Suppose I wanted to quit my engineering job and start earning a living as a cross-country truck driver. I understand I need a commercial driver’s license, for which I would presumably need to attend truck-driving school. How much money (and time) should I expect to spend obtaining that CDL before I can be hired and start earning money?
My cousin’s ex husband and my next door neighbor are both truck drivers.
One went through a truck driving school program that lasted 6 weeks (I think). Poking around on the net it seems they cost anywhere from $3,000 to $8,000 or so. Some of them are 3 week courses which you probably want to avoid. Some do student loan programs where you pay them back at something like $100 a month.
The other was hired by a company and the company paid his training, which again was something like 6 weeks. Part of the contract was that in exchange for free training he was required to drive for that company for a certain amount of time (1 year, I think).
I often fantasize about just walking away from my job and driving a truck. Then I remember how much I hate driving even a car in big city traffic. It wouldn’t be so bad if I could get a regular run without having to go through too many congested areas. Maybe St. Louis, MO to Jackson, MS or something…basically a straight shot on I-55.
Based on my father’s experience from 1986 until now. (Prior to truck driver, he was an accountant for 15 years.)
Until you get experience, good companies won’t touch you. (Two years of driving in less than ideal conditions.)
Once you complete that time, if you have a clean record it gets a lot better.
Make sure you can go at least 500,000 miles between accidents, and preferably 1,000,000.
He makes about US $85,000 driving for Walmart. They handle the maintenance, fuel, etc.
Being an owner-operator was a lot less pleasant as he had medium income and large expenses.
Keep yourself fit because if you fail the government physical (like if your blood pressure is a little high), you are out of work.
I work for a small trucking company as a driver recruiter. I think the question has been answered but I do want to ad a few comments. 3 years ago it was very hard find a driver and even harder to keep them. This was because of a driver shortage, it made it very easy for a driver to job hop. It is very common to see an application where the person has had 11 - 12 jobs in the last 10 years. One of the reasons for this shortage of drivers has already been stated. The majority of companies were looking for drivers who had 2-3 years driving experience. Another reason was because of a major change in the Hours of Service regulations. While Walmart has a great reputation for treating their drivers well the figure that Silmandil gave is almost double the average. http://swz.salary.com/salarywizard/layouthtmls/swzl_compresult_national_tr20000005.html
You really want to be careful about what school you choose. I met some people in Green Bay a couple of weeks ago (I was just hired by Schneider National, and before they hire you, you have a week long interview where they check out your driving skills and knowledge of regulations and procedures. We only lost 7 of the 31 that started (3 quit, 1 medical, 3 for lack of driving ability), but they sometimes lose half of the applicants.) who had really lousy training for a lot of money.
You best bet is check out local community colleges or vocational schools and see what they offer. Everyone I have talked to said they have the best training. Places like Werner will train you for free, but you need to work for them for a set period or pay them back the costs. And you have to drive with a trainer for 6 months to learn how to do things, getting a set fee while the trainer gets paid mileage and for training you. I have not heard anything good about that program and was never desperate enough to apply to Werner, despite my unemployment running out at the beginning of April.
If you get your CDL from a separate school, there are places that will hire you without experience for OTR. Schneider is one of them, as well as USAExpress and I think Prime and J.B. Hunt. If you are willing to be a team driver, your options are even better, I don’t think any of the companies has enough team drivers. And you may be able to find local haulers or grain elevators that will hire you for local stuff.
The local vocational school where I got my CDL usually costs around $3000 I think. (I was on a WIA program and a different course of study, so I never actually had to worry about the cost.) It lasts 6 weeks and covers trip planning, log books, the yard maneuvers needed for the driving test, the pre-trip inspection, and lots of road time. The instructors did not let you go to take the test unless they thought you could pass it.
From what I can see, the Michigan CDL yard skills test requirements are pretty close to Ohio’s, so you would be pretty well prepared for most of the stuff that happens on the job. All the states have to meet the minimum DOT requirements, so they are theoretically equal, but some states have higher standards than that minimum, Ohio being one of them. And Ohio is going to be requiring even more before too much longer. They are going to be requiring everyone to go to a school of some kind, and the schools will have to provide at least 30 hours of road time, instead of the current 10 hours. (One of the guys I met in Green Bay had 3 hours of driving time at his school.)
As for pay, that depends a great deal on what company you work for and what account you drive for. I am starting out at $0.29 a mile, and the account I am on will supposedly have me driving 2500-2700 miles a week (I don’t know for certain because I just finished all of the preliminaries and am waiting for a truck to free up so I can start actually driving.) But the guy I rode with for a week on the same account can get in 3000 miles without too much trouble and decent home time. But he has been doing it for 12 years, so knows the tricks and routes very well. I know some of the people I was with in Green Bay were starting at more than me, others at less, depending on exactly what they were doing. The tanker guys made more, some of them made more loaded, but less when deadheading.
If you have the personality for it, OTR can be a good career. The pay can be good and you meet some interesting people. But not everyone can do it. I know I can handle it short term, but will have to see about how things go in the long run.
Edited title to indicate that CDL means Commercial Driver’s License.
Earlier threads on topic :
My friend’s brother recently started driving a truck, and whoever he works for sends new drivers to Eastern seaboard routes, because they’re considered less desirable. Guys with more seniority prefer to drive the wider-open spaces of the West.
That depends on the company and the account. The account I am currently on can drive any where east of the Rockies, but does a lot on the Eastern seaboard because that is where most of the people are. But my brand new boss (I have not actually officially delivered a load for him yet, just helped someone else get one delivered legally.) has offered me a new route, that starts and end a half a mile from my home, running from Sunday night to Friday night every week, and the farthest east I would go is Akron. It is the kind of run some truckers would kill for, and if I had a family or was in a relationship, I would jump on it. Since neither is true, I am not decided on what I will do.
I read the other 2 threads that LSLGuy found. The one on the difficulty is pretty accurate. 18 wheelers can take some getting used to but they are not that hard to learn.
The other thread is also somewhat accurate, but it really depends on the person and the company. The best way to find out about the different companies is to find a truck stop and talk to some drivers. Ask them about who they work for and what they think of the various fleets on the road. Get opinions from different kinds of drivers, and see how they compare. And take claims about how much they earn with a grain of salt. I heard one guy bragging about clearing $1800 in a week for the company he was with. If he actually did that, he didn’t do it legally, because he was driving solo in a company truck making $0.40 a mile. Doing that kind of thing illegally is getting harder and harder, for good reason. Even if I know some old timers that don’t like it.
I personally couldn’t do it, even if I wanted to because Schneider is switching to electronic logging and I have one in my truck. I can’t turn it off and it records every time I turn the truck on, how long I idle, my speed, and how much of my 11 hour, 14 hour, and 70 hours I have used. All of which means I do not have to worry about the company wanting me to drive illegally to get a load delivered.