Question:
Looking to leave the restaurant business and considering a career as a trucker. 34 years old single no attachments and burned out by the restaurant world
Looking for some opinions and feedback.
Good companies to apply to?
Will probably attend future truckers of america in asheboro nc. Anyone familiar with this school?
I see everywhere avg yearly earnings (newbies) is 35000 , t or f ?
I have viewed more negative posts about trucking on these forums than positive, I hope someone can give some positive input.
I have millions more questions but I dont want to write a novel. Your feedback will be appreciated.

Answer:

Do a search on this forum, I think you'll find many companies pros and cons listed. All I can tell you is do not under any circumstances consider C.R. England. I still have nightmares about that place...

Your experiences will most likely be less, depending on some factors. There are some veteran drivers who don't make that much.

Such as? I tend to be more negative than not, but even I can see a few positives. Depends on your priorities in life and what you want our ot it.

Start asking questons - one thing none of us here are good at is mind reading.
Answer:
Good luck buddy your gonna need it haha , check out all the job websites and come up with whos good to work for everyone has their own opinion on whos bad and whos good make up your own mind most major OTR's for newbies are almost all the same, last year I made a whopping $30,000 as my first year as a "pro-fess-ional truck driver" after the 100 hr weeks and constant BS it hardly seems worth it in the long run but I can't stop now I gotta run . I got most my money back for school and all my business expenses at tax time thats the one good thing about trucking, well spend years as a truck driver and tell me how positive you feel about a declining industry, I am a newbie and still don't know squat but I can see where many of these pros come from some ppl do take things better than others put you can only get Sh*t on so many times before it starts to (edited) you off, I am not at the I hate everything about trucking phase yet I wonder how long it will take before I get there I know there were 100 days where I wanted to quit but I stuck with it and it did get a lil easier as I am sure it will with time, so they tell me, but whatever you do stay at one place and at least get that 2-3 years of verifiable experience so you can find yourself a half way decent trucking job. Good luck and stay safe

Answer:
Depends on who you work for and your situation. First full year here beat that by a good margin (in the 40s), and I'm home 3 days a week.
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that 40 grand is good but I was just telling him what a newbie local driver is likely to get I was home every night and home on the weekends

Answer:
Okay, well, you said Not many newbies start out local. Anyway, I'm putting in substantially less than 100 hours a week. When I'm on time off, it's for the whole day or more.. not just a few hours at night.
Answer:

Don't worry about it; ask your questions and you'll get a variety of opinions.
Your first year's income will depend on a number of things, not the least of which is how you define "first year". To my way of thinking, your "first year" starts the day you show up at the carrier of your choice for orientation. In most cases, you will have 5 days (more or less) of orientation and then go out with a trainer for 4 - 8 weeks (more or less). The orientation/training process will consume around 2 months and your total income for this time will probably be around $2,400 ($1,200 per month). That leaves you with 10 months to make about $33,000 to meet your 'about $35,000).
So, if you're being paid 30 cpm as a newbie driver, you'll have to run about 110,000 miles in the next 44 weeks, or about a 2,500 mile per week average.
Is this possible? Sure it is. Is it likely? Probably not. There are exceptions to the rule, includng dedicated runs. Perhaps Senor Turnbuckle will provide a bit more information on how he made $40K plus in his first year????????

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It's no secret. There is a full, unabridged record of my exploits on this site. Just search my previous posts.
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Swell, but why not give a brief explanation and save everyone who might be helped by your experience the hassle of sorting through 400 some odd posts?

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how come every post in these forums turns into a petty argument between posters. People ak for help or generla knowledge and the first 2-3 replies are good and the rest turn into petty b/s about spelling or the way someone worded something ........ i think Im going to stick w classadrivers.com forums. At least they are moderated and the posters there have a level of maturity higher than a g/d fifth grader. good bye11

Answer:

I'm sure it will be more to your liking
This place tells the truth and over there recruiters will tell you whatever you want to here
The fairy tale Little Red Riding hood is lost on some of you people,it's not your grandmother,it's a big bad wolf
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just look at the last two posts b4 I replied w my gripe. those two are arguing or griping about what one wrote, not offering an opinion or comment. The truth? where? petty b/s is what I see. help or answer the questions.

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CAD is basically a vacuum cleaner discussion site, where all the moderators are vacuum cleaner salesmen.
Bound to get an honest opinion there. No bias whatsoever.
Do you want to hear the truth, or just what you want to hear??
Sounds like you're setup right for trucking. No wife, no family, nothing to tie you down. There are corner markets in trucking where money can be made. You may luck up and hit one, you most likely will not.
Trucking is a lot of work for the pay. You most likely will not break minumum wage the first year if you really figure in the time on the job.
If you spend a good many years in trucking, then buy your own truck, and get into a good corner market like hauling boats, specialty cars, or some other such thing, you may make some money. It will take a while though, and you will have to prove yourself first. It's a really really long shot. Don't count on it ever happening. You will most likely have to relocate to find this kind of freight.
Trucking wasn't worth it to me. Too much work for too little pay. My hard work and dedication is worth more than minumum wage and being lied to.

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break down a chefs salary and it may make you cry. dont look at the food network and all that glamour. 70-80 hrs a week non stop physical labor. yelling screaming and complete idiots working under you. hey chef sorry im four hrs late and we are not set up for a 350 person nite but I got high and went surfing. my alarm did not go off....well u were due in at 5pm hmmmm. 37000 no benes 6-7 work week hot nasty kitchen 100 degrees plus. I feel I could handle some of the stuff I read on these sites about otr. hmmm.
well its addicting so i guess i keep posting and griping w the rst of you. peace

Answer:
hahahaha sounds a lot like another industry I know