Comments By Eric C. (Easy E)

Nice find, Woody!!

If that was your net, would you estimate your gross to be in the $45k range?

I was talking to a friend of mine that just finished school in TX, he said he ended up shelling out some $1200 just for the machine, then tack on another $600 for the sleep study. Ouch! I found this place where you can get your basic CPAP for as little as $260. They are set up to comply with the monitoring guidelines. CPAP for Truckers

You can get the IntelliRoute here as a factory refurb for under $250. Intelliroute TND 720

Thanks, Old School! Have to tell ya, I have been sweating it just a bit. :-)

Hi all,

I am currently studying for my permit and will be attending school in a couple months (or less hopefully) with either WIA Federal Retraining, or on my own dime if I cannot get funding. I know I need to go through all the medical stuff, and I had not been too worried about it until...

I started hearing and reading about the forced sleep apnea testing. There is a lot of discussion about the dangers of driving with untreated sleep apnea, and I definitely agree with them. I had a friend who was tired and didn't pull over when he started getting the feeling. The end result was a near miss, but it got his attention... and he was just driving his car to to normal office day job. Go get a sleep study done. If you need treatment, get it. I can save your life or that of your loved ones.

Now back to my concern. I was diagnosed with sleep apnea about 7 years ago. I have been under treatment using a CPAP, and take it with me anytime I am staying over night someplace. My quality of life has never been better. I have also lost almost 40 pounds in the last year or so. Yeah, I am a fluffy 280 now and working to continue getting that down as well. I do not have high blood pressure. Lifestyle changes by walking 2.5 mi/day (working in some jogging), going to the Gym 3x/week for some weight training, eating more protein rich foods, fewer carbs, etc, etc.

So the question is, and I have not been able to find an answer anywhere, if I am being treated for Sleep Apnea, what are my chances of passing a DOT medical exam? I know, totally long winded to get to that, but I wanted to put it out there. Thanks for letting me jabber on.

Wow, doing a bit of research and I can see where a married company team can make a pretty darn comfortable living. Thank you for pointing me in that direction.

Brett, Dan, Dave, Guy, and Tracy:

You're rockstars. I appreciate the fact you are not sugar coating any of this. The wife and I will definitely be working toward the company driver team. While I am very familiar with managing multi-million dollar operating budgets, running lean and mean, finding ways to save/make more $$, this definitely sounds like it would be more stress free.

Any recommendations on running as a hubby/wifey team? Company recommendations?

Listen, husband-wife teams are highly coveted in trucking. Any company that runs teams will do anything to acquire as many husband-wife teams as possible. After a couple of years experience you and your wife could gross $100k or so without an ounce of financial risk or having to learn how to run a business by simply being company drivers.

I definitely appreciate the feedback on this. I don't mind the idea one bit of being a company driver for a couple years. And you are certainly right about learning the industry, knowledge is power in anything. That may definitely be the best way to go in the end, however is there any freedom in being able to see family/friends around the country as a company driver? Or taking my granddaughter with us for a week or two? As a company driver do you have the opportunity to get into a larger sleeper or are you relegated to the standard manufacturer builds?

Please understand, I am not discounting any of what you have said. Even if I drive company for several years, I am still not going to know the hidden costs of being an O/O without more information from experienced and successful owners.

My family is currently living on about less than $2000/mo including a mortgage, so cutting a couple hundred dollars monthly in food costs by cooking instead of eating at truck stops & restaurants, is being able to put that money into savings. That was just a singular idea, and definitely not the premise of my survival plan.

So aside from the apparent relative ease of remaining a company driver (sorry I am a glutton for punishment), are there any recommendations from currently successful O/O's I might be able to glean from?

Thank you for having this website and forum, they truly are amazing resources.

Sorry, part of the first paragraph apparently didn't go: For the last several years I have been working away from home for a week at a time. I know this is a much longer time away from home, but I feel like it is a bit of preparation for what is to come.