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Anonymous-0

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Hey guys,

I would like to say that there is a wealth of knowledge and experience on this board. I enjoy reading most of the responses given to any and all questions.
I know that some of you have experience in truck driving. I am seriously considering getting my CDL and beginning a career in truck driving.
I am in my mid 30's with a family. My questions are: Is this a career where I can jump in and make enough money to support a family? Will I ever see that family that I am supporting? What are some of the questions I should ask of potential employers? What are the pitfalls to be aware of?
We do not live extravagantly and I am not looking to get rich, but would like to be able to pay the bills and have a little left over to play with.
Thanks for any advice for this "lurker".
 

53DC; I was a highway engineer(truck driver) 43 years, O.O.18 of those yrs.If you are determined to do this, pick a good reputable co.and be a company driver. Pick up a copy of Land Line or any other trking magazine, all kinds of adds for drivers. Be prepared to spend all or most of the week gone, maybe 2 weeks away from home.
B.T.D.T Ken
 
I did it back 30 years ago before the trucks got all the creature comforts. You can make decent money if you don't mind being away from your family for extended periods. I made 30K a year not driving too many miles and getting home most weekends but it was unionized then. Missed most of my youngsters special events. I checked out when they deregulated the trucking industry.

Nowdays I hear of guys making around 60k but are on the road constantly to make that money. Maybe on the road for a month stretch.

If I ever go back to truckin it'll probably be pulling a dump trailer locally so I'll be home daily.

I wouldn't work for any company that didn't have "no touch" freight. I heard about companies like Werner who deliver to stores like Dollar General. They'll take driving school graduates who don't know any better. I used to get stuck with "LTL" freight once in awhile that might end up at the corner drug store in "Bugtussle" USA which often resulted in backing out of dead end streets with a 48' trailer in the middle of the night. Then bust my butt to get to another drop where I'd never been before. No cell phones, Qualcomm or nothin to make it easy then. Dedicated routes are better in my opinion but I've been away from it too long to really help with that issue. I did irregular route my entire trucking career.

Don't sign up with a company that won't reimburse your driving school expenses. I learned by the seat of my pants and never dealt with driving schools and such. My father-in-law just put me behind the wheel and told me how to double clutch and that's what I done.
 
You can make a decent living, but the drawback is if you do not have experience, no one will hire you because of insurance. Thats leaves truck driving school, that is expensive, there you can get a job, rigth out of school, but it is a hard way to get started and u put a lot of hours in for low pay, most companies you will work for will get a cut of your pay to pay for the schooling, then you get all the trips the guys higher on he board do not want. That puts you on the road 5-6 days a week, then you might get held up in middle fo now where, then you get dispatchers that think you can cover 500 miles in 5 hours, but then you get in trouble if you get tickets. The moral of my rambling, make sure you get everything in writing and know what you are getting into, becasue if it looks to good to be true, it is.
 
Been driving for over 25 years. Now let me ask you this are you happy with your wife? do you like eating at greassy spoons all the time? Do you like being gone and not see your kids grow up? Do you enjoy taking a shower in strange places? Not to mention the hassle by the D.O.T. and a general dislike of the profession by the public. And the trucking company's game they play, will promise you anything to keep you going down the road reguardless if you make any money or not[ just as long as they do] most will run you hot and heavy untill you get some miles under your belt and have exp. then you will sit or get the lowest paying loads.Not all are this way but I bet 90% are.Why a young man with a family would want to be a trucker is beyond me.I have drove local now for some years now but only after Ive learned the cold hard facts of life on the road for my self.
 
I did it for about 7 years back in the 70's. It paid well, but they want you on the road all the time. It hasn't changed. 5 x 8 hr. days soon became 5 x 12 hr days. Then the schedule changed to 6 x 12 hr. days. If you pay someone to do your stuff around the property, then what are you really making? I ended up divorced and with a son , who didn't know me. No thanks, I wouldn't do it again......
 
BTDT and still have my class A CDL. I did over the road for a few months but that didn't work out for the family. I then switch to a local driveing job and it was ok.
<ul><li><a href="http://www.geocities.com/trants_mrg/ourhobbyfarm.html">Hobby farm</a></ul>
 
There are alot of truckers in my area that just do local runs and are home every night. BIL hauls for a local fuel company and used to drive a concrete truck before that. Some local dump trucks running around too. So there are openings in local runs.

The guys makeing long runs make better money but are not home much.
 
I have done my fair share of being a commercial tourest be it being a owner operator or just a dumb company driver . This is the only job in the world that the min. you park your donkey behind the wheel you become a crimenal as anybody with a badge gun or knife can screw with ya . Ya have to be a New York lawer to even try and stay up with the laws and like others have said the companys will run ya to death and as far away form home as they can send ya plus keep ya out there . Way back when it was still fun and ya did not run yourself to death we thought that if ya ran a 100000 miles a year you were working way to hard well that all changed back in the mid 80's and if ya look at used trucks today given there age they are avg. 200000 miles a year and better . Now by the law you are only suppose to drive for 11 hours and if ya can avg. 52 MPH that only 572 miles a day so you do the math on how many hours a day that ya are realy driven to cover 200000 miles a year. Sure don't leave much home time .
 
i have had my cdl since i was 18, ran alot of trucks down the road, i have put in my two weeks at work, i am a salesman home every night, and got a job as a delivery driver for a equipment company making more than i am at my sales job, my uncle does it but is never home, and he makes alot, you will get alot of feedback but there are some jobs were you came make alot and be home and some your make alot and are not home, just my two since
 
"Way back when it was still fun".

That must of been way after my time then. I drove a 69 Freightliner COE, no A/C, no power steering, no cruise control, no air ride.

I typically left home on Sunday afternoons, drove all night, waited half the day to unload in 90 degree heat with no A/C, beat it to the nearest pay phone to get on the board, ended up settling on a crappy low pay load, missing most if not all the days meals, drinking warm water out of my thermos, stealing a 30 minute nap while some towmotor jockey loaded my trailer, and drove my butt off all night for the next drop. Maybe stopping at the oasis to get a quick shower once a week. I smelled sweet by the end of the week!!!

Think he still wants to be Sonny Pruitt????
 
I have held a Class A CDL for about 10 1/2 years My first job was deleivering ice for a local ice co it lasted 3 months until the weather turned cold. That gave me just enought experance to get a job through a Temp CO. I still work for the Co they hired me to I had two weeks with the Temp Co and the Co I work for had enought hrs with them to hire me away. For close to 9 1/2 years I delievered Auto Parts for a Bumper to Bumper Auto Parts Co over night in a 6 wheeler out of Springfield, MO My Co restruchered in March this year. Several Warehouse people lost their jobs I now take a Trailer Truck to our Tulsa,OK Warehouse each afternoon and get the loads for the RT trucks then The other drivers and I load their trucks when I return so they can run their RTs. I am not qualified to advise you because I have not driven OTR. I was 55 years old when I started and I am 65 now and will keep working as long as I can. I was a Dairy Farmer before and driving a trailer truck was no big deal after pulling goosenecks for years. I do not make a lot of money, but I am home every day.
 
My bro did auto body for 18+ years. He figgered it would be easier on his body to do truckin. He went to school, hired on with Werner. He drove from Romeoville Il to somewhere north of Madison Wi. They expected him to make 3 drops/day IIRC. He ended up working 18-20 hours/day most times and made a tad less than his auto body job. After 18 months, he's back in auto body and drives weekends when the local farmers need help.





 
NO. no. no.

Take it from someone who has had a family into the trucking business. And a brother who continues to be a truck driver although it has pretty much ruined his life.


Save yourself from the worst job on earth.

You'd never see your kids because you'd have to be working your arse off 24/7. You'll die at a young age.

 
A friend of mine was a truck driver for 4 years. It is a tough life, going all over the USA in a big rig. Sleeping in a truck and showering in a rest stop. He didnt see his wife for over a month when he first started, he worked for Stevens transport out of Dallas, then JB hunt and then a local comp. in Michigan. He left the trucking business last summer. He started making $11/hour in 2003 and by 2006 was salaried at $52K/year, but was home on the weekends to see his wife and was lucky to be home in the weekdays.
 
All of the answers you have recieved so far have been on the money.

I graduated from high school in June of 1960 and two weeks later I was driving trucks interstate. I drove local and long distance for 10 years, then I went to work for a teamster LTL carrier. I retired in 2003 with a very good pension. I have been in 49 states and parts of Canada. I was very lucky to not have been involved in any major accidents, but I have see my share of them.

Having said all that, I would tell you to RUN, NOT WALK away from anything that looks like a truck. As others have said, between the hours, D.O.T, Cops, Dispatchers, Scales, Cell phones, traffic, Haz-Mat requirements, lousey roads, bad customer dock help, and not being home sometimes when your family needs you. The good old days of truck driving is long gone.

If you can make a reasonably good living in another profession, I would tell you to not become a truck driver. MHO.
 
You will have no life of your own, no family life, no time off, no time with the kids, No base ball games with the kids, most likely the wife will leave. The price of fuel has sent many driver owners to the showers and still paying for the truck and not have it. Look at what you think you will clear on the road after expencies not cover by the company and see what the take home cash will be for a non truck job. Chances are the non truck job will pretty much be the same.

If you are hot to drive. Many want part time drivers mostly week ends. Give this a try while you have a steady pay day during the week.

Common thread message by all is a BIG NO.
 
And I'm gonna throw another log on your fire...

Growing up, my father was a charter motorcaoch driver. Spent 30 years on the road. He always said that driving a bus was a little easier, beucase they always loaded themselves.

HOWEVER... As someone else mentioned... He was hardly ever home. There were no baseball games, no fishing trips, and anytime he had vacation time, he wanted to stay home and rest, because he was on the road all the time. I loved my father for all the miles he put in to support his family, but I rarely saw him. Don't do that to your kids. If you want to be around to watch them grow up, I'd stay out of the trucks.
 
my dad drove truck hualing hogs, trucks and cream when i was small never saw him. he then hauled milk when i was a little older he wold leave before we got up in morning often wouldn't get home until we had gone to bed.
i had an uncle that farmed quit that and drove truck for a long time. after he quit that he once said can't make any money farming and not much more trucking (he was owner operator).he then drive for someone else who sent him out with a trailer that broke in 2 for him. dumped a load of steel on hiway which was closed for several hours. he lost his license over that thought he was going to jail. he had a bunch of people mad at him over that mess.
 
Well lets see here lets go on back to 1964 and a B60 Mack with the big old theromodin GAS burner twin screw with a 5 and 4 pullen a 50 ton rogers lowboy with a D9G setting on the deck Blade and ripper attached pushen somewhere close to the 46-50 ton mark on the deck pullen a long hill on a nice HOT summer day the big stick in 2nd. the littel stick in lo Lo and thinking about droppen to 1st direct but oh that would mean that i would have to get back in the cab and the door would close and i would have to take hold of them two sticks and even thru your gloves they were HOT as back then when ya got her in the gear that you thought would get up over that hill ya would open the door and step on on the fuel tank and with the right foot flat on the pedal and one hand on the wheel you would drag up over the hill at maybe 10-12 MPH and the heat comming off that old engine was unreal . Now that old girl had no air ride seat and no power steering and other then a hand brake no parking brake and a set of spring if ya wanted to call them that that even with a ( on she rode rough . then there was the old Fords White Dodges and the rest of them old trucks that ya fryed in the summer and froze in the winter or the old crackerboxes Oh yea them old trucks would SEPERATE THE MEN FORM THE BOYS . Around 68 trucks started getting better and by 77 they were realy getting nice as long as they were a conventional. Never had a like for a cabover but did drive a few . Till the day i came out of one and my foot slipped off the step and i came down on the ft. axel hub and tore my back up . spent quite a few years haulen coal over some of the worste roads one could find . But i would have to say that the FUN years were from the 70 to 80 as the guys that i ran with we did not look at it like a job , it was a adventure and it was sorta the OUTLAW days Run heavy run fast and the money was there i usualy ran monday thru friday and when i went on the road with my new truck i was pullen a Coal bucket running 27 states and the freight was there and so was the BIG bucks as we had no freight that paid less then 1.75 a mile on a legal load . I hauled feed Salt out of Cleveland O. to points west and hauled either reason sand or scrap back , one round was almost 4 grad. and run two a week .
 
I had enough with the inconsiderate 4 wheelers on the roads today..Used to be, people would give you a break once in a while..Not any more.. Years ago , I was hauling a Cat 955 on a Carry-all for Mahnen Machinery in Brunswick , Ohio..I was on my way from 71 to Old 21 to a freight terminal construction job..Heading to Penninsula, there's a large hill with a township road to the right..A school bus was waiting at the side road..I was running a REASONABLE speed so I could make the hill on the other side..At the last second , the bus pulls out right in front of me..I looked ahead and saw no on-coming traffic and headed for the left lane , barely missing the bus..I slowed and looked in my mirror , saw the bus coast to a stop and just ease into the shallow ditch...The only thing that really sticks to mind was looking at the kids in the bus as I passed them up...Got on the company radio and got help pronto..The bus driver had a heart attack that caused this frackus...I got back and informed my immediate boss that he should stick that "one stack Mack with no shack on the back" right where the sun don't shine..I gave up my Chaufers License for a regular license..Then this job with the township came up and guess what?? You got it..I had to go take my CDL test....good luck....
 
Find something local with daily runs where you are home every night. Start with something like this first. Prewarning that even these jobs can make for a long day but alot of them have weekends off. If you have a good family and are concerned about time with them a regular 9-5 job would be better. Family comes first!
 
if you got a family, get a local job, they mean more than a job like trucking, i just retired after being a owner operator for 40 years, i sure missed alot in my life by not being home, your grandchildren grow up you dont see them, the new rules are 11 hrs driving and they sure want you to do it. you spend alot of time loading and unloading, and the dispatchers still want you to go. my xl classic is in back yard, and i;m bored, but am going to get a local job driving a dump truck, home everynight.
 
I'll throw in my 2 cents here I'm 31 My main career in working with my wife on our small dairy. I got my Class A CDL bout 2 years ago mainly because of the new DOT regs for hauling. During the last 2 years I've basically have fallen into more part time "driving" jobs then I can handle. I drive/driven dump trucks, log trucks, tractor trailers carrying various local products, and currently a school bus. I averaged about $15,000/year from these part time jobs. I personally enjoy the School bus driving, It's easy money, you get to drive some of the best maintained vehicles on the road(no DOT stops). There is a huge demand right now for people to work in pupil transportation.
 
I learned on a Triplex in the 60's in an R Mack. We hauled limestone out of a quarry. Never knew how much we were haulin. If it wouldn't make it up the hill there was a dozier to pull it up. Pulled a flat bed and dry van after that.
 
With over 26 years and counting of looking threw a windshield to make a living; I feel this is one subject I can put my 2 cents in on.

While there are many ways for a company to get over on new drivers it would take more space than available here to show you the pitfalls.

The common man and woman that drives a car or pickup either does not know about how trucks work or they are in to much of a rush to be considerate of you so it makes for some interesting days when driving in the city.

Do not know what you call good money but most class A drivers start at 40,000 a year (city) and go up from there (over the road). But you need to subtract the fact that most meals will be eaten at a restaurant when on the road so it cost more to eat.

City jobs where you are home daily can be harder to find with no experience so you will be gone a lot at first. You can increase your chances of getting a city job by doing things others would rather not do like hauling gasoline to stations; but here again the new guy usually works nights and sleeps days when everyone else is awake.

If you really want to be a driver get use to the fact that every thing is the truck drivers fault. The car runs into you but yet it is the truck drivers fault.

Your actions on the job will affect your personal money. You get a speeding ticket in the truck and your car insurance goes up.

While I have supported my family for years I love to drive. And that love to drive is what keeps you in a truck for years. If it is just another job to make a pay check you will never last.

My advise is go to trade school and be a plumber or a A/C repair man. Have you seen what those guys charge?????????????
 
Driving is just like everything else out there you bust your butt for nothing there is one painful learning curve and no matter what the females b!tch and complain bacause you are never home and they have to do something that you used to handle . Thats why there is always an exwife in every truckers story or 3 . but there is money to be made but it costs a bunch to live on the road as well you have to eat if you smoke you pay for a lot of things for the truck out of your pocket like scale fees at a truck stop after loading to see if your legal and other minor things like tools and little things like light bulbs and wait unto a month to get paid back .so you will be ahead in the game just finding a local job that pays 12.00 per hour by the time you figure all the hours you put in in a week behind the wheel and just waiting to load and unload it all work it may average out to 5-6.00 per hour .so all in all your never going to get ahead ever .I drove for one local company JT knows who they are he see's there trucks sitting at the volvo dealer by his business I would drive 55-6500 miles a week and never leave IL figure all those hours and if I was lucky I brought home 650-700 a week . after all this rambling this is what I have to say you can make better money as a shift mgr at McDonalds than driving a truck
 
I drove OTR for a little over 2 years ending in 1993 or so. At that point my kids were small and I wanted to be home each day to see them. The benefit of truck driving are that there are plenty of jobs: some very good, some very bad. Pay has increased so that you CAN bring home a good paycheck.

If you drive OTR, learn to carry a cooler and eat cheaply. You don't eat three meals a day at a restaurant now, don't do it if you drive OTR. Keep track of your expenses and make certain you're reimbursed for company related expenses like tolls and scale receipts.

In today's world, driving illegally (like I used to do) would be a scary proposition because of the liability involved. An at fault accident when you've been driving too long and you're looking at jail time.

Overall the potential to make money is there. Normally you can't make the money if you're not driving, but many companies are attempting to offer opportunities to be home more often.

If you like a lot of time by yourself, trucking may be for you. If you are a social animal, probably not.

Think long and hard about it. I also used to be a director of recruiting for a trucking company so I know a little about things from that angle.

Drop me an e-mail and I'd be glad to discuss things more if you like.

Tim
 
Leland, 5500 miles a week, that's 785 miles a day 7 days a week. You were one truckin' son of a gun. I have been out there for 33 years and I'm afraid I couldn't hold a candle to you. Tom
P.S. That's over 285,000 miles a year. Truck on buddy.
 
Well now son, if you would give up life as a nice guy for money (which is only promised) I feel sorry for you. I'm one of those dumb asses that did and Also had three divorces (They said you're never home) and I wasn't. About Four and a half MILLION miles later I'm retired. Teamster. Good penson. Had lots of fun when I started hauling cows To Clovis and Hereford and Greely and Chicago (for slaughter) dairy cows out of Wisconsin down to Fla. But then it's on to dry freight. Fun over with. Just turn wheels and look at white lines,dodge cars, drunks, kids, tractors.
As everybody knows some of those farmers didn't have a clue. Weekends were fun too with people pulling their boats some with no lights. Used to see women in their car alone and I thought "their husband is probably working". After a divorce I thought she's probably divorced a damn truck driver. In my openion trucking changed with CB radios. Ever Tom, Richard, and Harry started driving or I should say trying to drive and talk. Now I know you're going to do whatever you want.....BUT I would rather die and go to H--l than to get in anything bigger than a 1 ton pulling a tractor.If you see someone coming to try to hire you shoot him and life will be about as bad as driving a truck. And the funny thing is all my friends that have retired from truckin' say we wasted our life. Nuff said.
Don
 
All advice is good advice.Stay away from trucks.I drove for 20 years.I can say for the last 8 of that 20 I hated it.Every time I tryed to get a job other then driving they would ask"What can you do other than drive".You have read enouph storys,no need for any of mine.They are the same only different names.I no longer drive and I don't miss the trucks at all.Oh,and the adds that say you can make 50,000 a year. I did it,but,it took me 20 years to do it.Like someone else said. The 20 years I drove was 20 wasted years.
 
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