Mike's Trailiner Journey

I am 49 years old and doing a career change after 25 years in law enforcement. After checking out several companies, I have decided to go with Trailiner. I start my CDL training on Feb 17th and plan to make entries to keep everybody up to date on my journey. I am planning to post for about 12 months so people can learn from the mistakes I make during my 1st year. One concern I have is Trailiner makes you run as a team for your 1st year. So if anybody can give me advice on running teams, please speak up! Thanks Mike

After just reading their website, you are required to drive there two years prior to being eligible for the tuition reimbursement.

After just reading their website, you are required to drive there two years prior to being eligible for the tuition reimbursement.

Yes, that is the other concern. I was offered position with Veriha but after looking over everything not sure I would make much money with them.

In this business, the amount of money you make is nearly 100% based on the amount of effort you apply to the work, especially during the first year when you will make tons of mistakes.

The name on the door of the truck doesn't make as much difference as you may think, nor does a wage difference of a few cents per mile. There are many companies that offer a CDL training program with a much faster payback of the cost of your education, though.

Congrats Mike L on 25 years of L.E. That’s a huge accomplishment. I did 14 and decided to move on to something else. Looking to get my CDL in the future, but am just struggling with making it work with the family. Kids are 10 and soon to be 16.

Anyway, wish I could offer a company to look into, but since I’m not currently a driver, I don’t have the knowledge of many others on the site. I can say that my Type A personality would have a difficult time being a team driver for a year unless it was family member or friend. Good luck in your journey and I look forward to following along.

Mike, I strongly urge you to think real hard and do your research before committing to a company that makes you run teams. Team driving for many people is a miserable existence, compounded even more so when you're a rookie.

-Adjusting to a trucking lifestyle

-Learning to sleep in a moving truck

-Your income being dependent on your co-driver doing their job

-Finding out you'll make the same, or even less money than a good solo driver

These are just a few of the trials you'll face as a team driver. I'm not saying it can't be done. But you'll want to learn as much as you can before embarking on that journey.

Enter "team driving" in the search bar above for more info. Start with this:

Dispelling the myths of team driving