Thank you for taking the time to read this. Any and all advice is welcome. I'm green to the shipping field, and after a month of heavy research, I have a few questions on the best way to proceed from this point.
To start things off, my live-in girlfriend and I have become frustrated with the job opportunities in the area, frustrated with the area in general, and are looking to make a big change. We started looking for land to purchase, and get as far off the grid as we could manage. Then we moved to either purchasing a boat or rv/camper/trailer etc, and spending the next few years traveling. But honestly, I'm in my 40's and I don't want to blow all my money in the next few years and be hosed down the line. So I started looking back at trucking. I got some good advice that I didn't take, from an older Chief Petty, when I was being discharged from the Navy, about getting on the road for a few years, and just make money and see the country trucking. Since then, every time before I moved, or changed jobs, or just "felt" that next change coming, I looked at trucking.
The more I looked into getting my CDL and starting a job trucking, the less I liked having to figure out how to manage working on the road, making good money, and balancing my home life with my girlfriend. It just seemed like if I wanted to really make money, I would have to be on the road all the time. So I brought it up to her, and she was super supportive, but obviously not something she was going to be happy with long term. I felt like I was back at square one. Then I found expediting on youtube. Namely, The Trucking Couple. So I showed my girlfriend their channel, and The Crafty Trucker, and she is way more into it than I ever thought she would be. She's probably seen more of those channels than I have now. She also printed up a self-made study guide for our permit test. I tell you, she is into it.
What we like is that we can each work as a team to better ourselves. Both individually and together. We like the fact that we can travel (even if it is work travel and not sight seeing, take your time travel). But what we really like is the opportunity to make a nest egg for ourselves, while also bettering our future selves with an in to a multitude of jobs, should we ever need it.
So, we're committed to this idea. Our lease is up in the next few months, and we're studying for the permit test, and selling off all the crap we've accumulated over the years. We have hit a snag though, and I see one way out, but it takes us away from expediting. At least for the short term.
After we get our permits is where I get stuck. It's been suggested that we can take a class at the local technical college, which is great. However, the class won't start until the fall semester, and will take the "better part of the semester" according to the course description. It's cheaper than CDL school, but not by a lot, and it's a lot longer than we were wanting to wait. CDL school, even for just a CDL B with tanker, hazmat, and air brake looks to be at least a couple grand each. With the time it will take (2+ weeks), I just don't think we can afford to do it. We're living pretty close to the margins as it is here, and 2 weeks in a hotel, eating, and school, I just don't know how we would manage. It would take quite a while for us to save that money. Longer than we want to wait. It was also suggested that we rent a rig and teach ourselves. I'm sure I could do it, however I won't even know enough to know what I don't know. This seems like a really good way to waste money on a rental, just to fail the test.
This brings me to the option I think we're stuck with. Signing with a major carrier and going through their school, and running for them until the school is paid off. I know that there are a lot of risks with that, if we want to be expediting at the end of it. But I just don't want to get stuck in another lease, or keep struggling to make ends meet any longer than I have to, because the job market here is so piss poor. We have a list of companies that provide schooling, starting with the companies we would like to work most for going that route.
Looking on here, I also see opportunities for team van drivers. I don't know how feasible that is. It seems much more crowded, especially for a team, and again, I don't know enough about the overland shipping industry to know which company policies make it easy or more difficult to make money with. I see all kinds of weird pay splits, the drivers being responsible for some operating costs, and other things that would take quite a bit more research for me to feel comfortable in talking to companies about driving for them, without feeling like we are getting the short end of the stick, so to speak. Is this an option worth looking into?
So, finally, the payoff. What I am hoping for, with this post, is that some sage expediters can tell me if I'm on the right path, barking up the wrong tree, or haven't even considered options that are out there for us. Is our best option going with a major carrier, getting our CDL A, and running with them until school is paid off? I understand that this could risk a DAC report, and prevent me from driving expedited for maybe 3 years. If I had 10 grand to put us through CDL school, I'd do that, but I don't, so is this my best option considering? Or is there another way that we haven't considered yet?
I'm calling the major carriers next week to see what they have to say. Any advice before then could really help us out. Again, thanks for taking the time. Hopefully we will see you all out on the road soon.
Sean and Luca
To start things off, my live-in girlfriend and I have become frustrated with the job opportunities in the area, frustrated with the area in general, and are looking to make a big change. We started looking for land to purchase, and get as far off the grid as we could manage. Then we moved to either purchasing a boat or rv/camper/trailer etc, and spending the next few years traveling. But honestly, I'm in my 40's and I don't want to blow all my money in the next few years and be hosed down the line. So I started looking back at trucking. I got some good advice that I didn't take, from an older Chief Petty, when I was being discharged from the Navy, about getting on the road for a few years, and just make money and see the country trucking. Since then, every time before I moved, or changed jobs, or just "felt" that next change coming, I looked at trucking.
The more I looked into getting my CDL and starting a job trucking, the less I liked having to figure out how to manage working on the road, making good money, and balancing my home life with my girlfriend. It just seemed like if I wanted to really make money, I would have to be on the road all the time. So I brought it up to her, and she was super supportive, but obviously not something she was going to be happy with long term. I felt like I was back at square one. Then I found expediting on youtube. Namely, The Trucking Couple. So I showed my girlfriend their channel, and The Crafty Trucker, and she is way more into it than I ever thought she would be. She's probably seen more of those channels than I have now. She also printed up a self-made study guide for our permit test. I tell you, she is into it.
What we like is that we can each work as a team to better ourselves. Both individually and together. We like the fact that we can travel (even if it is work travel and not sight seeing, take your time travel). But what we really like is the opportunity to make a nest egg for ourselves, while also bettering our future selves with an in to a multitude of jobs, should we ever need it.
So, we're committed to this idea. Our lease is up in the next few months, and we're studying for the permit test, and selling off all the crap we've accumulated over the years. We have hit a snag though, and I see one way out, but it takes us away from expediting. At least for the short term.
After we get our permits is where I get stuck. It's been suggested that we can take a class at the local technical college, which is great. However, the class won't start until the fall semester, and will take the "better part of the semester" according to the course description. It's cheaper than CDL school, but not by a lot, and it's a lot longer than we were wanting to wait. CDL school, even for just a CDL B with tanker, hazmat, and air brake looks to be at least a couple grand each. With the time it will take (2+ weeks), I just don't think we can afford to do it. We're living pretty close to the margins as it is here, and 2 weeks in a hotel, eating, and school, I just don't know how we would manage. It would take quite a while for us to save that money. Longer than we want to wait. It was also suggested that we rent a rig and teach ourselves. I'm sure I could do it, however I won't even know enough to know what I don't know. This seems like a really good way to waste money on a rental, just to fail the test.
This brings me to the option I think we're stuck with. Signing with a major carrier and going through their school, and running for them until the school is paid off. I know that there are a lot of risks with that, if we want to be expediting at the end of it. But I just don't want to get stuck in another lease, or keep struggling to make ends meet any longer than I have to, because the job market here is so piss poor. We have a list of companies that provide schooling, starting with the companies we would like to work most for going that route.
Looking on here, I also see opportunities for team van drivers. I don't know how feasible that is. It seems much more crowded, especially for a team, and again, I don't know enough about the overland shipping industry to know which company policies make it easy or more difficult to make money with. I see all kinds of weird pay splits, the drivers being responsible for some operating costs, and other things that would take quite a bit more research for me to feel comfortable in talking to companies about driving for them, without feeling like we are getting the short end of the stick, so to speak. Is this an option worth looking into?
So, finally, the payoff. What I am hoping for, with this post, is that some sage expediters can tell me if I'm on the right path, barking up the wrong tree, or haven't even considered options that are out there for us. Is our best option going with a major carrier, getting our CDL A, and running with them until school is paid off? I understand that this could risk a DAC report, and prevent me from driving expedited for maybe 3 years. If I had 10 grand to put us through CDL school, I'd do that, but I don't, so is this my best option considering? Or is there another way that we haven't considered yet?
I'm calling the major carriers next week to see what they have to say. Any advice before then could really help us out. Again, thanks for taking the time. Hopefully we will see you all out on the road soon.
Sean and Luca
