Comments By Space Truckin

Errol (and others!) thanks for the helpful replies!

1. Pay. The CPM varies a bit between companies. Keep this in mind: If you see less pay (not counting road training) maybe you get more benefits, like a TV and APU. If you see more pay, maybe youll be working harder, like a Dollar store route (a killer!) or flatbed (all that tarping and strapping). Finally, for the ads that say OTR company drivers make "$60,000", look for something like "(top 10% of our drivers)" nearby. As a rookie, you won't be in that top 10%.

2. Commitment: If you go to a company school, they do want to be paid some way for their services. So, instead of shelling out $4K of your own (just for a sense of freedom), do your research now and choose a company you may be comfortable with on the long term. These people who regret a choice either didn't do the due diligence first, or maybe they are the loosers who will end up blaming the company for their own failures.

3. Road training: Sue nailed it. Doctors don't start working on patients once they get that diploma. Pilots don't fly 777's right out of flight school. Truckers don't guide an 80,000lb hunk of metal down the freeway right after getting their own CDL. You will get the finishing touches, and your confidence, riding and driving with an experienced trainer. (as for trainers, see the bottom part of #2 above, about what losers do.)

Read the links Scott put up. Especially the first two for the Trucker Lifestyle.

As for me, I went to Swift's academy. All the company schools are high pressure, and there is frustration for you get over, but it's worth it to be able to hit the road and see the country. And remember, thousands of newbies manage to survive truck school every week. You just might be able to yourself.

1.I don't really care about TV, haven't watched that garbage in years, much prefer reading (including getting on the internet, where you can learn dang near anything you might want to, it's a wonderful thing!). APU I do however care about, in fact IMO any company that doesn't provide one, well that to me says a lot how they think about providing some creature comforts for the people out here busting their hump to make them money. OTOH, I am getting into this to make money also myself, and as you say if it's a tradeoff, then maybe that's something I should reconsider. It's just that, in Florida where I live, I know you cannot get restful sleep in this very hot and humid environment without A/C. I'm sure the reverse is true "up north" in the cold, although I suppose you could just have more blankets, up to a point. Lack of restful sleep (when you are able to get it) seems to me like it would cause a lot of other problems with your attitude potentially as well as your ability to deal with situations, as well as your ability to focus, which affects everything and of course safety most of all. So therefore, yes, restful sleep and creature comforts are very important to me, not for selfish reasons but because it seems to me that they would be necessary for a safe and productive life on the road.

But like I said, I haven't even been to trucking school yet, so what do I know. :)

2.And I get that - I mean, company needs to recoup their investment. I suppose it's the tradeoff that I'm looking at. Also you are basing your cost-benefit analysis on a for profit CDL mill charging $4k for school. I am lucky to have (what appears to be) a very good technical school near me (PTEC in St. Petersburg) which I have read nothing but good things about, and who have very high student:teacher ratio, 320 hr course, and all that good stuff, for only $2,400. My understanding is that there may even be some grants, or at worst case, very low / no interest loans available to me, which I am still looking into.

3.Good point. I suppose that's reasonable.

I am working my way through those links now, but I already read about the trucker lifestyle and I think I will like it a lot actually. I realize some of the things I am saying in these posts might come off as sounding impatient, but really I'm not. Like I said I understand you will have to roll with stuff some times. A couple articles I have read seem to confirm that some of these companies almost are testing you to see what you are made of. I get that, I had my own business for 20 years in a tough line of work and I would do the same thing to the new guys, mess with them a bit (on purpose) to see if they could handle it. Most couldn't, but there always was a "method to my madness."

I suppose it boils down to just which companies will hire noobs, and what their pay rate is, other bennies perhaps (like APU etc.), what their policies are about things like bringing food with you or maybe a porta potty, and finally how much mandatory "training" will be required.

Having said all of that, I still get the sense that some companies take advantage of new people by having long mandatory "training" periods. But then again, I'm a real fast learner, much more than most people. In short, I think that the training period should depend on the individual. If I'm doing very well, and picking things up fast, and can prove I don't need to be babysat, that I know what I am doing and I can be safe, then I should be sent out on my own sooner rather than later.

(cont'd)

First, Welcome to Trucking Truth. It seems you are off to a good start by doing research. Don't rush into this. There are pros and cons to both of your options. There are plenty of companies that offer training. I suggest you look at the following.

• Truck Driver's Career Guide
• Brett's Book: The Raw Truth About Trucking (free online version)
• High Road Training Program

Paid CDL Training Programs

• Trucker's Career Guide: Choosing A Truck Driving School
• Article Category: Choosing A Truck Driving School
• Forum Topics Tagged "Choosing A Truck Driving School"

That should help you out. You can also put questions or key words in the search at the top of the forums. Good luck.

I must confess, I feel like a bit of an idiot now, what with you guys taking the time to write so many good articles / FAQs (many about the very topics I was asking about) and I hadn't found them yet!

Thanks for the info! I'm working through those now.

Hi everybody! Nice group you have here!

I am thinking about getting into trucking, been doing a lot of research and reading online. A while back I read the blog of an older married team who said that you should pay your own way through truck driving school, if you could swing it, because that way you would not be beholden to the company who gave you the "free" schooling, for up to one year, and at potentially relatively low pay. Which seemed to make sense to me, given that TANSTAAFL and all that...

But then I've been reading on this site, that some people have actually had really good experiences, going through Prime in particular, and that Prime also pays 40 something cpm right off the bat, even to newbies. Which sounded pretty decent to me!

So I went to their site to get further details, it seems even if you go to them with your own CDL after graduating from your own driving school, that they still want you to do "training" for about 30000 miles. Which made me think, well then why bother paying my own way through school, spending 5 weeks, etc. only to be starting off at almost the same place as someone who was starting from scratch with them? I mean, why bother? I would still have to put in the 30k miles anyway (which sounds like about 4 months worth of driving? -- and at reduced pay no less, which seems like a bit of a scam, if I'm being honest - sorry!).

So I suppose my questions are these:

1.Are there any other companies out there who start rookie drivers out at decent pay in the 40 cph range (particularly if I have shown the initiative to pay my own way through a proper school*, and graduate with 1,000 miles behind the wheel already, all TWIC, passport, endorsements, etc. already taken care of, as well as honors / letter of recommendation from school, etc...)?

2.Am I going to end up having to do a lot of driving at low pay initially no matter who I go and work for? Is that just the way it works in this business? Or are there perhaps other companies who might be a better opportunity / rate of pay / shorter "training/trial" period for someone who is a newbie driver, but already paid their own way through proper school?

If you didn't pick up on it already, I am no slouch and have no doubts in my abilities to learn the material nor drive the truck. My concerns are, how much am I going to be taken advantage of by greedy corp (i.e., for how long) before I start to make decent money?

I hope that doesn't come off as being entitled or having a bad attitude, because I am actually neither of those things, and would expect to need to demonstrate that I can be responsible, solid, dependable, and yet still hustle and be willing to take on the miles/work, take care of the customer and all that good stuff. I also understand that doo doo occurs some times and everything will not go your way all the time, that's just the nature of the beast and routing and scheduling etc. What I am talking about is corps that have it built the structure of their business model to take advantage of new people. Or is that just everywhere?

Any advice to a noob would be appreciated!

* http://pcsb.org/Page/6956

Been following this a little on road dog radio. OODIA is fighting this pretty hard.

As well they should be. Along with any other trade groups.

This is a perfect example of another stupid law that is not needed, and will not lead to any more safety nor prevent the loss of any life. It's just more expansion of the nanny state.