Sounds like sound advice Raceman. I'm pretty sure I do not qualify for finicial aid so living in Ohio I went to Roadmaster but they wanted all the money upfront. Any suggestions? I've been working 10 to 12 hour days for the past 7 weeks and haven't spent any time with my kids till this weekend so she's really understanding.Does anyone know how I get Fed-ex qualified? I worked for them in a temp. position 2 years ago. If I don't find a way to an A it might be hard to make the kind of money I need to make. Thats the biggest concern right now. We just bought a house. I could accept making 30,000 this year but my wages have to go up yearly in other words and this is just a rough estimate 2005=30k 2006 35k 2007 40k 2008 50k. I talked to a guy today who has a Fed-ex straight truck and he said I can make 800 a week clear if I work hard and right now I'm hungry
Need honest answer please
- Thread starter happyfeet
- Start date
DannyD
Veteran Expediter
Hiya Happy,
Someone above mentioned the food industry. If you could get your A license, I totally agree. I used to work for Dominos (delivering pizza, not driving a truck) but would talk to the drivers when they came in. They made great money, in some cases over 60K I believe. Since I'm not 100% sure on that figure (though it does seem a few guys told me that) check w/ Dominos.
I'm not sure where you live, but will use Dayton as an example. You'd be up to Ann Arbor, Michigan to load up your truck. Then you'd drive back down to Dayton & do your deliveries. You'd have a certain amount of stores to deliver to & then you'd go home & spend time w/ family, sleep, etc.
The next day you'd head back up to Ann Arbor & repeat the process. It tends to be a 2nd & 3rd shift job. I don't recall a driver ever not being w/ his family every day for at least some home time unless a storm came thru or something to that effect. What I'm trying to say here is it's pretty much like any other 8 to 10 hour/day job & then you're home.
I realize that if ya have to go from Ann Arbor to Dayton & back that's 8 hours & when do you have time to deliver, so I'm missing something here. Maybe there's a commisary in Columbus or something. I know when I worked in Vegas the commisary was in LA, & the drivers lived in Vegas. Maybe it's ya deliver every other day. I'm not quite sure. Full details on this could be better given to you by Dominos.
I've worked for Dominos in various parts of the country & most of the guys lived near the cities they were delivering too rather than near the commisary. If say ya lived in Toledo & had a Dayton route, I'm sure that could be worked out too. Either way, you would get plenty of time to be w/ your family & make a good living for them.
There's some loading/unloading involved, but nothing that's to heavy. The guys who delivered to us were usually out in a half hour or so. Sometimes parking is tight, but I would guess that's no different than any other 18 wheeler experience.
Of course, w/ a job like that there's not a large turnover rate. Those guys were some of the most content workers I've ever come across in terms of job satisfaction. If Dominos has no openings, you may want to try other companies in the food industry. This post is to mainly 2nd the opinion that the food industry can be a great way to go if you want to combine driving & a fair amount of home time.
Best of luck to ya,
Danny
Someone above mentioned the food industry. If you could get your A license, I totally agree. I used to work for Dominos (delivering pizza, not driving a truck) but would talk to the drivers when they came in. They made great money, in some cases over 60K I believe. Since I'm not 100% sure on that figure (though it does seem a few guys told me that) check w/ Dominos.
I'm not sure where you live, but will use Dayton as an example. You'd be up to Ann Arbor, Michigan to load up your truck. Then you'd drive back down to Dayton & do your deliveries. You'd have a certain amount of stores to deliver to & then you'd go home & spend time w/ family, sleep, etc.
The next day you'd head back up to Ann Arbor & repeat the process. It tends to be a 2nd & 3rd shift job. I don't recall a driver ever not being w/ his family every day for at least some home time unless a storm came thru or something to that effect. What I'm trying to say here is it's pretty much like any other 8 to 10 hour/day job & then you're home.
I realize that if ya have to go from Ann Arbor to Dayton & back that's 8 hours & when do you have time to deliver, so I'm missing something here. Maybe there's a commisary in Columbus or something. I know when I worked in Vegas the commisary was in LA, & the drivers lived in Vegas. Maybe it's ya deliver every other day. I'm not quite sure. Full details on this could be better given to you by Dominos.
I've worked for Dominos in various parts of the country & most of the guys lived near the cities they were delivering too rather than near the commisary. If say ya lived in Toledo & had a Dayton route, I'm sure that could be worked out too. Either way, you would get plenty of time to be w/ your family & make a good living for them.
There's some loading/unloading involved, but nothing that's to heavy. The guys who delivered to us were usually out in a half hour or so. Sometimes parking is tight, but I would guess that's no different than any other 18 wheeler experience.
Of course, w/ a job like that there's not a large turnover rate. Those guys were some of the most content workers I've ever come across in terms of job satisfaction. If Dominos has no openings, you may want to try other companies in the food industry. This post is to mainly 2nd the opinion that the food industry can be a great way to go if you want to combine driving & a fair amount of home time.
Best of luck to ya,
Danny
Yeah, but the truth is that I can't find a good paying with my class B yet going thru the want ads here in town the numbers of Class A drivers and the money is incredible. Their are so many company's here in Columbus that are in the paper every week "1 year exp otr 45,000 starting pay. I'm trying to see if I can get a grant thru WIA here but I'd say my chances of getting it are slim. Which means that I guess I have to expect hell in the next year.
Broompilot
Veteran Expediter
Go back to Fed EX, become a dock worker pay decent (have a realitive who works Greensboro Terminal) show intrest in driving, and I am sure that a O/O will begin talking to you.
As for the big Companies, I looked at them all. Interviewed with Pumpkin, no thanks great company but your not a person there until you have three years or more. Best of the best in my opinion, U.S. Express,they have regional areas so they are not sending solos any further than if I recall 750 miles from a terminal. Home every twelve days. Pumpkin was 21 as I recall.
I keep this in the back of my mind. Someday I might make a switch to go over the road tractor trailer, get a year in and than sign on with a company that has a terminal local that pays all benefits. For now though I love or like this very much but always thinking about my future. My health insurance seems to go up $50. every year so in another five years I estimate I will be paying close to $700 a month. I will not sub one of these insurance co. that you see at the truck stops. Blue Cross Blue Shield with a high deducatable, you get what you pay for when it comes to Health Insurance.
As for the big Companies, I looked at them all. Interviewed with Pumpkin, no thanks great company but your not a person there until you have three years or more. Best of the best in my opinion, U.S. Express,they have regional areas so they are not sending solos any further than if I recall 750 miles from a terminal. Home every twelve days. Pumpkin was 21 as I recall.
I keep this in the back of my mind. Someday I might make a switch to go over the road tractor trailer, get a year in and than sign on with a company that has a terminal local that pays all benefits. For now though I love or like this very much but always thinking about my future. My health insurance seems to go up $50. every year so in another five years I estimate I will be paying close to $700 a month. I will not sub one of these insurance co. that you see at the truck stops. Blue Cross Blue Shield with a high deducatable, you get what you pay for when it comes to Health Insurance.
If you want to make really good money and be home most of the time try an LTL carrier like Roadway/Yellow, ABF (union carriers) their pay rate I think right now is about 22 bucks an hour...of course starting out its 16.50 but anything after 8 is time and a half, after the 5th day ( called 6th punch) its double time ( their weeks start on Sundays...the annoying thing is that you might have to work an unassigned schedule which means wierd hours.
You would also be casual for at least 6 months until they offered you a full time position but you would probably still have an unassigned schedule, I averaged anywhere between 500.00 and 1500.00 per a 5-6 day week just depending on hours...most of Roadways trucks do not have powersteering or A/C....which sucks in florida when you are wearing a uniform.
Other Non union LTL companies like R+L or Estes Express have a top pay of 20.00 per hour and while they dont pay overtime (55-60 hrs wk) you can attain top pay scale in 2 years and they have fantastic benefits.
hope that helps some
dukesadog
You would also be casual for at least 6 months until they offered you a full time position but you would probably still have an unassigned schedule, I averaged anywhere between 500.00 and 1500.00 per a 5-6 day week just depending on hours...most of Roadways trucks do not have powersteering or A/C....which sucks in florida when you are wearing a uniform.
Other Non union LTL companies like R+L or Estes Express have a top pay of 20.00 per hour and while they dont pay overtime (55-60 hrs wk) you can attain top pay scale in 2 years and they have fantastic benefits.
hope that helps some
dukesadog