this world we live in today I have 'life experience' but still feel so lost on how to actually make good money and not want to close my eyes into oncoming traffic, I feel getting to actually be with my wife more often than not since she currently lives a state away due to medical reasons with her family, would give me a lot of peace and being young with someone who wants to travel with me/save the same money I listed before like rent/utilities/ect make up for the fact she will not be employed at the time of me working for the next 4-5 years. We've both agreed she kinda 'can't' work for the most part, and I really don't want her to if I'm being honest, I want her to focus more on us and not get used to employment full time since we want to have a kid in 5-6 years when I transfer from OTR to a local driver. Thanks again!

(Been reading through the career guide, good information thus far but would like some more personalized responses and experiences, hence the questions above haha.)

I'll just touch on one part you mentioned and the others can give more eloquent responses to this and more. I recommend getting all endorsements you can. You'll already be in the studying mode for the CLP so just add in the other parts. I have my Hazmat endorsement. So far I've paid more to have the endorsement than I've earned by having it, but still glad I have it. It's gotten me long loads I otherwise wouldn't have gotten. It's gotten me a load home I otherwise wouldn't have gotten. Same with tanker endorsement. Some van loads require it and same story as above. Also, you never know where you'll want to end up as you learn more about all this industry has to offer. Good luck and buckle up, it's quite the adventure!

Theres a lot here so i will get into it more when I stop. Yes, some companies will let you bring your wife. Yes, many companies will allow you to take home time all over the country

No, you don't get one to two weeks off. Most companies do a earn 1 day for every week out... but some will limit how many days you can take off straight. Example... prime only allows 5 days off "officially". prime will let you take up to 29 days off, but you need to turn in your truck and get another upon return. Therefore this wouldn't be every home time. As you earn time, ut may be possible to make other arrangments, but it deoends on hoe good yiu are.

Why would you change companies after a year? I have been here 8.5 years. Old School has been at Knight for what seems like forever. Lots of us stay at one company.

Theres a lot here so i will get into it more when I stop. Yes, some companies will let you bring your wife. Yes, many companies will allow you to take home time all over the country

No, you don't get one to two weeks off. Most companies do a earn 1 day for every week out... but some will limit how many days you can take off straight. Example... prime only allows 5 days off "officially". prime will let you take up to 29 days off, but you need to turn in your truck and get another upon return. Therefore this wouldn't be every home time. As you earn time, ut may be possible to make other arrangments, but it deoends on hoe good yiu are.

Why would you change companies after a year? I have been here 8.5 years. Old School has been at Knight for what seems like forever. Lots of us stay at one company.

Was told by an O/O that I should look into new companies and new prospects every year to two years for better pay growth since good drivers are in high demand and as my experience goes up with safe miles I could get more by swapping instead of trying to grind out the promotion/raise ladder. Just what I was told at least.

Absolutely wrong. As you earn your respect, you grow in power. Companies want to make good drivers happy and keep them. By changing companies, you constantly have to keep starting from the bottom and proving yourself all over again. However, when you stay at one company and make yourself known with amazing peformance, more and more perks get handed to you.

Example... i make 19cpm more plus bonuses than someone just coming into prime. Why? Without trying to sound arrogant.. i am THAT good and thry know it.

The owner and vice president of my mega carrier know me by name and sight and approach me at events. Make tge company look good and get everything you want.

Heres a nugget for you... some owner ops are such because no one else will hire them. I know several drivers who had to buy their own trucks and run under their own authority because all they didnwas argue with dispatch or hop from company to company.

My thoughts on this post were eerily like Kersey’s. Lol

What she said cuts right to the point. I might add the obvious, that you haven’t even got started and thusly don’t even know enough to chart your course. It’s a step by step process and like Kersey said, you may like your first company and stay with them. Get the preconceived ideas out of your head because as you progress you will develop a plan as you experience what you like and what you don’t like.

And be very skeptical of the Owner Operators, as was stated. They are a very independent lot and usually think they are much superior to company drivers. But they flame out just as company drivers can if they get ahead of themselves. (Except PJ, lol)

And when the bragging O/O's or lease drivers try and brag on how much big bucks they make, ask to see their tax returns lol. Ya won't even get a peek, just excuses lol......The occupation, is like any other, you get out of it, what you put in. The grass is seldom greener on the other side of the fence, like some like to believe. Just let all the BS go thru 1 ear, and out the other from the other wanna-be "super truckers"

Absolutely wrong. As you earn your respect, you grow in power. Companies want to make good drivers happy and keep them. By changing companies, you constantly have to keep starting from the bottom and proving yourself all over again. However, when you stay at one company and make yourself known with amazing peformance, more and more perks get handed to you.

Example... i make 19cpm more plus bonuses than someone just coming into prime. Why? Without trying to sound arrogant.. i am THAT good and thry know it.

The owner and vice president of my mega carrier know me by name and sight and approach me at events. Make tge company look good and get everything you want.

Heres a nugget for you... some owner ops are such because no one else will hire them. I know several drivers who had to buy their own trucks and run under their own authority because all they didnwas argue with dispatch or hop from company to company.

You know you bringing that up actually makes me question something about starting with Swift.. I wanted to go for about 2 1/2 to 3 months at a time stints out on the road then have 12-13 days off before going back out for another 3 months. This would make it really easy for me to get my medication delivery scheduling set up and keep track of it. But swift told me that they only do 4 days off at a time maximum since they 'lose money on the truck' if it sits for longer than that, and they don't /really/ offer extended time off. If you are saying that Prime allows you to return the truck, stay on payrole for insurance, and have 2 weeks off at a time, then that puts my interest MASSIVLY into swing for Prime specifically. Honestly I didn't even think of Prime as a carrier to start with, I thought it was mainly like Swift, Schneider, Hunt, and King that do the onboarding and training of new people. To be honest whenever I saw a prime truck prior (I wasn't REALLY looking at them, but still) the truck and trailers always looked kinda... Run down? I didn't even realize they were a massive carrier, maybe just did east-coast stuff.

And when the bragging O/O's or lease drivers try and brag on how much big bucks they make, ask to see their tax returns lol. Ya won't even get a peek, just excuses lol......The occupation, is like any other, you get out of it, what you put in. The grass is seldom greener on the other side of the fence, like some like to believe. Just let all the BS go thru 1 ear, and out the other from the other wanna-be "super truckers"

My thoughts on this post were eerily like Kersey’s. Lol

What she said cuts right to the point. I might add the obvious, that you haven’t even got started and thusly don’t even know enough to chart your course. It’s a step by step process and like Kersey said, you may like your first company and stay with them. Get the preconceived ideas out of your head because as you progress you will develop a plan as you experience what you like and what you don’t like.

And be very skeptical of the Owner Operators, as was stated. They are a very independent lot and usually think they are much superior to company drivers. But they flame out just as company drivers can if they get ahead of themselves. (Except PJ, lol)

Yeah honestly my biggest fear with the thought of being an O/O would be the risk of downtime with the truck, I would ASSUME just based off thinking about it in my head since Diesel Mechanics are in short supply, you may have a down time of around a month to 3 at a time depending on what's going on. Their tax bracket is going to be WAY higher but they also do get more tax breaks for business expenses, the fuel expenses, maintenance that THEY have to do even while on the road (I bet these are the guys who leave 6 whole used oil jug containers of old oil in the Walmart parking lots), and have to worry about their own insurance rates which must be sky high.

I find the company-driver perks personally outweigh the O/O perks since O/O truckers are pulling 100+ hours a week if you include all the back-end crap they have to do nonstop, it SEEMS like there is no 'off' switch for that kinda life unless they decide to take 3 months off at a time like the one O/O I was talking to explained to me.

You must have Prime Inc confused with Amazon Prime. Prime Inc has awesome trucks and trailers. We just talked about how we even have custom decals themes like transformers and datr wars... at cost of course. Amazon Prime is a lot of owner ops.with older equipment.

If you read what i said about turning the truck in... you would see i said it isnt possible every home time. It takes a lot of time and man power to clean and reassign trucks. But for instance.. my mom died. So i took a month off and traded my truck in.

When it comes to your medicine... are u saying u need a doctor visit or u need to go home or what? Prime has a doctors office in the terminal. And most companies have a mail room u can get things shipped to u. I am not trying to get personal... but why fo u need 2 weeks off for meds? The company legally has to get u home for a doctor. But not 2 weeks.

Honestly... u are trying to make plans in an industry you know nothing about. 3 months OTR is exhausting... even for experienced drivers. I know people who came in here saying "me and my wife are going to run 7000 miles a week doing all drop and hook , and im gonna get my CDl by 9/15, finish training by 11/15 then be running with my wife by 11/16. Didnt happened. No where near it.