Comments By New Englander

New Englander, you're a lazy man looking for a gravy train. Yet somehow you wound up in one of the most demanding professions on the planet. As if that wasn't bad enough, now you're considering starting your own business as a lease driver in one of the most competitive, cut throat businesses on the planet.

You're not just barking up the wrong tree. You're in the wrong forest on the wrong continent. The gravy train ain't nowhere to be found around here.

Uh... dude, this is a job where I can dress how I want, and the requirements are as follows:

A. don't crash B. drive and listen to music C. don't crash D. no tickets E. get the load there, preferably on-time F. don't quit

And I've been making 900 dollars a week.

To me, this is the gravy train.

If I had gone into teaching, I'd be stuck taking multicultural propaganda classes, dealing with bratty students and snotty parents, wearing a cheap suit everyday, and keeping my rather non-leftist political opinions to myself. Oh! And you actually have to go thru a whole interview process for a job because the bureaucratic obstacles are so steep and the market isn't there. Also there's that whole 30k for a masters degree thing and I just felt burned out and turned off to bureaucracy after getting my bachelor's... dealing w/ sjw professors and navigating curricula just took the fun out of teaching. Shame too, since my mom and great grandma taught back when it was less... insane.

What other industry is so desperate for workers, you get hired w/ hardly any interview process? this is a sellers market, and us drivers r the sellers!

that's rare in this day and age...

The interview for the masters program basically had the lady ranting and chewing me out when I said I'd rather get certified to teach spanish instead of french because there is more demand for spanish teachers. something about, "to hell with the ecobomics just follow ur dreamz!".

The interview for the trucking job was, "You have a college degree and no criminal background... hired, you start orientation monday!"

Supply and demand, and an enjoyment of driving down the highway led me into trucking.

What other job let's you admire the sheer economic intermodal POWER of Northern New Jersey as u drive down the turnpike, watching planes fly overhead, trains rumble down the tracks, ships come into port, surrounded by hundreds of other trucks all carrying quantities of freight that would have made emperors weep in ages past? This job puts you at the center of the universe, and lets you literally watch the economy tick. and, you get paid a decent wage for it!

others hate new jersey and chris christie kissing babies, I respect it.

still though, part-timing it, or finding a way to get longer stretches of hometimes would be nice.

WOW! Why not drive for UPS, FedEx, etc. Hourly pay. Home every night. Anything else other than leasing with 6.5 whole months under your belt. Shoot, you can drive for Uber & make that paycheck every week. Like was said earlier, those expense aren't part time. Sign that lease agreement & now you'll have to make all your expenses first & then work to make your measly 700 a week. Your "cynical safety guy" said you can make that amount, he didn't say anything about all the expenses involved because you didn't ask anything about them.

One thing about point fingers (calling him cynical), there's always 4 fingers pointing back at you! Seriously, he called you lazy! There's tons of threads on this subject, there's blog posts, there's a free book by the owner of this site... did you try any of that before asking? Of course not. You wouldn't be asking if you did. Take yourself out of this thread, re-read your post as if it weren't you & see what advise you'd give yourself. I'd love to hear your response!

Oh he is cynical! Duh, just like I'm lazy :) That's not a bad thing imho.

I did ask him about numbers, but he doesn't have specifics. I would need to ask the general manager about that AND I can't ask the GM right away because "it never came from me", ie if the GM finds out that safety told me to ask safety will get chewed out, so I need to wait...

Let me say that putting down 40-100 g's on a used truck isn't a problem, I have that kind of money available at about 2% a year interest indefinitely. The company would help out on maintenance and fuel. And they have plenty of miles...

I'm waiting for more experience before jumping ship. I firmly believe in giving my first company a full year UNLESS they seriously suck or the opportunity of the ages presents itself. After all, they hired a rookie w/ no previous job experience and trained me, so I owe them that much. Also, 90% of trainees don't make it a year at my company, and I feel like beating the pack to boost my ego, or something.

No seriously, this is the only job where I've actually beaten 90% of the competition. I guess because I'm like a slow, plodding horse. Emphasis on the slow, and the plodding...

I read the owners book, and some of the posts... but I wanted to know about the possibility of part-time fleets, lease numbers, etc so I asked. It's a specific question, "Can I make 700 a week running 3-4 days a week" that wasn't answered specifically anywhere else.

inb4 u all jump on me.

This site actually convinced me to try trucking. I've read it.

As far as uber goes. The margins are rather iffy because I don't want to live near a big enough city that the work is out there... also I like older mod motor cars... think 90s town cars and mustangs... not exactly uber age requirements, eh?

I did UPS as a driver helper, they told me to wait until I had a year of experience then come back and ask for a job and I'd have it.

Again, part-time is my emerging goal, just wondering if it's doable.

a lease seems to be what the cynical old safety guy at my company suggested.

Really? You first told us he said this...

if I was dumb enuff, I could part-time as a lease operator.

Does that really sound to you like he's making a suggestion?

I've been driving solo for about 6 and a half months, and am really starting to realize I care more about hometime than big bucks.

Sounds to me like you'd rather have a normal lifestyle like the guys selling fresh baked pretzels at the mall. Why are you driving a truck?

I'm driving a truck because I actually enjoy driving and listening to podcasts and even though I'm lazy, if college taught me anything it's that every system can be gamed and every bureaucracy can be hacked. I'll be damned if there isn't a way to make Auntie Anne's wages, but with less days!

Notice I didn't say less "work", necessarily. Driving 11 hours a day, even 3 days is 33 hours...

Trucking is a job where the hiring is rapid, they don't care if you wear a suit, you don't need to charm customers, and the standards are extremely low. I figure in this swamp-mess (is that a word? well, it is now!) I can eke out my goal of 2500 dollars a month while taking long weekends... I really just want to run hard part-time, figure 4 days on and 3 days off, or 3 weeks on and 1 week off.

I want to work less, not harder.

I figure that means having to work smarter... which means looking around at my options.

And as far as the cynical old marine, well, he said that in the same tone that he cracked jokes at the puerto rican student. Which I take it to mean, "this is generally a trap for many folks, but if you can hack it..."

And I'm all about hacking. I looooove the 20/80 rule!

After all, he prefaced this with the fact that another rookie at my company is doing quite well on a lease. So I figure he means this in the, "if you can hack it..."

Your thoughts? I've seen you post, you're experienced.

Oomph.

I been trucking 6 months now since finishing training... u remind me of my buddy from cdl school who got into several accidents... all preventable stuff but u know... it's easy to make bad judgements... and I think you weren't well trained.

Look man, iono about your prospects at a new job but listen to me here, you'll look like a dumb rookie doing it but...

ALWAYS TAKE YOUR TURNS WIDE.

Seriously! Drivers sometimes look at me like... "why r u turning into the far lane like that...?!?!?" but u know what I never hit nothing that way and the only things I run over is the occasional curb and I make sure to slow wayyyyy down so those tandems run over that curb at no more than 5mph and it doesn't damage nothing! I'm sure it stresses them to drag up onto the curb and then "jump down" but w/e man at least I didn't hit the traffic signal like my buddy...

Also, and this has saved my butt a bazillion times:

GOAL means Get Out And Look!

I don't care if I'm holding up traffic. I did that under the BQE making deliveries to a costco... in brooklyn. freaking hadn't turned wide enuff, had to back up and all these drivers were yelling at me but I didn't care because it was 10x better than hitting the parked cars bcuz I misjudged how wide to take that freaking turn!

Cops actually appreciate u holding up traffic a few minutes if it means they don't hafta spend 30 minutes taking an accident report.

I'll tell you one more thing...

If you're dumb like me and ignore low clearance signs when you're aggravated and lost until you're literally 20 feet from the bridge... well, I always stop before I get to the bridge in those situations and look to see if physically I can make it... (during training there was a USG plant that had a 12" bridge as the only way in, but technically u could squeeze under).... never can... so I hafta back up but hey if the cops gotta come direct traffic so u can back out they never get mad cuz they're always like, and u hear how grateful they are, "well sh*t at least u didn't hit the bridge most drivers hit it!".

So you see, I don't have the best driving practices and my navigation seriously sucks but I take wide turns, I get out and look, and I make sure to stop in front of a bridge if it looks too low and this is how I have avoided accidents. I'm late a lot but the loads *do* get there and my company is happy I haven't hit anything or gotten any tickets! Also they're glad I stuck around this long... for some reason most trainees don't last more than a week out of training. I guess I'm lazy *and* stubborn :p

Also, let the jerks in the little sedans dart in front of you... you can't beat them you're too big and slow so just take it easy!

And if you're really sleepy, pull over and nap for an hour or two... you might be late but if you're swerving and getting microsleep to hell with the customer if you go off the road they won't get their merchandise AT ALL!

Good luck finding a new job. JB Hunt took my friend with his 3 accidents in 6 months.

Also, Western Express wouldn't have even fired him, they just gave him very little miles and so he quit but you could still check there too!

Hey all, So I've been driving solo for about 6 and a half months, and am really starting to realize I care more about hometime than big bucks. I mean, I'm making 900-1000 a week before taxes as a company driver, but I'm out five days a week. Which is fine, I can keep on doing this forever BUT...

I'm starting to get it into my head that I'd rather drive 4 days a week and take 3 off, or even go out 3 weeks and take 1 week off because w/ my low cost of living, I can get by on 2500 a month BEFORE taxes! I only need 600-750 a week to make ends meet.

My current company won't let me part-time as a company driver... but my cynical ex-marine safety manager who used to drive told me if I was dumb enuff, I could part-time as a lease operator. I asked him if driving 4 days then taking a 3 day weekend, if it was possible to still bag 6 or 7 hundred a week and he said, "Yeah" and I asked well why isn't everyone doing that and he said, "because most people want to earn more than that, and you're lazy".

So yeah. How do I make 6-7 hundred a week, driving part-time. I really crawl up the wall being home two days then out 5... I'd rather longer stretches of hometime, even if I'm out longer. But I don't need that much cash, so I can take a paycut if it means part-time.

I get into the groove, and am good fighting northeast traffic 3, 4 days screwing out 4-5 hundred miles a day crossing the hudson and GWB four or five times a week... but then it starts to wear. Again I don't need the cash, just 2500 a month to get by on... anyway to do that as a part-timer? a lease seems to be what the cynical old safety guy at my company suggested.

Cheers, Northeast

Hey all, So I'm in my fourth week of CDL school. It's going alright, although it's challenging and fast paced. The future now looks a lot brighter than my worthless college degree in Spanish and French. *rolls eyes*

One week in the classroom, then you get your permit and learn to pre-trip/straight back in the second week, followed by a few weeks of learning to parallel, alley back, and offset first in the automatic then in the manual, and finally you go out on the road before getting your CDL in a six-speed manual, then back to school for another few weeks to learn how to operate an 8, 10, and 12 speed double clutch and a thorough review of the theory and regs.

I'm about halfway thru learning my maneuvers in automatic, so a few weeks and I'll go for my CDL if I'm ready and can learn them in manual too, by then. My instructor *refuses* to let us test if he isn't 99.9% sure we'll pass... so I'm confident I'll pass, I just have to keep dealing with the never ending frustration of figuring out the 99,000 ways you can screw up a basic maneuver, in order to find the 100 or so ways to do it right. I'm learning it's not an exact science, but a range of movements you can make depending on what you're trying to accomplish... no magic formulas. no precise grammar... just a... almost a sense with general guidelines...this is so, so totally unlike my training as a translator, but I'm loving it! and you actually get paid to travel to the client, to boot! (yes, local interpreting companies are *that* cheap they won't pay your mileage!)

It's a total challenge, I'm all mental, my mind never stops running, analyzing... but I want to learn to calm down mentally, and get into a groove. Driving is one of those situations where I can do that and start to mentally relax for once. I bought a Town Car precisely because I like cruising down the road, watching miles pass on the odometer, feeling the air suspension gently bounce up and down... occupying myself with my thoughts and on the blissful rare occasion: nothing.

But back to my question: The instructors have told us to start looking at companies, and a lot of students from our school go to work for Prime, a few for TMC, and even Fedex and Coca-Cola. Heck, many get hired within a week after getting their CDL. The school has a good reputation, apparently. So there's a lot of options, and I'm narrowing them... I looked at the reviews at the reviews on this site (this site convinced me to give trucking a try in the first place, seeing as I was stuck getting crap pay as a part-time medical interpreter), and several companies seem compelling, maybe some of you have suggestions? Here's what I'm looking for most of all:

-40k, 40 cpm, or a thousand a week in the first year, take your pick -employee stock options -401k matching -a company that'll keep me rolling w/ minimal un-paid HUAW (the instructor told me intermodal is the most point A to point B?) -shower, toll, and other passes -several days off a month, even if it's in Timbuktu, Utah -a damn good training program for rookie drivers (because physical things have never been my strong suit, so I want all the skills I can get)

I could care less about hospitality centers, a free sweater, a banquet for safe drivers, a good health plan... I'm young and healthy and perfectly willing to pay 100$ out of pocket for an annual dental cleaning.

I want to relax, drive, see the country, stay safe, and most of all have plenty of disposable income to pour into my margin account. I want to take advantage of long term capital gains and an annual 2.16% margin interest rate wayyyy more than I do the latest and "greatest" equipment. I drive a 20 year old car, after all. It suits me fine, and frees up more money to plow into other things.

Is wanting to get into a groove, learn to drive safe, and save up tons of money all at the same time possible in this industry? What are some names I should start looking into? I won't apply until I got my CDL, but it's always good to do research beforehand, right?

Oh, I should mention that flatbedding seems rather... daunting. Not only because I want to focus on driving and learning to drive really really well, but also because physical exertion is not my strong suit. I would rather walk 5 miles in two hours than run 1 mile in ten minutes. If that makes any sense?