Did you check with local work force, unemployment office? I've heard of some that get CDL training paid for due to loss of job. If you can get training through a school then I think McElroy is hiring in your area and could possibly meet your income needs. Plus home every Friday, leaving back out on Sunday afternoon-evening
A CDL is required to drive any of the following vehicles:
Did you check with local work force, unemployment office? I've heard of some that get CDL training paid for due to loss of job. If you can get training through a school then I think McElroy is hiring in your area and could possibly meet your income needs. Plus home every Friday, leaving back out on Sunday afternoon-evening
Thanks, no I did not do that. Heck, didn't know they'd do that. I'll check with them tomorrow as there is a Coastal Training Academy 8 minutes from my house.
A CDL is required to drive any of the following vehicles:
In my CDL class of 9 there were only 2 of us that paid out of pocket. McElroy and others will also reimburse you if you've hired on straight out of school if you self paid.
A CDL is required to drive any of the following vehicles:
Clearing 7-8 hundred a week right off the bat probably aint gonna happen. Figure 1800- 2200 miles per week for the first couple months. Probably average 10,000 per month your first year. It is tough to have a predictable WEEKLY check in Trucking. Monthly or even Quarterly is a better barometer. From the time I started school till I finished with my Mentor, I spent about $2000 of my own money to get by. If I were in your position, I would want to have at least 15-20 K in the bank to cover your first year. The financial stress can test your family BIG TIME. Im not trying to discourage you. Just being realistic. Good Luck!
Clearing 7-8 hundred a week right off the bat probably aint gonna happen. Figure 1800- 2200 miles per week for the first couple months. Probably average 10,000 per month your first year. It is tough to have a predictable WEEKLY check in Trucking. Monthly or even Quarterly is a better barometer. From the time I started school till I finished with my Mentor, I spent about $2000 of my own money to get by. If I were in your position, I would want to have at least 15-20 K in the bank to cover your first year. The financial stress can test your family BIG TIME. Im not trying to discourage you. Just being realistic. Good Luck!
Thanks. Yes, I'm more interested in the Monthly pay rather than the weekly pay. I just through those numbers in for discussion purposes. We do have some money put aside that would help for at least the first few months. My wife and I have been talking and I have been expressing how hard that first year will be.
As far as opinions in the best place to begin, does anyone have any insights to any of the 3 I mentioned? For some reason I keep going back to CRE as my first choice. They were the first ones I've talked to, followed by PAM and then US Express. I have not spoken to anyone at Swift yet. It's just so discouraging to keep reading all these horror stories online and watching all these depressing videos. I've been reading up on posts here and this group seems so much more positive.
I would Alonso take a look on here under the company sponsored CDL schools on here they also have in house training as well.
A CDL is required to drive any of the following vehicles:
Hi, Scott, welcome to Trucking Truth. So you read a bunch of horror stories. But you guessed right. They are written by people who failed at truck driving, and want to blame someone else for their problems. The successful drivers are to busy driving and making money to post their successes, except for here. :)
Many companies have their own driving school, and cut the small sum of about one year of your life driving for them (you do get paid then!), they finance your education.
Here some reading for you:
The last one - High Road - is your key to passing the required CDL written test.
Also check out
A CDL is required to drive any of the following vehicles:
It's just so discouraging to keep reading all these horror stories online and watching all these depressing videos. I've been reading up on posts here and this group seems so much more positive.
Oh we most certainly are. Hey, trucking is hard and everyone struggles for a while to learn how to handle that rig and manage their life on the road. The truth is that most people are not cut out for trucking. In fact, even a large portion of the drivers out there doing it for a living really aren't cut out for it or don't enjoy it.
There are what we refer to as 'top tier drivers' and then there are the rest. The top tier drivers really 'get it'. They're super ambitious, they understand how the industry works, and they know how to make things happen out there on the road. They hustle, they're safe and reliable, and they get along well with people. It takes a super high level of commitment to be one of those top tier drivers and very few people ever get there.
So totally ignore the complaining and company bashing and all that garbage. Every major trucking company has plenty of freight for their top tier drivers. If you make it to those ranks you'll make great money, you'll get home when you're supposed to, and you'll get some extra favors thrown in along the way. The bottom line is that most people don't understand what it takes to get there or they simply aren't interested in putting out that level of effort and commitment. So a certain percentage of truckers thrive, a whole bunch are just fine in the middle somewhere, and a certain percentage never really understand how it all works or don't belong out there at all. And as you would expect, the most disgruntled people always complain the loudest and the most embarrassed always look to blame others.
Trucking is performance based. If you perform well you'll make great money and be treated well at any of the major companies. If you don't then you're not going to be happy no matter where you work. So it's not a company-by-company kind of thing where you have to look for that diamond in the rough. Not at all. If you go out there and perform well you'll do great no matter what major company you work for. But it's going to take a little time to get there.
You mentioned companies. CR England is a good company but their pay scale is on the low end for new companies. That's the only complaint I have about them. Swift's pay starts low but increases quickly that first year with a series of raises. Swift also has by far the greatest variety of opportunities for hauling different types of freight, getting home on different schedules, and getting opportunities in dedicated divisions. PAM is right there in the mix also.
We've been teaching people forever that you should pick the company you feel suits you best based on home time, pay & benefits, the types of freight you'd like to haul, and other opportunities the company may have. Ignore the 'reviews' people give - they mean nothing at all to you. If you go out there and give it all you've got you'll do great.
Hey Scott,
I can't speak for CRE or PAM since I don't work for them, but I work for Swift and can tell you a little about them.
I started going through their company sponsored training in the beginning of November. I finished school the first week of December and went to orientation the next week. I didn't pay anything for school but that month without pay hurt. Immediately after the 3-day orientation I went out with a trainer. My first trainer was actually good at training and treated me well, but he was vulgar, rude, and not getting many miles (partly because of the particular dedicated account he was on, I think). I took my chances and asked for a different trainer. The office personnel were very professional about it and had me on another trainer's truck very quickly. This trainer ran hard and I was clearing about $500/week on his truck. I got off his truck mid-January, so total time with trainers was about 4-5 weeks, although that really depends on your trainer. Between the two trainers I probably averaged about $400/week during this phase (rough estimate).
I tested out, met my DM , and was issued a 2016 Freightliner, about 6 months old with 78K miles on it. Then I spent a couple weeks on the road before getting home. I live about 60 miles north of Denver, so they usually get me a load to Denver and let me take the truck home from there. They like you to park it at a truckstop, so it's great that you live so close to a few.
My paychecks over the last 5.5 months have been pretty inconsistent from week to week, but I generally average about $650/week net. I don't have a paystub in front of me right now, but that's about $850-900/week gross in my case. You can make more than that if you get more miles. I averaged about 2300-2500 miles a week most of the time. It's not that the miles weren't there--I just had a hard time getting more than that very consistently due to my inexperience. Getting good miles as a reefer driver requires excellent time and HOS (Hours of service) management, something that is difficult at best for most newbies. I can't speak for the dry freight division as I never drove in that division.
I've never had any service failures (basically just getting to a customer late without a good excuse), but about 3-4 months in I had an accident. You can read that story here: I hit something. I also went around a curve too fast a couple months before that, triggering a "critical event" (just type "critical event" in the search box if you don't know what that means). At the time of the accident, I was on a waiting list for the Miller Coors dedicated account, but they took my off the waiting list after my accident. I had to do some extra training, which you can read about here--High Risk Driver--but I wasn't fired and didn't have any issue still getting miles.
A couple weeks ago, I ended in the right place at the right time and took another go at the Miller Coors. This time I got on. You can read that story here: Dedicated!!
It's too early for me to really tell for sure, but from talking to the other drivers on this account, talking to my new DM, and a week of running on this account, it's awesome. The miles are there and it is so much easier to manage my clock and get the better miles with the pickup and appointment times and locations being much more consistent. And when the miles go up, the paycheck gets fatter. After a few weeks or so I'll post another thread about the account I'm on.
Anyways, that's my experience at Swift--overwhelmingly positive, despite my shortcomings. But it really depends on you. If you have a lousy attitude and don't take the time and effort to "learn the system," you'll be very disappointed with trucking. I kept in touch with another new driver from orientation, and he quit Swift after two months with nothing but horror stories of breakdowns, sitting, and lousy miles. I just recently found out from him that they offered him a gravy shuttle run, 500 miles daily and home every night, his first month out, and he turned it down because they wouldn't let him do it as a lease operator (he was still a company driver at that point).
Anyways, sorry for the long reply, but I thought you might appreciate an honest, thorough review.
Oh, sorry I almost forgot --hometime. As an otr driver you have to stay out two weeks at a time before taking hometime. You accumulate one day off per week. I always found it easier to stay out 3 weeks and take 2-3 off when I got home. More than 4 days off and you have to turn in your truck and get a different one when you come back. They're pretty good about getting you home on time, but it obviously depends on the freight. If you have something important like a doctor's appointment, they'll make it happen. They've never said anything when I've slightly altered my route to get home for the night a few times.
Anyhow, good luck!
OTR driving normally means you'll be hauling freight to various customers throughout your company's hauling region. It often entails being gone from home for two to three weeks at a time.
The Substance Abuse Professional (SAP) is a person who evaluates employees who have violated a DOT drug and alcohol program regulation and makes recommendations concerning education, treatment, follow-up testing, and aftercare.
A Company-Sponsored Training Program is a school that is owned and operated by a trucking company.
The schooling often requires little or no money up front. Instead of paying up-front tuition you will sign an agreement to work for the company for a specified amount of time after graduation, usually around a year, at a slightly lower rate of pay in order to pay for the training.
If you choose to quit working for the company before your year is up, they will normally require you to pay back a prorated amount of money for the schooling. The amount you pay back will be comparable to what you would have paid if you went to an independently owned school.
Company-sponsored training can be an excellent way to get your career underway if you can't afford the tuition up front for private schooling.
A refrigerated trailer.
New! Check out our help videos for a better understanding of our forum features
Quick history...
I've been in the telecom industry for 20 years (14 with the same company) but was recently let go in early May. All my life I imagined myself as a trucker, but would have to quit my current job in order to so. Now that I'm without a job, I believe my opportunity has arrived. Being let go like that, I was able to access my 401K and pay off some of our debts, however I still have a nice financial obligation to meet every month...house note, insurance, etc., plus a wife and kids. I've been holding off for the past couple months to see if I would get a local job offer but so far nothing has come through. I'm now within my 2 week deadline for something to happen, and if nothing does, I will have no other choice but to get on the road. I would have already done it, but my main concern is making enough money to cover my financial obligations.
I've read so many horror stories out there with this industry, I don't know what to think any more. I'm telling myself that the majority of these "reviews" I'm reading on various sites are those drivers who are just simply unhappy, and never want to be happy with what they do. Personally, I take pride in everything I do, take the initiatives to move forward, and always excel in my projects so I do not have a doubt I would be one of those drivers that would be a "go to guy" down the road.
For now however, I have ZERO experience, and would need to go with one of the companies who offer training....CRE, PAM, and SWIFT are my top 3 right now but I just cannot find many good opinions on these. The majority of the reviews I read on these three talk about lies from the recruiters, making only $200/week, etc. Once I'm on my own (post-mentor), I would need to clear around $700 to $800/week. This being after taxes and insurance. Is this even possible during the first year?
Sorry for ranting, but I'm at a lost as what to do right now...which company to choose, etc. I live in a pretty busy travel area which is at the corner of I-55 and I-12 near Hammond, LA which has 3 large truck stops, truck wash, maintenance, etc. In the meantime, I have been studying my state's CDL manual and prepping myself accordingly in case I do go in this direction. Any pointers would be much appreciated....even any kind of "decent reviews" to the 3 companies I mentioned, or if there's a better option, please let me know. I'm just trying to set my mind at ease.
CDL:
Commercial Driver's License (CDL)
A CDL is required to drive any of the following vehicles:
HOS:
Hours Of Service
HOS refers to the logbook hours of service regulations.OOS:
When a violation by either a driver or company is confirmed, an out-of-service order removes either the driver or the vehicle from the roadway until the violation is corrected.