I've been driving for over 7 years....it cost me aprox $3000 to go to school. My liscense used to have hazmat until the dot changed the regs and now it's too expensive for me to keep that endorsement and never use it.
Driving is hard. If you want to make money you have to be gone from home A LOT. most companies won't look at you for local work until you have a minimum of 2 years OTR. You have to be at least 23 for the smaller companies to hire you. The companies, generally, that hire newbies are the huge companies that don't pay as well. However, that being said, I started with one of those big companies and I loved it.
Driving is stressful. Driving has to be a passion or else you won't do it for long and then you lose all the money that you put into it. Driving is expensive. As a solo driver the new DOT rules really cut into your ability to make a great deal of money. So if you have a ton of bills, understand that you will spend money to live on the road as well as to cover your home expenses. The best way to go is to put your stuff in storage and live out of the truck. BUT and majorly big BUT, that is very hard to do for most people. You get "cabin fever" after a while.
Some companies will train you if you sign a contract with them to work for a period of time. DON"T DO IT.
In order to make money, you have to go places other drivers won't, big cities and the east coast especially. Putting 73' of truck in downtown new york, dallas, miami, LA, etc, is not fun or easy. It is stressful, people hate you, people cut you off, people will stop short. There are low bridges and rr tracks and buses and pedestrians. It ain't all driving down the interstate in a straight line. If you dont' like driving in big cities with all the traffic, this is not the job for you.
You will not "get to make money while seeing the country for free" Do not fall for that line. More than likely you won't see much of anything but corn and soybeans 80% of the time.
Driving is dangerous. It's one of the most dangerous jobs in the world. Driving is year round, snow, sleet, rain, tornados, huricanes, ice.....all of it. If you don't like driving in winter, you will not like driving. There are hundreds of ways to die driving a truck. Burning your brakes on a mountain, jack knifing, roll overs, fires, other drivers, construction zones, low bridges, getting hung on rr tracks, falling off your trailer, slipping out of the truck, etc ,etc, etc
I did this beginning of december. It was icy, I was bobtail and I lost control.....
The truck used to look like this.....
I rolled it, 550 yards according to the cop, before I hit a shale wall. I was incredibly lucky. If I didn't have my seat belt on I'd be dead. Everyone who saw the accident and the truck before they saw me thought there was no way the driver survived.
It is not a job to take lightly. For that matter, It is not a job...it's a way of life. It's either in your blood or it's not.
I pray that I will get to be back in a truck. I had a few panic attacks about the icy weather right after the accident.
I don't know what I will do if I can't drive again. I love driving. I am good at driving. It's who I am.
Sorry to go on and on, and understand, I'm not trying to be negative or anything, but a lot of times I see people get these "sunny" stories from recruiters about the money and the good time and what not and they never find out the real side until they are committed time and money into doing something they were unprepared for. Truck companies and truck driving schools pay recruiters to get bodies in the door, they will say anything to get you to sign on the dotted line.
Like someone said, do your homework. find actual seasoned drivers. talk to drivers from different companies. If you can, go on a run or tow...and not local crap....go OTR for a week and see if you can actually live in a truck. Remember, most companies will expect you to be out a minimum of 14 days before they will even begin to try and get you home. And you will never, ever get home when it's most important. You will miss birthdays, anniversaries, holidays and all that good stuff that people find to be very important. It's just the way the industry runs.
In this economy, it is something to consider. The pay won't make you rich, but it will pay the bills. Driving a truck of any kind is hard work and carries a lot of responsibility for being safe on the road. Your DH might think about driving a semi-wrecker. We sure use them for various mishaps, mainly for getting stuck in the mud in our rural environment. There is bound to be a garbage company close by to check out for jobs.
