CDL license

Thank you all again for the great replies. I'm looking up the community and tech colleges now. I think you all just saved me a bunch of $.

I've got CDL Class B passenger endorsement(School Bus,etc). I've not really used it, but it's always good to have in case of career change or layoff.

You can never have too many skills.

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I got a class B when I worked for a tire service company. I keep it up just in case. I also plan on upgrading to a medium duty truck when my pick up dies so I'll need it then anyway.

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Judith ,
I live in south central Missouri.
You might take a look at Roehl transport out of Wisconsin http://www.drivertraining.net/sitemap.htm
They have one of the best CDL schools around. I went through their program and was very pleased with the school. If I remember correctly they charged $2400. for school and if you drive for them for one year you pay nothing. They have decent apartments one person to a apartment. You get alot of time behind wheel on the range and in town. You will not be sitting around much waiting for your time to drive. After you get your CDL a trainer picks you up and you spend 20-26 days driving with him in the seat next to you. They have good instructors .I drove for them for a while and they had the best program for getting me home. I was out about 9 days home 2. They are a very safety minded company. No log book fixing. They won't push you if the weather is bad. After you get your CDL you have options for home time like 7 days out 7 days home. The 7/7 option you slip seat or share a truck with another driver. Work 1/2 year and still have medical insurance. You do pay a little higher rate but not much. They have alot more options for home time then anyother large trucking company.
All companys have their problems but Roehl is a decent company to drive for.
Hope things work out for you.

Jack

I drive for a living and would be glad to answer some of your questions. There are riving jobs out there but many I wouldn't wish on anyone. On the other hand there are some very good ones if you know what to look for and where to look. PM me and I'd be glad to give you some ideas on good driving jobs.
Also check out forums like trucknet ot truckingboards, but like here be sure to read what isn't written.

The best jobs can make 60-100k with benefits and many will afford you the time off too if you look hard enough. It takes an in or patience and perserverance to get a good job in trucking.

Steer clear of the pie in the sky easy money plans and don't even think about owning a truck of any type for a while until you know more.

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"Education is the ability to listen to almost anything without losing your temper or your self confidence"
Robert Frost

How can a driver make a living on 7 days driving, 7 days off?

Most companies I know give one day for every 2.5 - 3.5 driving.

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A CDL is like job insurance, if you have it you can go anywhere and make at least $10 an hour driving truck. A better idea is to buy yourself a diesel 1 ton HD pickup and a large car trailer that can haul at least 2 cars. Get yourself registered as a trucking company and then you can pick the jobs you want to do delivering cars, motorcycles, snowmobiles, tractors, ect... for people that buy them online and want them shipped. It's all up to you how you schedule the jobs so you never haul an empty truck and trailer around. Example: to haul a vehicle from New Hampshire to Florida will pay you about $500 as an owner/operator, say you can get 2 cars on the trailer and 2 bikes in the bed of the pickup that's $2000 per one-way trip, $4000 round trip. Figure 300 gallons of fuel round trip, a few nights in a motel and some food from the grocery store to eat and you still clear almost $3000 a week., $12,000 a month working 5 days a week. Figure on $1500 a month for the truck payment/maintenance/insurance and you are still making big cash to see America. Once you get the hang of it buy a few trucks and hire some drivers. Once my kids go into college I will be on the road, right now they are 6,7,9,& 11 so I really need to be home for them every day.

Obviously you don't make as much as if you worked all year but you get the time off and still keep the benefits. They probably pay in the high .30 to low .40 per mi. so you make as much as you can run in 7 days, about 3500 to 4,000 mi.. It's still more that many can make in a factory and you get the time off.

Trucking companies are doing what they can to get and retain drivers and the time off factor is one of the things necessary to get people from other professions to try it.

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"Education is the ability to listen to almost anything without losing your temper or your self confidence"
Robert Frost

Personally, I think driving a big rig would be pretty neat as I sit here at HOME thinking about it, but:

1. I suspect a true OTR job would get old really fast. Just way too much time away from home.

2. It strikes me that the homesteading lifestyle and a true OTR trucking job are more or less incompatible. It just makes no logical sense if you want to live a homesteading type lifestyle. Having said that, I fully understand people need to do what it takes to get a paycheck.

3. The trucking jobs where a person is home every night AND every (or almost every) weekend would be much more compatible with the homesteading/rural lifestyle.

4. I know two OTR truckers who are presently trying to do both OTR and rural lifestyle right now, and it is not working out well at all. They are both extremely frustrated, as are their families. They are gone from home much of the time, and when they finally get home for a break they are usually too worn out to actually enjoy or work on their homestead much.

Their wives can of course do many of the activities around the homestead, but often times progress is very slow and limited in scope as the wife has to take care of the kids as well. It kind of turns into a vicious circle with the wife feeling overloaded with homestead stuff, and the husband feeling very resentful because he cannot enjoy the homestead per the homesteading lifestyle desires.

Both of these families have significantly cut back on their homesteading efforts/dreams because of this situation. They are kind of on autopilot now, just spinning their homesteading wheels.

I drive with many that have large farms and live what most call homesteading, they call it just life. It all depends on the job you get.

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"Education is the ability to listen to almost anything without losing your temper or your self confidence"
Robert Frost

Tontitown, ARK....... umm, I used to love going to the Venesian Inn and Mary Maestri's. Great italian food. I highly recommend!

Dragonfly too.....

Would it help if they could have more time off? Or have it when and in the ammounts they need it? If so PM me Ill tell ya about where I work.
They might have to acceppt a big change in income. They might make Alot more.

Good grief union dont you realize that is a VERY good turnover rate? In the trucking industry anything under about 150 % is pretty good .I know of one company that was at the point where thier average driver stayed 1.2 trips!

I have had one since the mid 1980's. I have fell back on it in bad times and sometimes just to do something different. I have drove over the road interstate, intra state, local. The best job was hot shot driving for the oilfield. If you have a chance to get one and not cost an arm and a leg. Go for it. You might like it, or fall into a great job.

Good money in it -- lots of hassles -- bad weather rotating shifts DOT -- I love it most people quit before a year is up!

I've been considering getting a CDL but for the city of Wichita. Am still on the fence about it because most of the jobs out there want at least a year's experience. I know that FedEx is hiring for drivers here. I would be going to WATC college for 4 weeks to get the CDL if I decided to do so.

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Ted H

You may all go to Hell, and I will go to Texas.
-Davy Crockett

I've had my CDL for about 30 years now. Back when I got it I took the driving test in a T-bird! LOL I originally got it cause DH was a truck driver and the company would not allow me to ride with him unless I was a qualified driver. DH taught me to drive over the next year or two (I didn't go with him very often).

Sister has a CDL and drives dump trucks. She makes from $500-$700 a week, but she is home every night and lives in Arkansas where the cost of living is not as high as many areas.

DD has a CDL and used to drive a school bus (extra money is in the after hours driving, not the am/pm routes). She also drove a taxi. There are lots of home every night jobs out there if you live near civilization. It might not be as easy to find a home every night job, but they do exist and with a little patience you can probably find one.

Also, keep in mind the cost of being away from home. It's expensive to eat out on the road. When you account for the extra cost of being gone vs. being home, you don't have to make as much when you stay home for it to equal the higher pay of being gone.

Unfortunately I live in the middle of nowhere so my CDL and clean drug test doesn't do any good here. I don't want to give up my animals & go somewhere else & be gone all the time.

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I am looking into the community college route, and one of them is still 4K, it's lower than 6K. But the search will go on.

Again thanks

Beeman, I will pm you when I get all my questions going.

Jeff

I didn't pay a penny for my schooling, company provided it with a 1 year commitment, I got a paycheck while I was training. I knew where I was going to work and that it was a job I would stay at. Some have quit before the year but I've never heard of anyone having to pay.
Like any job or homesteading it's work.

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"Education is the ability to listen to almost anything without losing your temper or your self confidence"
Robert Frost

I drove from 1990 to 1997. Roehl(pronounced: "rail") is one of the best companies out there for new drivers. they won't abuse you like many companies will. I drove for them for almost two years, running 49 states and all of Canada, before moving on to higher pay.
I loved what I did while I was doing it but there are a few warnings I'd give to anyone considering the job. These warnings are fairly exclusive to OTR(Over The Road) jobs.
-The job is dangerous for a marriage. Both spouses must be committed to the choice and trust one another to the nth degree.
-Healthy eating choices are difficult on the road and if you don't eat wisely you and your performance will suffer.
-Driving is one of the easiest jobs to get into and one of the most difficult to get out of. When you decide your time as a driver is over it can take months to get another job that will support you.
-You will get to see the worst parts of every city in the country. They don't put the warehouse district next to the nice people.
-Time management is the ONLY way to make money on the road. Forget about 9-5 living. You drive on your avalilable hours and sleep on your off hours. Hours of duty have little to do with night and day. Since I quit driving the hours regs have changed and I'm not familiar with them now but the rule of time management remains the same.
-If you have children at home STOP! Find something else to do. You may be able to deal with the requirements of the job. Your wife may be able to deal with it. You'll regret it for the rest of your days if you demand that your kids learn to deal with it.
-It's a young man's work. The hours, the mental stress, the physical stress, the vagabond lifestyle. Your house is behind the seat when you're on the road. Your free time is dictated by many factors of which you will not be in control. To say again that marriages suffer in the business is not overstatement.

Think long and hard about what you are getting into. Talk to drivers and especially former drivers about the life. Some current drivers are going to be trying to convince themselves why they are still out there when they talk to you. Former drivers will tell you the good, the bad and the ugly of it. Good Luck.

Doug

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