ALT-2 Truck Driving is it right for you as a Career Move
Truck driving is fun. People get into this career and stay because they enjoy driving. As with any other job it comes with its challenges, and disadvantages. As did I, you must weigh the benefits and challenges very carefully.
One of the most thought of challenges is time away from home. Over the road drivers are away from home more that they are at home. Local drivers are at home at odd hours. Local drivers are subject to shift work and flex hours. This equals time away from home in regards to family life.
Other challenges include landing a quality job right out of trucking school. As with any other career, you will face a time of having to prove yourself. The quality in a job offer really depends upon the individual being offered. What is right for you? A young person out of school, no reason to stay in one place, you are the most flexible. A family person trying to balance home, and making a decent income, this is a much different challenge.
The over the road companies holding job fairs in your area will tell you that you can make lots of money driving across America! They don't tell you that the numbers they present are all best case circumstances. For instance, maybe a recruiter tells you that you will make .35 cents per mile to start. That per mile rate multiplied by three thousand miles in a week multiplied by fifty two weeks in a year comes out to be over fifty four thousand dollars the first year. What the recruiter fails to mention is that you will not make the mileage rate he talked about in the first six to twelve months; the recruiter also didn't tell you about layovers lasting a week or more.
When your tires are not rolling, you are not making money. Layovers might actually pay a little, but not enough. Before traveling a long distance to a job or training site. Get in writing that you are hired, your application has been processed, your job and personal references have been checked, and your rate of pay is as promised.
I took a leave of absence from my job to attend training for an over the road trucking company. My application was not processed until four days after I arrived. I was waiting for a trainer for a week. I finally told them to get me going or I was going home. I rented a car later that morning and went home. Get everything in writing!
