Comments By FliteRisk

Congratulations FliteRisk & good luck to both of you going forward!

Thank You!!!!

Congrats! I was reading you intro post the other day and we appear to be in similar career situations. Didn't you just post only 6 days ago saying you were thinking about changing careers? You don't mess around! It's inspiring that you've already gotten your permit. I'm on the fence as to whether or not I should go ahead and go get mine. I have a long vacation coming up in November that's paid for and I can't start school until after that.

Thanks. Yeah I just posted 6 days ago. I'm on a long vacay from work. I'm almost certain that I will be changing careers. I would say go for it with the permit at least. It's good for six months. It is scary though. The thought of getting out of my comfort zone and leaving a rather high paying job. But what's pay when you hate your job?

Thank You all for your encouraging words. This forum is awesome. I missed my doubles/triples endorsement by one point. Some of the answers in the West Virginia test were a little different. I will definitely go back to pass that one in a week.

I did pass General knowledge, Air Brakes, Combination, and Tanker.

I don't know how to quote part of someone's post.

Don't be like me, study the official literature also.

I studied the West Virginia guide as well.

Good Luck!

Just started studying for mine. Let us know how it goes.

Will do. High Road Training was god sent. I did that after I read the paper manual. The paper manual can't compare to it.

Wish me luck!!!

I went through all the parts of high road that currently relate to what I'm testing for. I will be doing the basics plus doubles/tripples, Tankers, airbrakes, combination. I signed up for hazmat but I didn't know you needed an actual CDL first. I'm not nervous but I am not ****y either. I studied really hard.

Flatbed and heavy haul are where the drivers are making up middle income salaries and are home weekends at least. I've got buddies who are approaching six figures. I've been running flatbed almost a year now and my income has gone up by about a third.

I've been meaning to chime in on this.

We always try to help people understand that there's no such thing as "the place to be" in trucking. There is no magical type of freight that pays more than everything else. There is no perfect job, perfect company, or silver bullet to success.

You can make excellent money hauling any type of freight out there. The difference is in the lifestyle and demands each of them offers.

• Dry van has more opportunities for better home time, but often entails shorter average length of haul.
• Refrigerated work offers fewer opportunities for good home time but a much longer average length of haul.
• Flatbed of course normally requires more physical work out in the elements when securing freight and you will find a large variety of opportunities when it comes to home time and average length of haul.
• Tanker often requires some physical labor when hooking up hoses and offers a wide variety of opportunities for home time and average length of haul. You should have at least one year of experience in one of the other types of freight before attempting any tanker work
• Line haul is the most like a "regular job" where it's predictable and you're doing the same runs all the time but the pay is exceptional and most drivers get home every night or almost every night
• Local work often entails a lot of physical labor, especially for the best paying jobs, and extremely long hours in heavy traffic with very little time at home to relax, but you will get home every night. You should have a year of OTR or regional experience before attempting any local work, which is usually what most companies require anyhow.

In the end you can make great money with any of them. The top performing drivers in all of those categories make roughly the same amount of money. It really comes down to what you're looking for regarding home time and job duties.

Line haul sounds nice.

G-Town, this was a great read. A dedicated Walmart gig sounds like something I would like. I am also in Walmart everyday with the wife!! I live maybe like 10 mins from the swift terminal in WV. That’s what made me look at swift as well. Not sure if that means anything by being that close to one though.

I left the corporate world (restaurants) for trucking and it was the best decision I ever made. I started with Swift. Despite what some might tell you, they are a good company with which to start. Their training is six weeks, that's long but not too long (some are six months). Keep in mind that you're probably going to take a pay cut for the first year or two, then stuff will take off.

I could not recommend to you more that you go with a flatbed outfit like TMC. That was the one mistake I made moving into the industry. Flatbed and heavy haul are where the drivers are making up middle income salaries and are home weekends at least. I've got buddies who are approaching six figures. I've been running flatbed almost a year now and my income has gone up by about a third.

Yes, it's as hard as it looks. You earn every penny. But I'm in great physical shape and I feel good - more productive now in my 40s than I was in my late 20s. If you wanna make that move that's the advice I'd give.

Thanks for the info. Will check it out.