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Question for Big Sky Redneck and
ruger41
Member Posts: 14,665 ✭✭✭✭
other truckers.
After 22 years with the same company (sales rep selling mufflers to shops) my company was bought out by our competitor and they are not keeping me on. I'm done doing parts sales and places like NAPA/O'Reilys etc would hire me to sell car parts but they don't pay well and most only hire part time. There's a displaced worker program at the local college that will pay for me to get my CDL. The wife & I have discussed me doing this with the plan to do OTR for 1-2 years which will allow us to get debt free (OTR pay is double what I make and my wife has a great job with the State of Washington. After which I will switch to regional or LTL trucking.
I have also considered signing on with Swift, Knight, Prime or England as they have a program that they send you to their CDL school or pay to send you to one and then they take it out of your paycheck over time. I've seen both good and bad reviews from all these companies. Haney is also a local option for me. I have a friend who does LTL in Tacoma and makes great money and is home every night.
I can drive long distances with no problem..drove almost 400 miles a day doing my sales calls. My biggest concern is a forced route into Manhatten, downtown Seattle or downtown San Francisco with a big rig.,everywhere else is fine. I know a lot of the recruiters will blow smoke up your rear about things to get you to join. And lastly I'm sure they all have a no firearms policy. Do they inspect your bags? Does State Patrol if you get pulled over? Any advice is greatly appreciated.
After 22 years with the same company (sales rep selling mufflers to shops) my company was bought out by our competitor and they are not keeping me on. I'm done doing parts sales and places like NAPA/O'Reilys etc would hire me to sell car parts but they don't pay well and most only hire part time. There's a displaced worker program at the local college that will pay for me to get my CDL. The wife & I have discussed me doing this with the plan to do OTR for 1-2 years which will allow us to get debt free (OTR pay is double what I make and my wife has a great job with the State of Washington. After which I will switch to regional or LTL trucking.
I have also considered signing on with Swift, Knight, Prime or England as they have a program that they send you to their CDL school or pay to send you to one and then they take it out of your paycheck over time. I've seen both good and bad reviews from all these companies. Haney is also a local option for me. I have a friend who does LTL in Tacoma and makes great money and is home every night.
I can drive long distances with no problem..drove almost 400 miles a day doing my sales calls. My biggest concern is a forced route into Manhatten, downtown Seattle or downtown San Francisco with a big rig.,everywhere else is fine. I know a lot of the recruiters will blow smoke up your rear about things to get you to join. And lastly I'm sure they all have a no firearms policy. Do they inspect your bags? Does State Patrol if you get pulled over? Any advice is greatly appreciated.
Comments
All those companies named, have more ways to screw you out of your pay than you would think possible. ALL of the recruiters will blow smoke up your rear, it's their job.
It would take me pages to outline the scams they run on their drivers.
Then, all the new regulations, on an already over regulated industry to deal with, and there's more to come.
If you just have to do it, find a way to get your CDL, WITHOUT going to the big company users and getting locked into their contracts. Then find a local/home every night job.
I'm into my 40th year, and well into my second million miles, and I can't wait to be done with it.
Swift will give you lousy training then pay you less than $0.30 per mile while whacking your paycheck for schooling, you will starve making less than $500 per week with them.
Now, you can take this how you want but remember I've pretty much been involved in trucking in one form or another since 1988 and I watch what goes on out there. Out of all the companies with training programs there is one that sticks out as reputable and that is WilTrans in Springfield, MO. Yes, you will pull Prime trailers and deal with Prime freight but they are better than going with Prime themselves as they have a different business model. Thier training program is miles ahead of the other megas and are still small enough to handle things on a personal level.
I would take schooling at a non affiliated school, company sponsored schools are not the best place to learn as they are in a hurry to turn you out. WilTrans will help pay for your schooling as well.
Driving long distance isn't the issue, it's irregular schedules that are hard on a person.
I carry a gun in my truck everywhere, I get nervous in some places like NJ or NY but knock on wood nobody has asked. I've done a ton of research and asked a million questions about guns in commercial vehicles, there is not one written law that states you cannot have one in your truck. People confuse interstate commerce laws with guns in the cab of a truck, they are not the same. Just abide by state laws, don't carry a 500 round Glock with exploding nuclear warhead bullets, carry a gun with mag capacity less than 10 and ammo you are comfy with. Large capacity mags are illegal in some juristictions so keep that in mind.
Most companies won't force you into NYC but you will see other major cities. You will find out real quick just how hostile traffic in cities can be, people hate trucks, they will treat you like a disease and in the cities it is worse. I'll go to NYC but I will fight Lucifer himself before going into Atlanta, I hate that city and they will starve before I bring them groceries!!
Trucking is a different world, for me it's all I know, either driving them or wrenching them, trucks are my life. I complain a lot, things are getting worse, there are a ton of folks who don't understand freedom and liberty taking over this industry amd welcome new overrestrictive regulations, please don't be one of them.
Since you know parts sales, have you considered such places like Kenworth Northwest, or Pape Machinery(John Deere construction equipment)? Both have stores in Yakima. Just a thought.
I will have to check them out. But my forte was passenger vehicles. Never got into tractor or big rig parts.
If you weren't so far away, I would tell you to go to work for my company, out of Columbia South Carolina. G & P Trucking.
They are fair, and treat you right.
I make $65 K a year, driving over the road from Greenville SC to Laredo.
I am in Laredo tonight at the TA Truck Stop. I stay out for 14 days and then am home for 2 days. That is the one thing I dislike about my job, not much time off.
Anyway, my company is too far away for you.
But I am sure there are similar companies in your area. Mine is a rather small company with 700 drivers. I get top pay in the company which is 42 cents a mile.
I like being an over the road truck drive, really like the job.
I will have to check them out. But my forte was passenger vehicles. Never got into tractor or big rig parts.
The displaced worker program should have an avenue for on-job-training, where the system will pay all or part of your wages while the employer trains you. Some employers find that attractive.
Yes, you can. Now, you have to leave your tractor hitched to the trailer. Otherwise, someone may steal your trailer.
But, as you suggest, you can get a cab and go off and see the sights.
You will probably be on a computer log book. Once you park the truck, you must stop for 10 hours. After 10 hours, your dispatcher is going to want you to start rolling again. And, you gotta keep rolling to make money.
So you have a little time for sightseeing, if you wish.
I have never gone off in a cab, I just hang around the truck stops.
This TA here in Laredo has a real nice restaurant. Also has a movie theatre, just watched a pretty good Keneau Reeves movie where he is a hit man.
You can watch movies on your computer as well so, you might wind up like I have, just hanging out in the truck stop and messing around on the computer.
Not sure about England or Prime, But Swift and Night run away from them.
This was 5 years ago. He was getting 36 cents a mile at Swift.
He got his first paycheck. Half of his pay was at 36 cents. But the other half was at 34 1/2 cent a mile!
He called his dispatcher. The dispatcher told him, "Yes, those low pay miles, you were across the Mississippi, driving those easy miles in Texas. We can't pay you full pay for those easy Texas miles."
Unreal.
Also, with my company, if I need a gallon of oil, of course my company pays for it.
At Swift, if you need a gallon of oil, or a gallon of antifreeze, YOU pay for it.
Then, in a few weeks, you get reimbursed on your paycheck.
So, for starters, the driver is making a loan to Swift, two weeks at a pop. Try $20 for a gallon of oil, times two weeks at a time, times the 14,000 Swift drivers, all making interest free loans to Swift.
Further, Swift has a 105 percent driver turnover. Yes, every year, Swift hires about 14,500 drivers.
With all those drivers leaving, fired, quit, whatever, all those drivers leaving every year, if bookeeeping "slipped up" and didn't reimburse for those gallons of oil and antifreeze, Swift could make millions in reimbursement that never happened.
You worked for Swift for 6 weeks like my brother did, you bought 3 gallons of oil your last 2 weeks on the job, you quit, and Swift "forgot" to reimburse.
You gonna find where Swift headquarters is, and drive up there and file a claim in small claims court, for $60? I don't think so.
Swift has some accountants that lay awake at night thinking of ways to screw drivers over. Pitiful.
Well I'll definitely count Swift out. I also do not want to be an owner/operator( don't have a big enough place to store a big rig anyway.
And I do not make a good company driver, I've tried, I can't drive someone elses truck plus I have a problem with authority [:D]
Keep this in mind, damn near every headhunter you talk to is going to give you guarentees of milage, let them talk but know there is no guarentees. You will have good weeks and you will have bad weeks. Starting out is not going to pay as well as someone with some time in the saddle.
Get used to being micromanaged, this is why I cannot drive a company truck. From the creeper cops, revenue rangers and your dispatcher someone is always watching. I'm half a step from being 100% independant and I still don't feel like I'm my own boss, every broker I deal with becomes my ad hoc boss.
I'm retired with over 2 million accident free miles to my credit with awards from the company I drove most of those miles for as well as awards from the American Trucking Association.
It's not that I was good but a combination of skill and mostly luck.
All that said, it don't amount to spit when I look back at what it cost me.
The only friends I had were other truckers I met in truck stops I knew or when I ran up on one loading or unloading some where or at a terminal
Any idea what it's like to be sick with the flu 2000 miles from home or setting in a blizzard with the temp 30 below and the road closed.
Driving sick or in traffic so bad you think your head is going to explode but you gotta keep on truckin.
You can never let your guard down for one second or someone will do something stupid and cause you to wreak.
Fifty years ago people respected truckers but now truckers are looked at as second class citizens. Granted the industry brought a lot of the ill will on it's self but that doesn't make it any easier when your looked down on by most simply because you drive a truck for a living.
Any idea how helpless it feels not being home if your wife or some other family member needed you PDQ and your tied up a thousand miles from home.
I could go on and on about the price you pay to be a freight hauler but I'll just say this. Trucking ain't for everybody. You have to be able to live like a hermit socially and the things you miss/lose at home, you can't put a price on because their priceless.
I made good money and all that but if I had it to do all over again, I think I would just as soon played a piano in a cat house in my home town, make less money and been home with friends and family.
If you have any option other than trucking, think long and hard before you decide to start trucking because(With all due respect sir) you have no idea what your getting involved in.
Dispatch will never let you get within 500 miles of where you live until you're due for time off. Getting real sick, bad tooth, family emergency, and 1000 miles from home? That's when you'll know real frustration and helplessness. Divorce rate is in the top ten of jobs too.
Hot load, 101 fever with the Flu, blizzard conditions, and you're out there ankle deep in slush with frozen fingers trying to install 300lbs of chains.
Local delivery jobs like armilite suggested usually require 1-2yrs experience. U.S. Foods and Sysco are usually unloading at the same hospital docks that I do. It's back breaking work, on par with what I do, and I don't see any drivers older than 40. Same with the beverage drivers.
My 25-year old grandson has worked for Great Wolf Lodge and Lucky Eagle Casino in food services since high-school. He also picked up $600- 700 per week, detailing cars in his spare time. Most of his income went to support a very bad Subaru addiction, but recently he saved up about $5000 and went to truck driving school and got his CDL.
First job was a local (Tumwater) building supply co. that wanted a grunt to do heavy lifting, who just happened to have a CDL if they needed him to take a truck somewhere. He lasted 2 days.
Next and present job is with Mclane Foods, of Lakewood. They are similar to Food Services, or SYSCO. New drivers start on night shift. They drive as a 2-man team (possibly because of the areas (Tacoma, etc.)) He was in Portland last night, but is home every day. Some 14 hour days. I don't know how much he is paid, but it's not mileage based. They pay on some combination of load value and number of stops.
He's only been there a week, but is enthusiastic so far. Good luck.
For some people trucking is just a paycheck, for people like me trucks are a way of life. Even when I worked in the Middle East, it was trucks. I drove trucks in Iraq, worked on trucks in Kuwait and Afghanistan, trucks trucks trucks and I can't get away from them!!
I will say this, the 90s were a ton of fun. Hardcore trucking, fast trucking, no sleep, always in competition with someone, turn and burns coast to coast in a matter of days. The 90s were fun, we used to party on the roads, BBQs in truckstops, beer, women and mini convoys that car drivers used to follow, trucks running close to 100mph just a gittin 'er done!!
Now, the public hates us, the Revenue Rangers have changed the rules of the game, snowflakes who are scared of freedom snd look to the FMCSA to make thier jobs a 9-5 job, BULLCRAP!! Truckin aint for sissies [8D]
A friend use to do that, summer school routes were by seniority. If he didn't get one, he drove a tour bus full of gamblers up to Reno. That was good pay and tips.
I came down with a cold two weeks ago. A cold in the middle of summer? What in the world?
Anyway, I was a day away from the home terminal when I got sick.
I was humping it to get back to my home terminal, then to drive 2 hours to my house before I really got sick, and, thank God, I made it. Lots better to be sick at home than to be stuck out on the road sick.
Yet, I really like this job. Just love driving over the roads of the Texas desert at midnight, looking at the moon.
Or, watching thunderstorms form up out in Louisiana at sunset.
Fantastic, watching that lightning flash from 40 miles away.
I am a guy who is a self starter and likes to work by himself, truck driving is a good job for me.
I just started driving 6 years ago and now am 66 years old.
But, go for it! FedEx is one of the premier over the road jobs in the country. They are up there with UPS and WalMart as premier driving jobs.
In other words, those guys make $30,000 a year more than I do. Better benefits too.
Swift is at one end of the scale and FedEx is at the other end.
I am surprised you can drive that FedEX truck without a CDL.
But, go for it! FedEx is one of the premier over the road jobs in the country. They are up there with UPS and WalMart as premier driving jobs.
In other words, those guys make $30,000 a year more than I do. Better benefits too.
Swift is at one end of the scale and FedEx is at the other end.
The FedEx job is just in one of their box vans and just local. They do have a big rig job that goes to Spokane and back but obviously I'd need my CDL for that.
The starting pay was not great but they took care of all of my training and CDL requirements all on their dime. Tax payer money I'm sure as most of their funding is from state and fed grants.
This could be a good way to get started and put a gold star on a future resume', or moving up the ladder within the system as a dispatcher or even management where a person can make a good living!
My families garbage and recycling co. pays $25 hr for Tandem rolloff drivers- same for walking floors and dump trailers.
FYI there will ALWAYS be trash. I worked there steady P/T thru 2 big recessions.
My friend has been delivering concrete for a good company 30 yrs -always paid well IIRC now $28-30 hr.
In NJ on a State contract the pay is $65 hr. Yeah it's the law.
But ya have to kick back. it's also why the state of anarchy is a broke joke.
Sorry to hear about the late life change, maybe the wife can get you on as anything with the State and you can get killer bennies too!
LOL I don't know if I could deal with the public like she had to. From the stories she tells me about people trying to scam the system and getting screamed at by some lowlife because they didn't get their benefits because they forgot to follow up with their requirements and it's 4:45pm on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving or a three day holiday weekend and are demanding their money now I'd not do well with that nonsense lol.