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I was much luckier than most noobies, as I worked for a fine, family friendly, midsized carrier (N.D.I.; National Distributors Inc., which is now N.D.L; National Distributors Leasing) out of Sellersburg, Indiana. They were small enough to know me by name and kind enough to care about my family, yet they were large enough to keep me running steadily. I also had an honest recruiter, an incredible trainer an excellent dispatcher, and yes, I was able to spend Christmas at home. How did I get to be so lucky?? I can only say that The Good Lord watches over children and fools, and I was no child!! Once again, that was about a decade ago, and much has changed in the industry over the last ten years.
After the economy entered into recession in the latter part of 2007, and entered into free-fall in 2008, the dynamics of the industry shifted most dramatically. In addition to the recession, fuel prices shot upward, and quite a few long established trucking companies shut their doors. Many experienced drivers suddenly found themselves on the outside looking in. Since that time, the overall economy has recovered, and the trucking industry industry has recovered to varying degrees, with certain parts of the industry being hotter than others.
In the oilfields, the demand for drivers is screaming, but even that boom won't last forever. While those jobs pay well, you'll earn every dime they pay you. The hours are long, the weather can be horrendous, and a lot of things can go wrong. Those industry jobs are usually filled by experienced drivers, and even if it's possible for a rookie to get hired, I'm not sure that attempting to begin your career in that industry would be a good idea.
Please understand that I'm not trying to discourage you, nor am I trying to be overly pessimistic. Here's wishing you the best!!
I've got two pre-hire letters from "mega" carriers at the moment. The only reason that I'd lean towards a mega carrier (that has a VA approved vocational program) is that I'd stand to get an additional $1,000+/month in benefits. Originally Posted by Useless
Bear in mind that I've been out of the industry for quite some time now, (nearly a decade) and I was never a "career driver"; I drove for a few years because it was something I had always wanted to do, and I had a very limited window of opportunity in which to do it. That was also before fuel hit $2.00 per gallon.I was much luckier than most noobies, as I worked for a fine, family friendly, midsized carrier (N.D.I.; National Distributors Inc., which is now N.D.L; National Distributors Leasing) out of Sellersburg, Indiana. They were small enough to know me by name and kind enough to care about my family, yet they were large enough to keep me running steadily. I also had an honest recruiter, an incredible trainer an excellent dispatcher, and yes, I was able to spend Christmas at home. How did I get to be so lucky?? I can only say that The Good Lord watches over children and fools, and I was no child!! Once again, that was about a decade ago, and much has changed in the industry over the last ten years.
After the economy entered into recession in the latter part of 2007, and entered into free-fall in 2008, the dynamics of the industry shifted most dramatically. In addition to the recession, fuel prices shot upward, and quite a few long established trucking companies shut their doors. Many experienced drivers suddenly found themselves on the outside looking in. Since that time, the overall economy has recovered, and the trucking industry industry has recovered to varying degrees, with certain parts of the industry being hotter than others.
In the oilfields, the demand for drivers is screaming, but even that boom won't last forever. While those jobs pay well, you'll earn every dime they pay you. The hours are long, the weather can be horrendous, and a lot of things can go wrong. Those industry jobs are usually filled by experienced drivers, and even if it's possible for a rookie to get hired, I'm not sure that attempting to begin your career in that industry would be a good idea.
Please understand that I'm not trying to discourage you, nor am I trying to be overly pessimistic. Here's wishing you the best!!
One thing that gets me is that people (by people...I mean people at the CDL school) seem to encourage students to take OTR gigs, rather than local ones. i.e. Werner vs. Pepsi. Someone like me (values downtime)...would rather make a bit less and get (pretty much) guaranteed time off each week with a local carrier than go somewhere where a weekly 36 hour reset is considered doing drivers a favor (when it's required by law).
I appreciate your advice. I don't take your input as being pessimistic, but realistic. There's one carrier in my area that pays ~$20-25k/year more than more of the others (for newbies). The catch? The shift is 1500-0300 and it's VERY labor intensive. The labor doesn't turn me off so much (it would be a chance to have an active job), but working a shift like that would suck. I can't say that I have any interest in dealing with a set shift like that.