CDL

Got a buddy who wants to get into trucking of some sort. No experience, worked for city forever but tired of dealing w Mpls current conditions.

Anyone who has contacts or recommendations I’d appreciate it. Seems like free training for quite a few places but then there I’m sure are stipulations to that. I like the idea of getting one on his own and let the companies bid war for em when he’s all setup, but so many areas to get into it gets confusing with license types and requirements.

Thank u

The feds now require schooling for truck drivers. It’s not as simple as a test anymore. Once he has his license he will end up with a company like Swift to get his experience. Once he has the experience he can and will move to more money.

As far as I know the money is in over the road vs driving local. Most if not all companies are hiring, especially if your buddy speaks & reads English.

Best of luck to him, it’s a great job for those who can handle the lifestyle.

Get as many endorsements as you can, Hazardous, Tanker, etc, usually more specialized and premium pay. Dk.

I’m not an expert by any means but my neighbor drives for priority. He works on average 50-70 hours a week but he’s home every night to see his kids and all weekend and makes over 6 figures a year. Something to look into if your buddy has a family

I’d suggest starting out an an excavation company. Drive dump truck a year or two, then move to end dump or belly dump. Gain experience driving big trucks. You most likely will be home every night. Then if he wants get an 18 wheeler either owner operator or company driver.

This is very dependent on what he wants to do. Dump truck or equipment transport for construction, fed ex or ups, a regular goods shipper, roll off company like atomic recycling, I have mine and got it free through the union, actually got paid to get it. My kenworth doesn’t require a cdl but if I pull a trailer it does.

As stated, get the highest level of endorsements he can. Also think of it as a self investment with time. Hell start out low and need to get his hours racked up. But companies will pay him more because with the higher endorsements he’s likely to leave for
More money.

Local options will pay hourly or by loads. Many of the OTR guys get by the mile. Owner/operators with an older paid off rig have a cost of about $2.00 mile (+\-). Seems like everyone I know doing the OTR is getting loads at $2.40 to about $3.10 per mile. Sometimes more. They se cheap loads are only grossing you about 22-24/per hour

Got my CDL for farming. Dad said at 18 I had to get it. He told me if things got rough, I’ll always have a job. He was not wrong. How it is now a days to get one, I’m sure glad I got it when I did! Funny story, first time I drove anything bigger than a dump truck pulling a backhoe trailer I was all the way down in Lincoln Nebraska. Told supervisors of the job I needed to be home for my oldest sons 5th birthday party. He told me yeah we will get you there. I reminded him several times for three weeks. Two days before I remind him I need to take a truck home, meaning a crew pickup. He says yeah, I need you to take the lowboy home to Minnesota and drop off a piece of equipment and bring back a different piece of equipment. I asked the regular crew lowboy operator to show me the ropes. We drive around Lincoln and he gives me some pointers. On the way back into our construction yard I about took out a stop sign with that looooong trailer. He looked at me and said good luck. I timed my departure so I would be coming through the cities at 2am. That was a learning curve!