As for starting off with dry van, that’s also good advice. I personally started with a reefer company. I’m glad I did, since reefer is a bit less prone to economic fluctuations (people always have to eat). My miles have been good, but we’re in full produce season right now. Come this fall, I’ll probably be sitting quite a bit. The downside to reefer is dealing with grocery warehouses. These grocery warehouses have a very bad reputation with truck drivers, and for good reason. There is a lot of sitting and waiting, refused loads, and just overall aggrivation dealing with them. If you go with a dry van company, most of your freight will probably be drop and hook (drop a full trailer, pick up an empty) where as I rarely get a drop and hook load. I usually have to wait for them to load or unload the trailer. I wouldn’t say driving reefer is harder than dry van, just more aggrivating due to the customers we serve.

Anyway, good luck to you, and feel free to comment again with follow up questions or feel free to email me as well. Good luck!!

Mike

I think the best companies to start out at overall are the larger dry-van companies – Swift, Schneider, Werner, US Xpress, etc. The larger refrigerated companies would come next – CR England, Prime, Central Refrigerated, etc.

Pay for a student first coming out of school that is going out on the road with a trainer is pretty low everywhere you go, but it doesn’t last long at most places – usually a month or so. But no matter where you go you can probably expect to make about $35k your first year, and probably $45k-$50k your second year, and you will stay in the $50k range or so after that. It depends on how hard you want to run, how good your dispatcher/load planner are, and how the economy is doing, amongst other things. But I wouldn’t be concerned with the training pay – it doesn’t last long, and the training you’re getting on the road with an experienced driver is priceless.

Also, please never think about regional or over-the-road trucking the way you would an hourly job. It’s not – it’s a lifestyle. I’ve heard tons of drivers complaining that if you calculate an hourly wage from the hours you’re putting in, you’re making about $10/hour as a driver – and it’s not worth it. Well, for a long time I lived in my truck, had almost no bills, and was making $45k-$55k per year. I was able to set aside about $1500/month in my savings account. Try doing that with a $10/hr job! So trucking is a lifestyle and you can expect to make $35k your first year, and about $45k-50k your second year, and a slow increase after that. But the hours are very long and the lifestyle is not for everyone. But if you’re cut out for it, trucking is a very rewarding career with an amazing lifestyle.

Every decision we make in life is a compromise – and trucking is no different. There’s a lot of give and take when it comes to what you get out of it, and what you give up to do it.

I am wondering if you recommend any particular trucking company to start with? C.R. England has a program for starters, as do other companies, but the pay seems very low. CR England told me about $400 a week…but that’s basically for 12-15 hours of work per day from what I understand.
Is that typical for a beginner, or is CR England just not paying well?

Any help you can provide would be greatly appreciated.
Hope your still enjoying the “job”!!

Thanks,
Jon

And, I hated that you were out on the road during your birthday, but hey…as we get older, who wants to celebrate birthdays anymore! HA HA!

We will see you when you get home!! DEFINITELY!!

LOVE YOU!

Your FAVORITE Sister
Lisa

I completely agree with your job description. I said in one blog this was like camping. I should have said that this was like being married to your job and having a personal 24 hour a day relationship with it. I would never have imagined it to be this way. Keep up the good work.

As for your example of the office people or anyone who works away from being a full time steering wheel holder—I have told many the same thing you just did. All agreed they would not like that and its wrong for a employer to treat their workers that way. I said “drivers in trucking are treated this way everyday and no one seems to care about that.”

I also do not understand the comments that trucking (or travel for any job) is for single people as they can travel. (meaning we have zero life of friends/church/family and etc…) Trucking/travel is for anyone who wants to to that.