Truck drivers as a profession, I need guidance!

[89jeeplaredo]

Hello and thanks for taking a moment to read my plea for help! I am looking into driving a truck for a living to lead into bigger things (hopefully). In particular, I am looking to get a 24' Reefer unit, but I need in depth knowledge as to what to look for and what to avoid as far as a vehicle. Can someone please help "mentor" me in my pursuit? Thank you all in advance. atriot:

 

[riverfever]

Hello and thanks for taking a moment to read my plea for help! I am looking into driving a truck for a living to lead into bigger things (hopefully). In particular, I am looking to get a 24' Reefer unit, but I need in depth knowledge as to what to look for and what to avoid as far as a vehicle. Can someone please help "mentor" me in my pursuit? Thank you all in advance. atriot:

Sounds awfully risky to me but good luck in your pursuit.

 

[RichP]

Why ? in a few more months you'll be competing with mexicans for milage. The railroads will have the same problem when you can get a south of the border driver for 5 cents a mile...

 

[Stumpalump]

One of my best buddys went thru driving school almost a year ago. He's building pools for a living today.He's been job hopping all his life poor guy. Have you driven a truck over the road for long and know exackly what to expect? That would be a lot to invest in if you haven't gotten over the hump of being a new driver. If you live near a truck stop stop in and pick up all the free drivers magazines and trucks for sale magazines that they almost all have.You can get on CB channel 19 and pick the brains of actual drivers on the road while your there. Good luck dude and I hope you make out well!!

 

[DrMoab]

The first thing you should never do is buy a truck before you even find out if you like it.

Get your CDL, find a job working for someone else and then go from there.

The best way to get into owning your own truck is to get a job as a company driver and then work your way into their owner operator division.

If you do decide you are going to tackle it on your own MAKE SURE!!!!!! That you get on with someone who pays a very good Fuel Surcharge.

What RichP said is also something to consider but there is a way around that too. Make sure you aren't doing reefer work that goes to Mexico.

The Mexican companies that are coming here will only be allowed to pick up and take loads that originate or end up in Mexico. Unfortunately lots of reefer products do.

Find something instead where you will be hauling US products to US companies and the Mexican driver issue will never affect you.

 

[8Mud]

My info isn't real current. But I started out as a driver for Greyhound Vans, had a soft ride electronics trailer. Though we moved most any sort of machinery.
I got a good rep and was approached by some people from 3M and Honeywell to work for them on a contract. Rented a truck and let the contracts pay the rent and bills, any other hauls I did were profit.
Bought my own tractor and leased a trailer, in the end I had two drivers working for me. The second Arab embargo put me out of business.
Like the man said, risky.

 

[Bradlybob]

Why ? in a few more months you'll be competing with mexicans for milage. The railroads will have the same problem when you can get a south of the border driver for 5 cents a mile...

As soon as the hiway from hell is open American drivers will be driving forklifts for $8.00/hr offloading chinese crap from Mexican trucks in central Kansas destinded for your local Wal-mart.

 

[88rockxj]

slight hi jack

dr moab did i crack a laugh with your signature? haha

 

[Greg H]

I saw your thread title and logged in to say basically the same thing Dr. Moab said. I've been a professional driver for 10 years. Owner/operator for the last 8 and it gets harder and harder to make ends meet every year.
If you've really got the truckin' bug bad, definitly go the company driver route
for starters and do that for at least 6 months before even thinking about buying your own equipment.

 

[Low Range]

glad to see there are some --POSITIVE---comments for this guy,why all the negative shit ?? Just where is it you pinheads think all youre stuff comes from?
Risky ? ya i suppose so ,sittin on youre ass wondering what to do the rest of youre days is --risky-- as well. if its something you want to check out ,by all means go for it ,with knowledge of course.

thought about it myself and still do at times,drove the Alaska 13 times by myself and there is always trucks,b-trains on there ,3 trailers all times of the year,i would imagine it pays very well?

Try and search out a truckers website for some true response to youre questions. I for one am damn glad that there are guys and gals out there doing what needs to be done every day,it will never go out of style you think ? Seen some fine looking rigs to ,one had plexi-glass on the sides of the hood of a long nose Pete,could see the engine ,chrome,super clean,etc. etc.

Naysayers are a dime a dozen,go for youre dreams dude,and good luck !

:wantyou:

 

[XJ Dreamin']

The first thing you should never do is buy a truck before you even find out if you like it.

Get your CDL, find a job working for someone else and then go from there.

The best way to get into owning your own truck is to get a job as a company driver and then work your way into their owner operator division.

If you do decide you are going to tackle it on your own MAKE SURE!!!!!! That you get on with someone who pays a very good Fuel Surcharge.

What RichP said is also something to consider but there is a way around that too. Make sure you aren't doing reefer work that goes to Mexico.

The Mexican companies that are coming here will only be allowed to pick up and take loads that originate or end up in Mexico. Unfortunately lots of reefer products do.

Find something instead where you will be hauling US products to US companies and the Mexican driver issue will never affect you.

Commuting on I-45 north of Houston every day (mile 112 to 103 and back) I gotta say, the Mexican driver issue is affecting me big time. Very scary :shiver:

 

[RichP]

glad to see there are some --POSITIVE---comments for this guy,why all the negative shit ?? Just where is it you pinheads think all youre stuff comes from?

Yea, I was just quick on the reply, if you want to do it go to work for one of the 'starting driver companies', pay is squat but it will give you a taste or full meal before you go whole hog into debt on a tractor and or trailer.

 

[DrMoab]

Commuting on I-45 north of Houston every day (mile 112 to 103 and back) I gotta say, the Mexican driver issue is affecting me big time. Very scary :shiver:

I never said it was a good thing. In fact it scares the hell out of me too.

However I'm not as worried about a mexican driver coming to take my job from me as Rich made it out to be.

My biggest hope is that the government sees just how dangerous it will be having them on the road and stop the so called "pilot" program.

There is already a huge takeover happening in the trucking industry that nobody talks about or even seems to be aware of that that is the Eastern European guys.

They can't drive, won't speak english and drive very scary equipment.

 

[DrMoab]

glad to see there are some --POSITIVE---comments for this guy,why all the negative shit ?? Just where is it you pinheads think all youre stuff comes from?
Risky ? ya i suppose so ,sittin on youre ass wondering what to do the rest of youre days is --risky-- as well. if its something you want to check out ,by all means go for it ,with knowledge of course.

thought about it myself and still do at times,drove the Alaska 13 times by myself and there is always trucks,b-trains on there ,3 trailers all times of the year,i would imagine it pays very well?

Try and search out a truckers website for some true response to youre questions. I for one am damn glad that there are guys and gals out there doing what needs to be done every day,it will never go out of style you think ? Seen some fine looking rigs to ,one had plexi-glass on the sides of the hood of a long nose Pete,could see the engine ,chrome,super clean,etc. etc.

Naysayers are a dime a dozen,go for youre dreams dude,and good luck !

:wantyou:

Nobody here is trying to talk him out of driving truck. Its a great way to make an honest buck.

What people are saying is that it may not be that way for long.

 

[Ghost]

I just hope he was uninformed on the refer part because he will never get a 24' refer loaded. Most everyone these days wants a 53' and light weighted rigs and trailers. Do I drive? No, I'm a broker. If you listen to one thing just remember the job is about driving not staying at home with the family. If you want to be home every night forget it you will never make enough money. It is a decent industry to work in and one can make decent money in it, however you will have to start at the bottom. And that means working for peanuts and getting the experience in. Our company drivers have to have 2 years min. experience over the road and if they pull a refer for us we have to be able to verify 2 years pulling a refer. With out it our insurance company will not aprove the driver. As for the Mexican issue it's a mute point, because there are more foreigners in trucking today then there ever has been. That scares the hell out of me because a lot of them are middle eastern sounding. Timmy had a rider truck, can you iimagine a 48' or 53' trailer loaded with the same stuff? 40K lbs easy. A lot of your big cities no longer allow big rigs in the city for this very reason. Canadian and Mexican company's can only deliver in the US and carry freight out of the US. Been that way for years and I hope it does nto change. If you have any questions talk to the guys driving now. The industry has changed a lot in the last few years.

 

[Stumpalump]

As soon as the hiway from hell is open American drivers will be driving forklifts for $8.00/hr offloading chinese crap from Mexican trucks in central Kansas destinded for your local Wal-mart.

Retard labor for retard pay! They are overpaid if they get more than that anyway.

 

[XJ Dreamin']

I never said it was a good thing. In fact it scares the hell out of me too.

However I'm not as worried about a mexican driver coming to take my job from me as Rich made it out to be.

My biggest hope is that the government sees just how dangerous it will be having them on the road and stop the so called "pilot" program.

There is already a huge takeover happening in the trucking industry that nobody talks about or even seems to be aware of that that is the Eastern European guys.

They can't drive, won't speak english and drive very scary equipment.

I'm seeing a big decline in driver skill and a big increase in driver arrogance, and more than a few trucks involved in multiple as well as single vehicle accidents.

 

[Teellandor]

I hope you don't have a family now, dude (89jeeplaredo). Unless they're gonna ride with you. I've seen plenty OTR drivers loose theirs.

But if not? Cool on ya. Good luck.

 

[PhunkXJ]

You will need to gain experience in order to make the big bucks, my in laws own a reefer truck co. and require 5 years experience. Their drivers are paid extremely well and are taken good care of by the company. Their drivers who pull in $100-200k+/year are also on the road 5-10 days at a time. These guys also have families, just because you are over the road doesn't mean you can't have a family.

I think buying a truck without any experience is risky, what if you hate it? A truck payment can be as much as a house payment for some, it's expensive. For what fuel, payments, insurance and maintenance of a truck cost you wouldn't cover those expenses by loading a 24' trailer alone.

I'm hoping the hubby and I can buy a truck in the next 5-10 years and hire a driver, the money is really good.

 

[89jeeplaredo]

Thanks for all comments so far. Here, I will give you a little more background as to why I am wanting to go this route. A few years ago I lost my job that supported myself and family. Since then I have had a very hard time landing anything decent.
One of my good friends has been working at a very large third party logistics comapany for a quite some time now managing all apects of the fresh produce sector. He has built quite a few strong relationships with several clients that will follow him for their business. Another very close friends' family owns a smaller logisitcs company where we can keep our loads refridgerated as need be.
Now, the whole idea behind all this is shooting for the big picture, managing our own logistics comapny. We have most of our resources in place, except for the truck. I know there are a lot of nay-sayers out there, but at this point in my life I have no where to go but up. I am sick of living my life to afraid to achieve something because I didn't try. I am more driven than you can imagine.