Just Want To Drive

Hey Christopher, I hope you can tell that we genuinely want to help you. We all understand that you can't survive on 75 bucks a week, but here's one more thing that I failed to mention that I should have. It's never a good idea to make a major decision like quitting a new career when you are upset over something. What happens is that you end up making your decision based on emotion rather than good sound thinking, or logic. Think about this: CRST is a really big company, they've been around and are successful at what they do. They've got thousands of drivers out there everyday making a living and most of them enjoying what they do. I remember "Troubador," one of our members who started there and then after a year or so moved on to somewhere else, but then realized the grass wasn't so green over there where he thought it was and he went right back to CRST because he liked working for them! CRST has a good many satisfied drivers there and I can assure you that they aren't making 75 dollars a week.

Everybody who succeeds or fails at this goes through trials at the beginning. It's the ones who learn from their difficulties who end up in the success column at the end of the day.

And for anyone else who comes across this conversation in the future it points out a good reason for you to save up about a thousand dollars before you launch off into a new career as a professional driver. You may not make a ton of money at the beginning - have yourself a little reserve that you can depend on until you begin to establish yourself.

I appreciate all the replies, I love trucking an I wasn't expecting a group to applause me an bad mouth them, I want to drive I've been around trucks my whole life, I just wanted in site on what I should do an I am already talking to them about going back, thank you all for the invite, see yall out there

I applaud that decision, it is the best thing to do.

I know teaming is tough, and that is pretty much what you are going to do at CRST. Hang in there and "git er done." You may really enjoy teaming, I don't know, but just hang in there and finish that contract - then you can make a decision on what's the best next step for you. Keep us posted Christopher, we will be willing to help you with any other problems that arise along the way.

Old School, Very good advice on saving some cash up before you head off to School. I'm gonna be sitting on about 2k in my bank account (and a PAID OFF credit card) when I head for school at the end of the month. No it wasn't easy to bank that money either. I have been planning this career change for over a year. I have done my research. I have planned it out. I am fully aware that during my 3 weeks of classroom/range training at Swift, I will have NO income, although I will have EXPENSES! (Gotta eat!). Once I am out with a Mentor I will barely have income. Once I go solo I will not have very much income. My bills are all paid up and I have no debt. This will allow me to focus on learning the ins and outs of Truck Driving without stressing over a paycheck. Unfortunately it seems too many people get into this gig while already in financial straits. It is understandable in this crappy economy we have all been mucking through for a decade. Who can blame someone for seeing an ad that says MAKE $50,000 your first year DRIVING A BIG RIG! I've got my eye on the prize 2-3 years down the road. I guess my advice to anyone who is broke or in debt, think this through before you jump in. Without properly planning and thinking it through, you may end up BROKER and more in DEBT in a very short time.

I don't think Broker is a word.................oh well, you know what I meant!

At prime I made no money during the permit phase and $700 per week gross during the 30k miles training while teaming with my trainer. By that time I owed prime for apnea test.. advances...twic card... just when I felt ahead the health insurance kicked in...then I got my own truck and they added chains locks... I added my cat to thw truck which added another $1000 I owe them. I think I'm still at about $2400 now. If I leave I'd owe them another $1500 or so for the training.

Yes there was one week solo when I cleared $33. that was tough.... but by running hard the next week I made up for it. Training sucks and can be horrible...but temporary.

Other drivers told me they are getting less miles than me... but it is cause they complain aND refuse to adjust their preferred drive times. I was determined to make this work so I stuck out the hardships of training... however I also did my research before hand. I knew exactly what prime paid compared to others.... I knew what to expect.

If you want to leave then later. RESEARCH research research. Find a company that is right for you. Good luck

Excellent post Rainy D. All those pesky payroll deductions add up! Some people think $35000.00 per year = take home. Nope. $650.00 per week gross can turn into $400.00 take home pretty quick! You are one of the people that "get it". Keep it up!

My training pay was crap. And from learning on here I know I have to hustle to make the cut. The load I have with me now I picked up in north carolina on thurday. It delivers on Monday. Friday morning I got to this truck stop 9 miles from my delivery. I want to have plenty of hours to drive to get to my shipper and toward the cosignee tomorrow. I know that they can tell where I am whenever they want. And I could have goofed around and not got here till Sunday night or Monday morning. But I know they are watching to see what kind of person I am. They need to know that I am worth the money they spent on me. I am a VERY loyal person. You take care of me I take care of you. I want to be in the top 100 with the company within 3 months. I know that is a hard goal to achieve but I am going to try.