Register a SA Forums Account here!
JOINING THE SA FORUMS WILL REMOVE THIS BIG AD, THE ANNOYING UNDERLINED ADS, AND STUPID INTERSTITIAL ADS!!!

You can: log in, read the tech support FAQ, or request your lost password. This dumb message (and those ads) will appear on every screen until you register! Get rid of this crap by registering your own SA Forums Account and joining roughly 150,000 Goons, for the one-time price of $9.95! We charge money because it costs us money per month for bills, and since we don't believe in showing ads to our users, we try to make the money back through forum registrations.
 
  • Locked thread
iroguebot
Feb 15, 2001

Nerf this!

Howdy goon folk, I just checked through pages 1-8 of A/T and all of BFC, couldn't find any truck driving threads.

Anywho, I'm a 29 year old goon that's been working lovely fast food and retail jobs my entire life, I just finished up a associates degree at the local community college, but sort of having doubts about myself putting in another 2 or 3 years for another degree that I may end up not really enjoying, and spending about 4 to 5 times the amount for tuition just so do as such. Basically, I'm at a crossroads where I feel 30 creeping up on me, and am still living paycheck to paycheck. I personally have very little in means of friends and family, my life is pretty much working and World of Warcraft, so I can very much adapt to being alone by myself for days or weeks at a time.

I'm curious what sort of things people could tell me about being a long haul truck driver; would it be best to get my CDL at my community college, or look for a company that would train and/or pay for my training, I know some of these companies require you to drive for them for a year or two in return, but typically you're free to look elsewhere after you get a bit of experience under your belt. I suppose my long term goals would be getting time on the road in, and then eventually trying to get something local here in Houston so I can be at home every night.

What's the internet services like for laptops? How likely am I to get murdered? Tips, suggestions?

Adbot
ADBOT LOVES YOU

Not Wolverine
Jul 1, 2007
Go play some Euro Truck Sim for a while to cure yourself of any desire to become a truck driver. I used to think it might be a fun idea, then I played that game for a couple weeks and I have no desire to set foot in a semi again.

There have been threads on here a long time ago from truckers, I remember reading one from InterceptorV8. Basically you can go to a community college to get a Class A CDL, or you can go sign up with a company willing to train you in experience for a couple years of slave labor. You will still often get screwed a lot, like you could have a load from Dallas to LA paid per loaded mile meaning your return trip is unpaid unless you can find a load going back. Similarly, the company will calculate mileage based on how the bird flies ignoring the fact that all roads might veer around a big mountain adding 50 unpaid miles to your trip. Working from a company also means working dispatch a psychotic bitch who cares only about profit with the ability to set off an alarm inside your truck if they think you're not driving fast enough through the ice/flood/tornado/fuel shortage. On the bright side, you will get to work in a pretty cool truck everyday (this will wear off by the end of the first week), you will drive through beautiful country side such as the barren wastelands of Kansas, and you will get to explore all the slums and lovely industrial districts of America. Your CB radio will provide you an audio version off all the worst of GBS and FYAD and truck stops will provide a convenient location to get herpes, a shanking, or both at the same time! :haw:

Not Wolverine fucked around with this message at 16:36 on Dec 21, 2014

adorai
Nov 2, 2002

10/27/04 Never forget
Grimey Drawer
buy a cb radio and sit in a truckstop for a few hours before committing to this.

JnnyThndrs
May 29, 2001

HERE ARE THE FUCKING TOWELS
Basically, being a long- haul trucker is incompatible with having a life.

If you truly have nothing going on that ties you to one place(buddies, GF, structured hobbies, etc) and you're OK spending 85% of your time in a prison-cell-sized space , you might do okay.

When you're a newly- licensed driver, the only option you have is to hire on with one of the big companies, because they self- insure and no insurance company will touch a driver with less than a year or two of driving.

You'll spend a couple weeks, maybe a month riding with a trainer who(hopefully) will show you the fine points of piloting 80K lbs across the country legally and safely(hopefully).
Then you're given a beat-to-poo poo tractor with 600,000 miles on it that smells like an ashtray and handed a load and good luck.

Forget all the crap your told about making big money - as a solo newbie, you'll max out at $30-40k/year if you 're relatively lucky, which sounds pretty good until you realize that you're, in effect, working 24 hrs a day for three weeks straight. A couple days off, then back in the cab again, and there's no sick time, holiday pay, nothing. Interstate truckers are exempt from any government labor protection, you're basically in the same position as Chinese Foxconn employees.

The standard practice in the industry is one day off for every week worked, which is worse than it sounds because it's very unreliable as to WHEN you get those days - you might ask for time off and , when the day comes, be 1700miles away from home and not get there for a week after you were supposed to. Plays hell with relationships, appointments, holidays, etc.

Probably the worst part is that you spend so much time unpaid, but realistically unable to leave the truck and DO anything. You're either at truck stops a bunch of miles from anything enticing, stuck at an industrial park on the edge of some shithole city waiting for your load, or at a customer's site waiting. None of this time is paid, really, occasionally you'll get a few hours paid at 12$/hr, but this is rare.

If you can make it through your first couple years without going crazy(seriously, the solitude makes people insane) and without black marks on your DOT driving record, you'll start to have options for better jobs- regional/local routes, heavy haul, better companies, etc. And if you're willing to drive teams, you can make better money, but it's very difficult for most people to adapt to that "truck is moving 24/7" lifestyle, and jamming two people in the cab of a semi for weeks at a time unless they're really good friends is a bitch.

Nowadays, much of the 'free and easy' part of trucking is gone - the company can and does monitor every facet of your truck at all times with the Qualcomm satellite device that nearly all long haul trucks are equipped with. Exceed the company-mandated speed limit? Expect an rear end-chewing five minutes later. Non- independent truckers are micromanaged to an extent that would surprise George Orwell, and the newish electronic logs make it even worse. It ain't like those old country songs anymore.

There's a reason why over half of new CDL holders don't make it a year, but for some rootless folk, it's a great life. Personally, the 18 months and 180,000+ miles changed my life in all sorts of interesting an unpredictable ways, and I'm glad I did it.

JnnyThndrs fucked around with this message at 00:02 on Dec 22, 2014

EAB
Jan 18, 2011
I did long haul trucking for just a mere 6 months before I landed a spectacular oilfield trucking gig... but here's what I can make of my 6 months being an OTR slave...

Don't get your CDL through any company, basically they will pay you even less than the normal crap rear end pay and you are committed to work for them for a year for what will amount to less than minimum wage. I shelled out 4k in savings to get my cdl.... you can get them for a lot less at a community college, none near me had this option.

I drove for Schneider, the big ugly orange trucks and trailers you see. They were actually very very good with my time off. If I scheduled any time off, I always got home in time for it, and got all of it. They also had reimbursement for my trucking school. The pay is crap, If I had stayed the whole year I probably would've only made 35k, which is pitiful for all the pain and misery and hours you put in. The absolute worst thing that drove me nuts and made me seriously look for other jobs was empty trailer hunting. Despite the fact that all of our trailers have satellite gps tracking or whatever, there would be days where they'd send me to grab an empty trailer and I'd drive 12 hours in snow and ice to empty trailers that were grabbed hours even days ago. And you don't get paid poo poo when this happens. Drove me absolutely insane.

The gist of it is.... don't stay at any megacarrier for more than a year. They are straight up exploiting you. Only use it as a "internship", a gateway to better trucking jobs. If you can, there are flatbed trucking companies that hire people out of school. Flatbed is the way to go, I wish I could go back in time and join a flatbed company instead of Schneider... you get paid more, you get paid for loading and unloading, dropping, tarping, to give you an idea of the difference, you will probably make 30k driving dry van and refer your first year, and you will make 50k driving flatbed your first year. There's other perks... like the fact that you will get exercise, a better feeling of accomplishment from binding and strapping down a load, and basically, like chemical tanker drivers, you're the elite of trucking. Flatbed companies also generally give you much nicer trucks with APUs and fridges and inverters and microwaves and stuff. I got none of those at schneider, nor was I allowed to install them on my truck.

Flatbed companies that hire straight out of school to consider:
TMC
System Transport
Melton
Watkins Shepard
Roehl

Flatbed companies to AVOID AT ALL COSTS:
Western Express
Swift [they mightve just shut down their flatbed division though...]
Schneider [they just got back into the flatbed game and LOL good luck with that you orange fucks]
Tbh I don't know much about prime but I havent heard good things so I'm gonna put Prime.

Here are some great trucking "endgames" to consider...
-Flatbed owner operator
-LTL trucking
-Local trucking gigs in general
-Oilfield Trucking

Flatbed owner operator is a great route to go if you're an entrepreneurial person. I have a friend who brings in $140k a year after fuel and maintenance. His startup costs were $30k, which if you have good credit, you could finance those startup costs. This is where I might be in another year or so. The pride and satisfaction of flatbed, with incredible income potential. If you love the 48-state open road, this is a great path to go.

LTL Trucking, companies like ABF, Old Dominion, Estes, R+L, Reddaway, SAIA, and a few others... These are the daycab trucks you see, usually at night, that have double or triple trailers. These companies are the holy grail of company driving in my opinion, you will make anywhere from 60k on the low end to 100k+ on the high end depending on route and seniority. Full benefits. Home every night or every other night. The only con to this job I can think of is that.... you're basically driving in circles. Which can get really boring and tedious. Also driving triples is a little spookyscary compared to just having one trailer, but not really a big deal I suppose.

There are also lots of local trucking gigs, mainly for construction, that opens up to you after having 1-2 years of experience under your belt. You can expect to make around 50k with these jobs. These kind of jobs include belly dump, water trucks, fuel hauling, flatbedding construction equipment, etc. If you gotta get your hands a bit dirty this might be a good route but I'd recommend LTL over these still.

And oilfield trucking. This is what I do. This is probably some of the most dangerous trucking you can do, and you gotta deal with some crazy stupid poo poo, but they pay you handsomely for it. There's all sorts of different trucking jobs in the oilfield too... water hauling, crude oil hauling, sand hauling, pipe hauling, the list goes on, and theres something in there that you will probably enjoy. The cons: lots of offroad driving that will rattle your brain, treacherous driving conditions, exposure to toxins. There are even some outfits that hire cdl school graduates!

So in short...
Join one of the above listed flatbed companies as your starter company. Don't let yourself get exploited by these cunty megacarriers. People keep feeding their warm feeble bodies to the megacarriers and then nothing changes. And it hurts the entire trucking industry.
Try and get an LTL job ASAP, or become an O/O flatbedder asap. And if you're the adventurious type, maybe pursue an oilfield trucking gig. Also I only turn my CB Radio on for loadouts to communicate with the scalehouse. Otherwise its a waste... unless you're into hearing the ramblings of old conservative farts... I keep that poo poo turned off.

Pryor on Fire
May 14, 2013

they don't know all alien abduction experiences can be explained by people thinking saving private ryan was a documentary

Every trucker I know speaks only in terms of which corporate whip cracker is better than the other and which chain truck stop is better than the other and which franchise fast food is better than the other. I understand how it all works now but man I really wish I could talk to someone who did this job in the 70s or earlier, I'll bet it was at least interesting.

Otto Von Jizzmark
Dec 27, 2004
Is it still all about meth and lot lizards?

Klaus Kinski
Nov 26, 2007
Der Klaus
I can confirm that driving trucks for mining/construction/oil related business is way better than driving long haul.

Sarrisan
Oct 9, 2012
Hope OP doesnt mind me asking my own question, but how important is the school you go to? I'm a few months out from starting this career path myself and I'm considering a local school, AIT, in Vegas. They are pricy at 10k for 4 months but they gave a great sales pitch, and "guarantee" a job, most of whom will supposedly cover 90% of the costs. They are also acredited and elegible for federal student loans, which is cool.

Any opinions?

JnnyThndrs
May 29, 2001

HERE ARE THE FUCKING TOWELS

Sarrisan posted:

Any opinions?

Sounds a little pricey, I paid $4300 four years ago to a three- month program school with a good rep. Same deal with the federal school loans and the guarantee of a job.

flakeloaf
Feb 26, 2003

Still better than android clock

Otto Von Jizzmark posted:

Is it still all about meth and lot lizards?

And child porn. Every laptop you pull out of a cab will be stuffed with child porn.

viewtyjoe
Jan 5, 2009

Sarrisan posted:

Hope OP doesnt mind me asking my own question, but how important is the school you go to? I'm a few months out from starting this career path myself and I'm considering a local school, AIT, in Vegas. They are pricy at 10k for 4 months but they gave a great sales pitch, and "guarantee" a job, most of whom will supposedly cover 90% of the costs. They are also acredited and elegible for federal student loans, which is cool.

Any opinions?

These right here indicate what we would normally call "raping your wallet with a power tool" or a for-profit institution. They probably feed into some lovely megacarrier and you'll be lucky to make $30-40k/yr as indicated earlier in the thread. On top of that, you'll have picked up $10k of debt that is functionally impossible to get rid of should trucking not work out for you. Unless they have some serious written agreements in regards to the "guaranteed" job and covering 90% of your costs (if you work for three years, I would guess, or something to chain you to their company) you're better off going to a community college/tech school.

Sarrisan
Oct 9, 2012

viewtyjoe posted:

These right here indicate what we would normally call "raping your wallet with a power tool" or a for-profit institution. They probably feed into some lovely megacarrier and you'll be lucky to make $30-40k/yr as indicated earlier in the thread. On top of that, you'll have picked up $10k of debt that is functionally impossible to get rid of should trucking not work out for you. Unless they have some serious written agreements in regards to the "guaranteed" job and covering 90% of your costs (if you work for three years, I would guess, or something to chain you to their company) you're better off going to a community college/tech school.

Don't know about contracts, but they seem to mostly cater to Warren and Covenant Transport, others too but apparently those two had regional managers visit the school every couple of weeks or something. Warren also had a nice little video to watch and fancy numbers to be impressed by (Every one of their trucks is less than 2 years old, apparently?).

Thanks for the advice on pricing. I'll keep looking. I'm mostly concerned about getting a decent education, since driving a giant huge truck seems awfully dangerous if you don't learn properly.

EAB
Jan 18, 2011

Sarrisan posted:

Hope OP doesnt mind me asking my own question, but how important is the school you go to? I'm a few months out from starting this career path myself and I'm considering a local school, AIT, in Vegas. They are pricy at 10k for 4 months but they gave a great sales pitch, and "guarantee" a job, most of whom will supposedly cover 90% of the costs. They are also acredited and elegible for federal student loans, which is cool.

Any opinions?

It doesn't matter where or how you get a cdl, tons of companies want you to be their steering wheel holding fleshbag, convicted criminal, dui, it doesn't matter, someone will hire you... thats how AIT can blab about their job guarantee.... cause if you are alive and have a cdl, you are GUARANTEED a job... and 10k is way way too much for a cdl. What the hell do you do in a 4 month cdl school??? Just get your cdl as cheap as possible and learn the rest on the job. I'd recommend just going out of state and getting a cdl at a community college. I went to southwest truck driving training in Vegas.... I remember seeing those AIT guys running around,, can't believe they paid 10k for school.

Otto Von Jizzmark posted:

Is it still all about meth and lot lizards?

I've been to soooo many truckstops, even all the ones here in the oilfield with truckers making 6 figures, where you'd think lot lizards would be in swarms.... but nope. I've only ever seen them once, in Michigan. Before that truckstop I was beginning to think lot lizards were a myth.

EAB fucked around with this message at 04:12 on Dec 24, 2014

A TURGID FATSO
Jan 27, 2004

Here's to ya, JACKASS
I've been a CDL driver for the better part of six years (three of them being OTR and regional) and if there is one thing that I always tell new drivers, or those looking to get into driving it's this: This is an industry that can be very hard on newcomers because a lot of the bigger companies love to fly their perks of signing with them in your face (lots of home time, sign-on bonus, new equipment, etc), but you have to realize that this is just a smoke screen because when they have trucks that are not running it means that they are losing money.

Are you prepared to deal with long, stressful days where you do nothing but sit in traffic? How about not being able to see family or friends for months at a time? Putting in hours off the clock so that you have the exact route or directions to pick up or drop off a load? Most importantly, not letting your mind wander because you are driving a behemoth that can weigh up to 80,000 lbs and be responsible for not only injuring or killing yourself, but those travelling around you, as well?

I'll freely admit that last part isn't as tough as it sounds once you get some miles under your belt, but it is still a very real thing that can happen if you become too complacent.

One thing that cannot be stressed enough is DO NOT GET BULLIED INTO DOING ILLEGAL poo poo BY YOUR DISPATCHER OR SUPERVISOR! Are they the ones running that load right now? No. If it's so god drat important to them then tell them to come out here and do it themselves, because this is YOUR livelihood that we're talking about here, not theirs. The DOT will nail your rear end hard if you don't come correct, and it gets worse if you happen to get into an accident whilst doing illegal poo poo because you are then royally hosed.

These are only a few things I've picked up during my many journies, but there is far more to be discussed as well. However, I'm short in time so I'll come back and post some more if this thread doesn't die off quickly like they always do.

Immolat1on
Sep 9, 2005

Turk February posted:

One thing that cannot be stressed enough is DO NOT GET BULLIED INTO DOING ILLEGAL poo poo BY YOUR DISPATCHER OR SUPERVISOR! Are they the ones running that load right now? No. If it's so god drat important to them then tell them to come out here and do it themselves, because this is YOUR livelihood that we're talking about here, not theirs. The DOT will nail your rear end hard if you don't come correct, and it gets worse if you happen to get into an accident whilst doing illegal poo poo because you are then royally hosed.

Just curious, what kind of illegal poo poo are we talking about here?

Not Wolverine
Jul 1, 2007

Immolat1on posted:

Just curious, what kind of illegal poo poo are we talking about here?

Going over hours, for every so many hours on duty you have to a rest period which could be up to 8hrs. If the recepiant of goods starts crying because you got caught in a snowpoccalypse dispatch might offer friendly encouragement to deliver the load of dildos on time, but if you drive half asleep you can get in a lot of trouble.. In the old days you could just write bullshit in your logbook to not go over hours but electronic logs can prevent that.

Does piloting 80,000lbs with a 500HP turbo diesel sound fun? Its about as exciting as driving an 8,000lb 50HP economy car.

JnnyThndrs
May 29, 2001

HERE ARE THE FUCKING TOWELS

Turk February posted:

One thing that cannot be stressed enough is DO NOT GET BULLIED INTO DOING ILLEGAL poo poo BY YOUR DISPATCHER OR SUPERVISOR! Are they the ones running that load right now? No. If it's so god drat important to them then tell them to come out here and do it themselves, because this is YOUR livelihood that we're talking about here, not theirs. The DOT will nail your rear end hard if you don't come correct, and it gets worse if you happen to get into an accident whilst doing illegal poo poo because you are then royally hosed.

This is an excellent point. I was always told to make the dispatcher send any dicey instructions over the Qualcomm, since everything sent/received is logged forever.

If they tell you to run something and you're out of hours or overweight or something, they'll tend to do it over your cell; when you insist they hang their rear end out in the breeze, they suddenly get much more legal-minded. If you send a message such as "I cannot run that load legally" and they insist, it's their rear end according to the DOT.

I was lucky as my company was very safety-conscious and played pretty much by the book, but I've heard many horror stories.

MisterOblivious
Mar 17, 2010

by sebmojo

Bacons posted:

Howdy goon folk, I just checked through pages 1-8 of A/T and all of BFC, couldn't find any truck driving threads.


It's in AI

MickeyFinn
May 8, 2007
Biggie Smalls and Junior Mafia some mark ass bitches
You should have a few thousand dollars saved up for when you get out of school. The companies that hire you will take all of your first few paychecks for various reasons and you'll literally have nothing to eat unless you have money or credit. Seriously, my dad is tired of having to feed you guys, please have money saved up.

Shimrra Jamaane
Aug 10, 2007

Obscure to all except those well-versed in Yuuzhan Vong lore.
Who was the poster who got a job doing long haul and posted in some thread over the course of his first few months and you could literally see him go insane in real time?

CannonFodder
Jan 26, 2001

Passion’s Wrench

Klaus Kinski posted:

I can confirm that driving trucks for mining/construction/oil related business is way better than driving long haul.
I can confirm that LTL is way better than driving long haul.

To the OP: Go to a community college truck driving course, you will get more seat time and more one-on-one instruction. One of the guys in my class got his unemployment insurance to pay for it, and some companies will re-imburse you for it, so even the upfront costs can be defrayed. I would suggest something with 2 or 3 months and a good amount of seat time (ASK ABOUT IT, good schools will appreciate the question and bad schools will dodge the question) costing around $3-4k.

When I was hired with CRST I had to take a refresher 1 week course but I also got to see what the regular 2 week course involved for complete rookies and it was a joke. It was a joke, and my roommate that week who was also doing a refresher said it was still better than CR England because there were 3 men to a room instead of 6 and CRST doesn't push the lease purchase program.

That brings me to another point: DO NOT DO A LEASE-PURCHASE PROGRAM!! If you want to get into the owner operator side of the business, you at least need a year of experience before making that leap. If you take that leap, buy a used truck and own that poo poo instead of half owning a truck that can get yanked from you at any moment.



Otto Von Jizzmark posted:

Is it still all about meth and lot lizards?
Meth: probably. I've run into people probably tweaking in the truck stops but I think it's gone down because of E-Logs. Why spend 4 days strung out when you can't double book and cross the country three times?
Lot lizards: still a few out there. In Denver I saw a car drop off two working girls and one walked right up to my door and knocked because I was sitting in the drivers seat with my laptop on the steering wheel reading the SA forums. In Troutdale OR there was a lady walking around in stilettos, in Atlanta I saw a lady with way too short shorts and a dude emerge from the back of a trailer. loving in the trailer. :drat: In Beaver UT I saw a driver drop off two girls who were hitchhiking and I'm just gonna be an rear end and assume they paid with rear end. I drive team with my dad, and he's been asked if he 'needs company' a few times. And of course, there are the XXX stores with ample truck parking.


Crotch Fruit posted:

Does piloting 80,000lbs with a 500HP turbo diesel sound fun? Its about as exciting as driving an 8,000lb 50HP economy car.
BWAAAHHHH
*shift*
BWAAAHHHHHH
*shift*
BWAAAAHHHHHH
*shift*
BWAAAAAHHHHHH
*shift to high range*
*going 15 mph*
BWAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH
*shift*
*going 25 mph*


and so on.

MickeyFinn posted:

You should have a few thousand dollars saved up for when you get out of school. The companies that hire you will take all of your first few paychecks for various reasons and you'll literally have nothing to eat unless you have money or credit. Seriously, my dad is tired of having to feed you guys, please have money saved up.
Well a few thousand may be much but at least have one month of walking money. poo poo is expensive on the road, Walmart is your friend because sometimes they have truck parking (Laredo is an exception) and your first paycheck will come after two weeks of working and it will show up the third week and it might be on some bullshit pay card that you have to either phone in the direct deposit every other week or just get it in cash with a ComCheck.


I'm gonna stop posting for now.

Adbot
ADBOT LOVES YOU

mem
Sep 1, 2005
I have been driving OTR solo for seven months now for Prime Inc. Typing on a cell phone but I'll try to tell you a little about my experience. I haul refrigerated and am a company driver (not lease or owner/op).

I went to Prime not knowing a whole lot, was working in a corporate buying office making around $65k a year and just did not want to do office work anymore. I had never driven a stick, let alone a tractor-trailer. My first week was going through their orientation and getting medical testing, drug testing, obtaining cdl permit which you are responsible for studying and getting yourself. They put you in a hotel room and give you free meals.

I passed all that and found an instructor. This portion of training is unpaid but you can draw $200/wk which you pay back at $25/wk once you start getting paid. I went with the instructor on the road living in his truck for two weeks getting around 100 hours behind the wheel. He started letting me drive on the highway and as I got more comfortable let me do some city driving and even a little backing. Felt like I didn't know poo poo and my shifting was still poor but we headed back in to test for my cdl. I passed the pretrip, backing, and driving test and recieved my cdl.

I kept the same instructor for my second phase of training since we got along well enough and he thought I would be alright to drive and help make him some money. You have to get 30,000 miles team driving (both your miles count towards this). This took six or seven weeks and during this phase I was earning $700/wk and sometimes a little more depending on how many miles we drove. He drove while I slept and vice versa. To be honest this kind of sucked but everything is so new and exciting you will get through it. I was definitely ready to get my own truck by the end of it. You drive ten or eleven hours a day when the loads are available, and sometimes I would be exhausted because it can be difficult to sleep in a moving semi.

After this phase you go back in and spend another week in orientation type classes and then you get a truck of your own and are pretty much thrown to the wolves. Prime has all newer equipment so I got a 2014 freight liner cascadia Evo. It's a lightweight truck and pretty much what most solo company drivers for prime will get. The sleeper berth is smaller and there is less cabinet space than a full size. On the plus side you can back easier than a full size because it's a bit shorter overall, and prime pays you $0.05/mile driven just for being in a lightweight. Company drivers start at $0.38/mile so I get paid $0.43/mile plus fuel bonuses for hitting certain mpgs. I run 2400 - 3000 miles per week.

I love the job. It's a slight pay cut from what I was doing, and you will work 70+ hours per week and be away from home for about four weeks at a time. You will drive when you don't want to. You will be out of your comfort zone driving on mountain passes covered in ice and snow. But you get to see the country, jam some tunes, and talk poo poo on the cb. It beats office drone type work by a lot to me. It really doesn't feel like work to me a lot of the time, but I really enjoy driving.

I plan on driving for prime for at least a year so that I'll be settled on my training cost with them (free if you drive a year, $1800 if six months, $3600 if you get your cdl and leave) and maybe two for experience, then investigate other opportunities. I also have tanker and hazmat endorsements and have used both with prime. To be honest I like working for them, I've been treated fair and they pay better than most of the starter companies. The oldest truck I've seen is 2012 and most people are in 2014 or 2015s. Company lightweight trucks are governed at 58 on the pedal and 62 on the cruise for fuel mileage purposes but that doesn't bother me too much. I enjoy driving and listening to sirius and seeing places I've never seen. Sometimes you get off the interstate and see some breathtaking sites like the Sun setting over Flagstaff Arizona, or driving by Mount Shasta through Lansen national park out in California.

Hopefully this helps you make a decision and I didn't ramble too much, hard to edit in a phone.

  • Locked thread