I Single-handedly Ruined My Life Trying To Transition Into Trucking

Hey Dre, I’ve been following this thread and just didn’t have time to respond. I just want to say you’ve got the right attitude about this and if you heed the advice given here you will be successful.

Brett said:

Stick with trucking. Stick with Western Express and challenge yourself to become one of their top performers. Stay there for a minimum of one year so you can build a solid foundation for your career and learn the ropes. There are endless possibilities if you'll put all your effort into becoming the best driver you can.

If you didn’t know this, Brett is the owner and founder of this website. What he said to you right here is exactly what he has been preaching here for years and it works. I and most or all of the other long time members on this forum can attest to the fact that this is a proven formula for success in this industry. It’s hard, but patience is your best friend here.

I’ve also screwed up my career pretty badly before, badly enough I had to take a couple years off trucking start over. I still get turned down from jobs for the tickets I got almost five years ago now but I’ve been plugging away and gaining valuable knowledge and experience and within a year or two I’ll be at a point where I will be highly desirable to almost any company. In the meantime, I’ve been consistently learning how to be a top performing driver and I’m typically a top earner wherever I work. Most of us make around the same amount per mile (with a few exceptions) but the key is really learning how to maximize your income wherever you work. Learn how to be that go to guy for your dispatchers and planners, be reliable and productive. Learn how to use your HOS efficiently and keep that left door shut and you’ll do well wherever you work. And for your own sake, absolutely do not deviate from the advice of staying with Western for a year. It will be one of the best things you can do for your career as it gives you the opportunity to really hone your craft without hopping around and having to learn new processes and dispatchers all the time.

I’ll offer the same thing Brett did—my email is in my profile if you’d like to reach out. I’m happy to share my phone number over email.

P.S. Brett, I know you’re a busy guy but I love that you’ve been more active on the forum lately. You should get on here more often. You just have a way of putting things that really resonates with people

Dre, you should be in a good position after that first year. I say “should” because none of us know exactly what the trucking economy will be at that time, but based on conventional wisdom, you will have some better options.

Just make it your number one goal to be extremely safe and careful until then. Every preventable incident will hurt your prospects.

I’d really wanna get on with XPO or Fedex Freight as they’re both hiring in my area but yk you can’t contact their recruiters, do any of you know if they’d hire me with say the year or so of experience with the accident?

It looks like FedEx Freight requires one year of experience, but I know XPO hires drivers with no experience at all, because I was one of those drivers. You'll need doubles-triples, hazmat , and tanker endorsements. In the picture below I had some Class 3 flammable liquids in my lead trailer.

I don't disagree that having a year's experience opens a lot of doors, but there's no harm in putting in applications now if the job doesn't have an experience requirement. Worst that happens is they say 'no.' Although being a chronic job-hopper will mean you're always starting at the bottom when it comes to things like bidding on the best runs, and might look like a flake to prospective employers.

Told myself i’d never work ina warehouse again and started researching how to obtain a CDL.

Well, this might be a problem at XPO, since their drivers typically spend some time each shift loading or unloading the trailers.

Fast forward to April 2023, Was working a decent paying warehouse gig bringing in about $800 after taxes weekly as a 21 y/o and got caught up in some workplace mess that got me fired

Training finishes and the company lets me go because of the remarks from my last trainer.

Companies have different hiring criteria, but if the recent crash is your only crash or moving violation in the last three years, that won't be a barrier most places. These two firings, including one from a driving job, are more likely to be a problem. Companies will usually check your work experience, asking your old company two things: to verify the dates of employment, and are you eligible to be rehired. If your former employer says no to the second, it's not good. As I said, no harm in putting applications out, but you might have to stay where you are a while longer to rebuild your record.

I strongly encourage you to stay with Western Express a year or longer. Do not job hop, that will kill a career in a tight market. I have a friend of mine who has been driving for 20 years and he has been getting frustrated and blaming his employers instead of himself. He *****es and whines about they promise this and that and they don't deliver, yada yada.. He has been with 3 companies in the last 8 months and now he cannot find a job anywhere.. don't be like him. Learn every day you are driving, never forget the basics. Keep your head on a swivel and be aware of your surroundings and practice GOAL (get out and look). Learn to be efficient with you're time. Master your tradecraft. You can do this and succeed.

Hi. I basically worked a warehouse job for 17 years at the US postal service. I came into trucking at 41 with no kids and nearly $70,000 of debt. I paid it off in 2 years running my butt off. Was it easy? No. But it allowed me freedom that i never had. My only regret is not doing this when i was young.

Set long term goals. Set short term goals. Think about the things you hated about the warehouse and why you never want to go back. No one can mptivate yourself but YOU. Look at your baby and realize he is young and this is a great time to hustle all year until you can move on.

Things could be worse.. you could be a 50 year old fat chick like me. Instead of a hot young guy like you.

Things could be worse.. you could be a 50 year old fat chick like me. Instead of a hot young guy like you.

🤣

Dre,

Every one of these experienced drivers is telling you to stick with Western Express, and there is good reason for that. It's because the easy thing to do is quit, and leave trucking behind. Every once in a while the advice these drivers give is "leave trucking because it's not for you." That's not the advice of well over 100 years worth of collective experience is telling YOU. That's because you can do this. The economy is tough right now, but it will recover. You want to be hitting your stride when it does.

From one man to another, your mistakes are puny compared to the mountain of **** that I piled up in my life. It will pass.

Love yourself. Don't do this job for anyone but yourself. What I mean is that if you are doing it for anyone else, it will drain you. Do it for yourself because that's what you want to do.

Lastly, enjoy your precious kid. My first daughter is turning 2 in May. They are what make the struggle worth it.

I am chiming in to agree with everyone else.

One thing nobody touches on, is that the mental aspect is what typically makes new drivers walk away.

The best piece of advice I was ever given, was by an old driver.

"Your first 6 months, you know just enough to get yourself up S*** Creek without a paddle. Your second 6 months, you will know enough to point your boat down river. At one year, you will spend the rest of your days saying 'huh, learned something new today."

It is quite often not talked about that the first year is brutal on you mentally. You are getting used to the solitude. Your body is trying to adjust to the schedule. Your brain is arguing about your abilities. There were days I cried. A lot. Days I wanted to chuck it all and turn the truck in. It's NORMAL to be uncomfortable. It's NORMAL to doubt yourself.

I came in much like Kearsey, 40ish years old, my kid moved out of the house, and I had a ton of debt. I knew that I would do everything in my power to make the one year mark, no matter how I felt about it. I was NOT going to have to pay the Class fee.

Coming in, I had a one year goal, a three year goal, and a five year goal. At almost year 3, I have already met those goals. Get busy setting those goals.

One reasonable to achieve short term.

One a reach, but achievable.

One a leap, possible but difficult

Good luck.

Hello Dre!

Man, this group is giving you awesome advice. I'm not even sure I should add anything, but I will try.

The trucking career is dominated by a bunch of really bad information and influences. One of the biggest falsehoods out here affecting new drivers is this idea that most trucking companies are intentionally trying to take advantage of drivers. Their whole business model is treat their drivers badly and cheat them out of their pay. That's how they make a profit.

Nothing could be further from the truth, yet nothing feels more like reality to a new driver. Did you catch this most important comment from Brett?

Don't let negative thoughts get the best of you.

That very thing destroys more newly started trucking careers than anything. Trucking is just hard at first. It's not that the job is all that difficult. It's the reality of how radically different this career is from anything else most of us have ever attempted. I loved this comment from NaeNae...

"Your first 6 months, you know just enough to get yourself up S*** Creek without a paddle. Your second 6 months, you will know enough to point your boat down river. At one year, you will spend the rest of your days saying 'huh, learned something new today."

That is priceless advice, and very true.

Here's what happens to new truck drivers, and it's already happening to you. The frustration they feel develops hard feelings toward their employer. Then they read similarly outrageous claims against that company in online reviews. They also hear their fellow company driver's never ending horror stories of their terrible experience working there. The next thing you know, you're feeling you've sold your soul to the devil and he's taken control of your life.

We've all been there, so we kind of know what you're feeling. I started at Western Express. Like you, I was having a terrible time getting hired, and they took a chance on me. I built a solid foundation for my career there, but nobody held my hand. That's how this works. I'm hoping you're getting the picture.

Here's how I made a great start to my career. First I made up my mind that something was wrong with the picture I was seeing. There was no way this company could stay in business if their purpose was to make my life miserable. They would end up with no drivers.

Everytime something frustrated me, I'd make up my mind to figure out how I could take steps to change it. Here's a couple examples...

As a newbie, I really knew nothing. Everytime I needed some guidance, (which was about four or five times a day) I'd call my dispatcher. Of course he never answered. I'd have to leave a message and wait hours for a response. That was miserable!

I had a revelation one day while I was at his desk in Nashville. I was trying to talk to him while he was on the phone with someone just as green as me. I noticed he was also responding to electronic messages on his computer screen. He was a multitasking ninja!

That's when I realized he had way more important things to do than take my silly questions over the phone. It was a "light bulb" moment for me. I saw that I needed to take charge myself with my own rational decision making and anything I needed from him should be done electronically. He was taking care of ten to twenty drivers needs electronically while he only got through one phone call in that same time span.

Communication is vital to success at this. But it needs to be done in a way that allows your dispatcher to handle it effectively and efficiently. This leads to a second example...

I was always having to wait for a load after getting unloaded. It seemed like the company was extremely inefficient. Guess what? I discovered how successful drivers get around that problem. They communicate ahead of time so their dispatcher isn't sitting around waiting to find out when they are ready for another load.

I made it my trademark to always send my dispatcher an ETA (estimated time of arrival) and a PTA (projected time of availability) macro before I even started rolling with my current load. Then I made sure I executed the load exactly like my electronic messages said I would. If there needed to be a change, I'd update the information as soon as I knew it. THAT IS IMPORTANT.

Doing what you say builds trust. Once you've established that trust, your dispatcher will keep you busy. It's in their best interest. The more productive you are, the more money you and your dispatcher earn.

This job is like no other. You are the key player that influences your success. They don't teach you any of this stuff when you're obtaining your CDL. We think once we've got that license we can start making all that money. Haha! We all go through the struggles of establishing ourselves in this career. Don't get sidetracked thinking you need a better company. What you need is a better understanding of how this works.

That's why everyone keeps telling you to hang in there at Western Express. They all know it takes a full year to develop yourself into a trustworthy driver who gets extra attention and knows success.

When I was at WE, I determined I was going to prove myself to be the best driver they had ever seen. I doubt I achieved that goal, but my efforts sure taught me how to succeed in trucking. That's what you have to do. Focus on what you can do to make the job work. You can't change the company. You can learn to succeed within it's parameters.

Dre, all I will say is, you've been given some sage advice from everyone. It's all about getting your head right, and remain positive, no matter what ! And I seen myself, that after 1 year mark, I would get emails, all the time from companies wanting me to try them out. I stuck with my first company 22 months, I' ve never been much of a job hopper (mechanic 40+ years) And I still do get emails sometimes now, from some companies.

I knew i planned to retire at 62, and trucking was my ticker to make and save some serious cash. I only left my 1st company with a blood sugar issue, so I took 5 months off to work on that. Then I went to another company to drive for, my old co driver went to work for. Finished out just 4 months, because my pension kicked in, other wise I'd probably still driving for them til full retirement age!

Hopefully you take all the info you've gained here, and everything works out for you and your new family !!