I'm 2 weeks away from graduation at a CDL school. I'm currently employed making about 28K a year in a stable job, but trucking has always been a dream for me. This economy is scaring the crap out of me about leaving my current job to go to an industry that is on the brink of disaster. I know things will get better but don't know if it will be 10 months or 10 years.

I'm faced with 2 decisions:
1. Finish my CDL and risk it.
2. Finish my CDL and stay where I'm at untill things improve.

If I go with #2 I risk not even being able to find a company to hire me after sitting on my CDL for several months without getting in a truck. A refresher course is an option but I will have to pay the full amout again.

Do you think companys will relax their restrictions in such a case with the economy the way it is. I am told most companies wont take you if you've been out of school for more than 30 days, but I know some will.

In your honest opinion, what should I do here?

if trucking is what you want to do, go for it, it shouldnt be hard to make more than 28,000 even as a rookie, companies dont relax
their rules when times get tough, they tighten them, they have more applicants to chose from and can be a lot pickier

Sorry, I meant to ask if they might relax their restictions on sitting on a CDL when the economy improves and freight is moving again

To say the industry is 'on the brink of disaster', is over-blowing it a bit. As long as stores are open, and people NEED things, there will always be a need for trucks. NOW, the question is, when will companies start dropping like hats? We've seen banks fail. why? because of poor business habits. we see stores close, why? Poor business habits. Some companies, like Swift, have their own schools. They still accept students for their schools. Yeah, this is just another form of income for them, HOWEVER, if the student is already broke, and gets their CDL but cannot get hired on with anybody, then where the heck are they going to get the money to pay for schooling to begin with?

I think it is DUMB to keep schools open, spend the manhours 'teaching' all the wear and tear on equipment (which costs money) only to not hire any of them, save the ones already with a few years experience, and then go thru the hastle of going to court to get the $$$ for tuition.

Of the ones they DO hire, and of the ones that DO make it thru 6 weeks of training, they wont stick around for a month waiting on a truck to become available. And the ones that DO....they wont stick around making $150-250/week.

i got very lucky, and got in at the tail end of the hiring phase before the economy took a dump. i'm making just enough to keep me out here. it is still more than when i was working at a truck stop, but if it gets so bad that i start making sub $300 paychecks.....i'm going back to work at Pilot. =)

LESS THAN $300!!! damn man thats just a little better than lunch money! I'd be bailing too

truckin is the best decision i ever made in life i was workin for the county jail moppin flooers and i didnt want to do that no more. Now i leesed a truck at prime and im makin lots of money seein this beatuful country in a brand new truck. the key to makin money in this biz is you gotta stay out on the road i stay out 3 months and see my kids about 3 days and then back out on the road. my wife divorced me so its just me out there and the freeedom of the open road no repsonbilities and like i said its a great paycheck but you gotta work for it alot of guys dont wanna work they want to get paid for doin nothin. if you wanna work theres plenty of loads to pull for a hardrivin trucker you just log it right and get the freight there on time and your company will take care of you. here at prime I keep that truck movin i dont stop unless i have to and my dispatcher keeps me movin.

:lol: :lol: :lol:

That's funny....

Could this be another reincarnation of CFM? Last time he was a lease operator at England. This time maybe he is leasing from Prime.