Comments By Chris

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I studied and studied for my permit, I was nervous, pulling my hair, poking my eyes, stayed up till 3 AM when I had to get up at 7AM this morning doing more practice testing.

Went to DMV today and got a 100% on all three tests. I will be looking to get endorsements later, but for now i'm interested in one company, Melton Truck Lines.

I wrote a check for $3995 to save $1000 by not financing and of course, saving on interest too. I will be starting CDL school on May 1st every weekend until I'm ready to go take the test. The guy said he tries to get people as ready as possible in 8 weeks but if they aren't ready he keeps training them until they are with no extra charge. The school also offers job placement whether you'd a student there or not for free, free refresher courses for life if you went to school through them originally.

Is anyone able to tell me the average miles a driver gets at Melton? I know the first 3 months out of school a driver earns .41 a mile then .42 till a year then .48 after a year experience.

Income loss is my main concern in the first year. I'm supporting myself, my lady and my son completely.

You don't have tonrun your clock all the way down to make money.

Here's my pay breakdown which is going to be pretty close to swift pay:

first year pay

Not bad! I made roughly $4200 gross a week self-employed right now, sometimes was sometimes more just depends. My biggest thing is my gross just can not go below 3400 a month. I am 23 with a lady and a 1 year old son. Thank you for the link!

It's an interesting perception here.

Many folks get into trucking as a 2nd or even 3rd career - or running the last decade or so before actually sitting on the porch and retiring.

Most "trade school type" jobs - start at WAY LOWER for entry-level/journeyman type work. Many others pretty much TOP OUT at what trucking STARTS OUT for an entry-level first year recent grad type job.

That's not too shabby.

You're grossing $4,200 A WEEK (as in $218K a YEAR +/-)? Any particular reason why you're bailing on a self-employed scenario, to make 1/4 of what are are currently making?

Not being mean - just curious? There's a lot of reasons why folks jump out of careers that are more profitable and into trucking. BURNOUT is the one of the main reasons we see here.

Rick

I meant to say a month, and there isn't an edit button :/ lol! However, I am bailing on my current career path because of the hurt that it brings. I am an in-home healthcare giver, I work 8 am to 10 pm, 5 to 6 days a week with whatever client I am with. I build relationships with these people and it's been really really hard for me when it's their time to go. It wasn't so hard at first, but after you've lost 20 of the clients you've built strong bond with it becomes very hard. On my off days, I'm not really off mentally, I'm not there with my lady and child, my mind is constantly racing, it was never that way when I worked in a straight forward job where life loss wasn't a regular factor.

Watching people come to health is great and full-filling in the time, but also watching other degrade slowly and sometimes miserably is terrible and heart-breaking.

It's not that I'm not mentally tough, I am very much so mentally tough, I'm the guy who never felt the urge to cry at any family members funeral, the guy who could show empathy without feeling like I owe anything.

I look at trucking and see a way to have lots of responsibility, have the peace and alone time I need, but also actually having my mind there when I am with my lady and child.

It's not about the money 100%, it's more about a life change. Something that's completely out of the realm of anything i've ever done while being able to escape the mental stress that a job such as caregiving/in home healthcare brings.

Hopefully I make sense.

- Chris

You don't have tonrun your clock all the way down to make money.

Here's my pay breakdown which is going to be pretty close to swift pay:

first year pay

Not bad! I made roughly $4200 gross a week self-employed right now, sometimes was sometimes more just depends. My biggest thing is my gross just can not go below 3400 a month. I am 23 with a lady and a 1 year old son. Thank you for the link!

I meant to say a month.. Lol

You don't have tonrun your clock all the way down to make money.

Here's my pay breakdown which is going to be pretty close to swift pay:

first year pay

Not bad! I made roughly $4200 gross a week self-employed right now, sometimes was sometimes more just depends. My biggest thing is my gross just can not go below 3400 a month. I am 23 with a lady and a 1 year old son. Thank you for the link!

Chris, your credit score has little to do with driver school financing. Some companies do pay your tuition, but you still will be in a contract. The contract time, usually one year, is nothing to worry about. You need the road experience to move to another company, anyway. Besides, I hope you have done enough research to decide on your "right" company at the start.

I also started out "broke", went to Swift's school and after two years driving, still happy to be with Swift. Do not worry about a difference of pennies per mile. The company benefits you are looking for are more important.

Finally, private messages are not used on Trucking Truth. The best way to get the best answers here is to post them so many people can put in their two cents, instead of you taking one person's opinion as gospel.

Thank you everyone for the feedback so far! I was looking at swift, I am willing to run until the clock won't let me run anymore, I've always been that way.. With everything I've always done, what can a first year driver expect to take home with swift like that?

Up until this point I have studied all the section in my states manual and taken several practice tests and I'm ready for the CDL permit exam. However, something in my gut told me check my credit score as I've been planning to attend a local school and go for Melton as they are by far my favorite flatbed comapny after speaking to several drivers and contemplating this move for a few years. My credit has always been great but with having lost my health insurance through an old job and having to pay $400 a month now under self employment, I have been having terrible financial troubles even making almost $48,000 in a year. I am getting back on track I've gone 2 months straight without missing a single bill for even a couple days woohoo, I have been working! But my credit monitoring through my fico is showing my equifax at 558, my transunion at 708, and my experian at 574.

Should I wait till I get my score up in the 640's then go to school or should I find a training company and go that route to get myself better off? I will have personal loan paid off next month and a credit card paid off in 3 months of $300 payments. My payment is only $35 but I'm paying $300 to get it down. I just paid an account that I didn't even know existed that was 120 days past do for $96..

Rules & Regs Driving Safety Transporting Cargo Safely Air Brakes and Combination Vehicles

These are the main ones you will need for a class A CDL. I would suggest you do them all so you keep all your options open. Also, I don't think you can get a CDL without the air brake part.

Apparently I need some review, I went back and found that it's an L restriction on a Class A CDL to not have air brakes on Virginia.

Rules & Regs Driving Safety Transporting Cargo Safely Air Brakes and Combination Vehicles

These are the main ones you will need for a class A CDL. I would suggest you do them all so you keep all your options open. Also, I don't think you can get a CDL without the air brake part.

Well that's a duezy because I need a flipping class a CDL to pull my horse trailer and don't have air brakes.... Has to be a loop somewhere seeing that I'm required a CDL a and don't plan on driving a semi...

I have been studying for my CDL permit, I have gone through the rules and regulations and 5 pages away from being done on the driving safely section.

It's quite fun going through studying all of this! I will be driving an f450 with a gooseneck here, so I air brakes can not be tested on unfortunately.

I know I need combination vehicle, logbook, and cargo securement.

Am I missing anything that is pertinent?

~ Chris