Class A CDL License?? What about Hazmat?

[Baymule]

Many of the drivers where I work are former OTR drivers and they get tired of being gone. So they take a cut in pay and drive a garbage truck. It is steady work, everybody has garbage and nobody wants to keep it.

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.

 

[greeneggsandham]

If your husband doesn't mind a little work Waste Management is always looking for drivers and laborers. Some of the trucks you do have to have a CDL for and others you don't. It would be a M-S job and he would always have a job because someone has to take the trash away

And MA pays more than CT and RI when it comes to drivers. Just because he gets a CDL doesn't mean he has to be an OTR driver.

 

[purr]

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My husband has had a CDL and got a ticket speeding past the the state police barracks , he got a ticket we paid it.

 

[lorieMN]

my hubby has class A,double/triple and HAZMAT..he never went to any school..just studied and took the test..he drove for his brothers hauling cattle for several years,,then various other jobs until one after another closed up shop..he now works for the State of MN,,the license and experience did help him get the job he has now,,he loves it..in order to really make the bigger money in over the road trucking they will need to be gone like 9-10 months out of the year..that part is really hard on a family. The fact my hubby grew up on a large dairy/grain farm probably was to his advantage in taking the test,,he had been driving semis around the farm and fields sense he was old enough to reach the pedals and see out the window..

 

[redhen]

What about trucking with a Hazmat license? Is that a better way to go? And how do you get approved for a hazmat license?

 

[Karrie13]

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Mine too... he didn't go to school for it, just studied and took a test. He grew up on a farm and had plenty of experience but before he started driving HAZMAT he drove a beer semi truck. I must say driving HAZMAT is much easier on him. No going down slick hills with kegs of beer, stress on the back or anything else.

 

[Karrie13]

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All my husband did after getting his class A and driving for a couple of years was to take a test at the DMV for HAZMAT. It is an involved test and not everyone passes the first time but My DH was in the military and we both went through HAZMAT classes before so he went in with some knowledge. With the company my DH works for he has a couple options. He can be OTR or he can be home everynight. Now being OTR is more pay which is why he does that right now. He does like his job a lot better than driving a semi delivering beer. The key is to get with a good company and research the company before applying. Most HAZMAT places wont hire unless you have driving experience first, DH's was minimum 2 years.

 

[redhen]

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All my husband did after getting his class A and driving for a couple of years was to take a test at the DMV for HAZMAT. It is an involved test and not everyone passes the first time but My DH was in the military and we both went through HAZMAT classes before so he went in with some knowledge. With the company my DH works for he has a couple options. He can be OTR or he can be home everynight. Now being OTR is more pay which is why he does that right now. He does like his job a lot better than driving a semi delivering beer. The key is to get with a good company and research the company before applying. Most HAZMAT places wont hire unless you have driving experience first, DH's was minimum 2 years.

Okay, thanks!

 

[scbatz33]

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.

 

[scbatz33]

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You have to do a background check - federal and state be photographed and fingerprinted and you are then put in a register. The haz mat is not hard, the endorsements isn't expensive, but the gov't related fees are. And they vary from state to state