Plant I work at is closing.Thinking about truck driving school....

Great job- minimum wage and all the hours you can stand LOL.

Good way to have nu life at all...

Truck driving school!?!?!?!? Good LORD does everything require a degree nowadays??

What happened to just showing up and being willing to work?

huh? minimum wage?

I drove over the road for a year with USA Truck.

You average about $15.00 an hour with a company.

The various trucking companies will sponser you(pay in full) for your school if you agree to work for them for at least a year. You definitly want to go this route, out of pocket most schools are a going to charge good couple thousand dollars.

Your best plan would be do your year OTR and then try to find local work. CocaCola/Pepsi or your local beer distributor, grocery chaines, etc.

I would not recomend staying OTR if you have a family, you are gona all the fucking time.

Last Edited by Frank Frankson on 05/30/2013 09:25 AM

Ask any truck driver- divide the hours you put in by the $$$ you make... TERRIBLE way to make a living.

Not always true.

I get paid by the mile running freight trains from Indianapolis to almost Cleveland.

I thought truckers got paid by the mile.

They do.

Midnight to 4 or 5am -America Trucker's Radio 700 WLW Cincinnati, Ohio
Listen and or call in for advice from real truckers on the road.

Btw OP, just to be clear, I am definitly not recomending OTR trucking as a profession.

My father in law is making bank. He worked for 2 years for a company and now he hauls his own loads. Brings home several thousand a month, he's only gone for a day or two at a time. My guy was recently considering getting into it also, only thing that would suck is hed be home less.

Go for it OP my dad drove for 45 years. He loved it. Made a good living to and he was home every night, and off on Sat and Sun. He worked for Conway Freight, brought home about 1100 a week.

When you first start out you probably want make as much but stay with it, until you learn the ropes.

If you are mechanically inclined go into the trades. You will make a much better living and never have to worry about not having work

Last Edited by YaRight on 05/30/2013 09:57 AM

Get your CDL, buy your own truck, and work for yourself. You'll make a lot more money that way.

The truckers who said minimum wage is correct .You do get paid by the mile,but you generally dont get paid for loading /unloading,fueling ,blown tires,ridiculous paperwork,etc.etc.Ive done it for nineteen years,there's no money in it generally speaking.I can spot the other truckers on here cause they know .Two minimum wage jobs would be better .

Happen to hear a couple of guys just about to complete truck driving school talking to a couple of other guys that have been in it for awhile. the veteran drivers were a team that drove loads one way then were provided with bus tickets back to the freight center. they drove loads through mountains in all kinds of weather. they got 60k a year but they also said that it was white knuckle (scary) driving and the company did not hire rookies. they told the rooks their best bet was to drive for Schneider or J.B. Hunt or maybe driving a water hauling truck in the oil patch. they also said that the reason there are so many trucking jobs open is because of the long hours, low pay and the fact that it was easy to loose your commercial license for the slightest infraction. if you drive local and get home every night you can do ok but it's a lot of city driving so the four wheelers will drive you crazy. if you are over the road forget about a wife, you will be married to the open road, sleeping in your truck at a truck stop, paying $10 bucks for a shower, making time with lot lizards, and eating commercial food.

you could try to catch on with UPS or some of the big food companies. knew a guy that hauled 40k pounds of ketchup from the plant to the distribution center and was home every other night.

Schools can be expensive. some fees are not refundable..look at all the ratings before u get into this...

how bout become a security gaurd..get your open carry..

I hate driving, people are assholes and don't know how to follow traffic rules.

You will be competing for jobs against lots of unemployed drivers with tons of road hours....not to mention Mexican truckers....

i read somewhere to expect to make about 40k 1st yr

what other profession would you guys recommend?if you were in a dying field?

Recovery Summer!
Green Shoots!

The pay system sucks for all the time sacrificed. What the guy above was saying that if you include all the hours waiting to get loaded/unloaded, along with traffic delays, foul weather, dot inspections, time to fuel , time to route plan and do paper work, it comes out to around 10 bucks an hour.
A dedicated route would get rid of the stress of route planning and the fear of missing an exit but those usually go to more experienced drivers. Yes, missing an exit is a fear, if you're not familiar with the interstate and each exit, if you take the wrong kind of exit you could end up on a two way road, not knowing if or when you'll find somewhere large enough to turn around, or end up taking out some low wires or taking out a road sign in a residential area. Turning around a semi rig isn't as simple as doing a quick U-turn or going around the block.
Otherwise if you like driving, try it for a year, a job is a job.