I"m a soon to be 21 year old and interested in getting into trucking. I have more than enough saved up from working as full time ramp agent for an airline to pay for my class A school. I live in western massachusetts, so I'll most likely be going to United CDL. Now I have a few questions about life on the road and some of the companies best for newbie.

For starters I was wondering if some people could point me in the right direction of what companies I should be researching while I attend school. I would like to stay in the western mass area for now and would like to keep my drive under 60 miles. Home time isn't too important as I spent 6 months out and 6 months in with my current job (I do a lot of temping to help out other stations). I'd prefer home time every two weeks, but a little longer now and then wouldn't be too bad. I don't really mind if it's regional or 48 states.

I have a few more, but I figured I'd start with this.

Thanks for any of the help.

 

well if you already know "where" you're going to school..then my advise would be to start there- ask about placement and if the school has "established" relationships with various "training companies"...then come back and visit this site regualarly and ask questions about these Companies ...people here could give you lists of companies a mile long...and you applying to all of these "on your own" would most likely take longer and you'd be just another needle in the hay stack. But...the one's your school has experience placing drivers at....you'll have a slight advantage with.

 

Damn son...why leave that ramp agent position..you make a decent living don't you?? Plus....pass travel on a 737 beats the heck out of I-81 travel !!!

 

Eh it's not bad for awhile, but the pay is low, unless you work a ton of OT or temp and spend a few months away from home at a time. I make less than 11/hr and I've been at my airline for 3 years. And I work for the highest paid airline in the industry. The job itself is getting worse with productivity experts monitoring us at all times finding ways to cut the amount of breaks we have and give us the bare minimum of bodies to turn a plane. As for the travel, unless you plan on going on a weekday, besides mon or tues, the travel benefits are almost useless. Also you end up spending half the day at airports listing yourself for flights and taking insane routings to find seats to get where your going.


I will say though, this job keeps me very fit along with my workout routine. How hard is it for the typical trucker to stay in decent shape? Specifically OTR drivers. Is it possible to develop workout routines during downtime?

 

Well...times have been tough the last few years for the folks at the airlines...all of them LOL..You work for the "highest paid" airline? Now....which one is that? American..United...Delta...NorthWest..USAir...Sout hwest?? All pay the ramp about the same $$. As for the productivity experts...they have been hacking at ramp, gate and counter agents for years. Productivity experts are part of the reason there are so few maintenance bases left...they been productively eliminated, for the outsourcing experts. A few years ago United was trying to outsource the ramp at most of its stations.

Your young and you have some time vested. If you work over 30 hours a week..I bet you make more than a majority of the flight attendents, whom are getting what these days...25 hours a week?? Go ahead and get your cdl, if that is something you really think you want to do. BUT keep your ramp job. Use the cdl to earn money outside of your ramp jub. You won't make much better money driving over the road, than you do working part time on the ramp. Look at it this way....you can earn enough working part time driving local, to afford to take your sweetie on a trip using your travel passes, on a pretty regular basis.

20 years from now...you will probably want to thank the "Old Guy" who gave you this advise.

Oh yeah..you might want to look into moving inside...learn the counter and the gate..makes you more versatile..and opens up opportunities. Stay away from RES if you can!!


So..which station do you work out of? HFD..ALB..or BOS??

 

For christsakes man, WHY?!?!?

At that age, the LAST thing I would be thinking about is driving truck...especially for a cut-rate OTR outfit. Over-the-road trucking = no guns, no life, no alcohol, and no women. Stay home, get laid, and go out with your friends. Weekends are made for Michelob...not parked in a truckstop all alone babysitting a Monday AM delivery (for no money, of course).

Avoid the irregular-route, OTR van-haulers if you can. They ALL suck. Try to hire-on with a local outfit. Some will hire new-school grads. Check out New England Motor Freight (NEMF) - a LTL carrier. They have several driving schools throughout the NorthEast. The boss's daughter was caught smooching Paul McCartney last week.

Some of the tanker outfits are good. Check out Superior Carriers, there's a thread about them here. Cassens is a car-hauling ouftit with an apprensticeship program.