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I want a mentor

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bleee619

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I am 23 years old and im highly committed into starting trucking i watch videos on youtube read forums and blogs but i sould love to find someone to talk to through out my jorney i plan on embarking on. Please comment or hit me up so we can exchange info and chat so i can learn the ins and out of trucking
 
be careful of what you see on You Tube and some other sites.

some of that crap, is just that, crap.

a mentor would be much better for you if one lives near you, and you can attend a school.

we can only provide some advice from time to time so it can be spotty, compared to someone you can spend some time with.
 
Yeah on the sites you see so much negative about every company and i rather know the in and out from an actual person i can reach out and talk to type of thing. Im young and i want to build my future asap so i cant trust youtube to help me
 
bleee619 said:
Yeah on the sites you see so much negative about every company . . . . .
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Well there are so many n00bs passing into, and then rapidly out of, the Mega Carriers, that the supply of negative stories relating to the often all too short "careers" of these n00bs is never ending.

bleee619 said:
. . . . . . and i rather know the in and out from an actual person . . . . . . .
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Like this maybe?



bleee619 said:
. . . . . . i can reach out and talk to type of thing.
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What you need is an uncle or cousin who drives, and has driven for a long time. Someone who actually has made a decent living in trucking, and really knows the true story.

bleee619 said:
Im young and i want to build my future asap . . . . . . .
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See, there is the thing.

You are young.

You have not yet developed the patience to take your time, learn about life. Learn about the real world.

I remember when I was your age. I thought I had the world by the tail. I thought I had to have everything, and I absolutely knew that I had to have it all, immediately.

If I only knew then what I know now. . . . . . .

bleee619 said:
. . . . . . so i cant trust youtube to help me
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Well, not entirely.

There are lots of helpful things there, but you have to be able to separate the wheat from the chaff.
 
The problem with seeking a mentor is that you likely won't get correct information. Even 40 year veterans can be wrong, and those drivers are typically the worst as they will argue a wrong to the death because they've done it for so long.

Your best bet is to grab study material and learn yourself. It's overwhelming at first, but exposure is the best teacher.
 
Good luck on your endeavor. Trucking is not what it used to be and it is no easy row anymore. Be prepared to start work at any one of the 24 hours in a day seven days a week. There are some good jobs out there but unless you're one of those who can fall into a ****house and come out smelling like a rose they won't be easy to get. I would say that you might be better served working as CNC operator. It takes a commitment and a long time to reach the top but it is a steady job and there are plenty of them.
 
also, be aware of the costs involved, from schooling to the actual license.

this past Wednesday, I had to renew my CDL.

it cost me $89.00 for the finger-printing/back ground check

it cost me $11.50 for the hazmat test

it cost me $61.50 for the actual CDL


now for you, you may want to take hazmat, doubles/triples, tanker, tests, then you also NEED the general knowledge test, air brakes, and combo vehicles test.

each state has a different rate structure/fee's for ALL of these tests.

then there is schooling.....where to go, etc,etc..

EXPECT to pay from $5,000 to $15,000 for schooling.....

EXPECT to get used and abused and spit out like a wet sunflower seed, when the company is done with you.

EXPECT to get "blackballed" when you screw up, and almost NEVER find another job.

EXPECT NOT to get a high paying job right out of school but maybe a $30,000 year job, for a while.

EXPECT NOT to have any home, family life,....... oh sure, many say...."i can do this, i have no family, friends", etc, etc...

those are the FIRST ONES, to head for the airport, train or bus station to get home FAST....

good luck......
 
Those mentioned costs are for the hazmat endorcement, which is not required to hold a CDL.

The upfront costs are pricey, but worth it in the long run if you stick with it and keep your records clean. I paid a little over 4k for the Roadmaster school when I got my CDL in '04, and now make $25/hr.

You're not going to make that good money off the bat. You have to start at the bottom like all of us did and work your way up.
 
Airbrakes said:
Those mentioned costs are for the hazmat endorcement, which is not required to hold a CDL.

The upfront costs are pricey, but worth it in the long run if you stick with it and keep your records clean. I paid a little over 4k for the Roadmaster school when I got my CDL in '04, and now make $25/hr.

You're not going to make that good money off the bat. You have to start at the bottom like all of us did and work your way up.
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what i bolded and underlined...

true, those "added costs" are for the hazmat endorsement, which "some employers" do not require, and "some employers" reimburse a driver for.

but, try finding a job with out it first......

because nearly all other employers REQUIRE it, and say so in the ads, like..." hazmat preferred"....
 
Allow me to mentor you for 1 minute. In 3 months i will have 30 years driving. As ABFer said, this industry is not any where it used to be. If you are hell bent on driving, persue a career with
UPS as a parcel driver and stay away from this CDL Fiasco. However better yet, go to tech school and get schooling on CNC, HVAC, Plumbing, Electrician etc and stay away from this deteriorated industry!
 
pro1driver said:
what i bolded and underlined...

true, those "added costs" are for the hazmat endorsement, which "some employers" do not require, and "some employers" reimburse a driver for.

but, try finding a job with out it first......

because nearly all other employers REQUIRE it, and say so in the ads, like..." hazmat preferred"....
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And of those employers that require it, how many hire student drivers?

This is why getting every endorcement in the book is a waste for students, 90% of the time. Get your experience first, and worry about the endorcements when you figure out what you want to do in this industry.
 
Airbrakes said:
And of those employers that require it, how many hire student drivers?
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nearly ALL the trucking companies THAT HIRE students, like the "Swift's, Werners, Schnieder's, etc,etc, and yes, even some :"mom and pop places.>!!!

This is why getting every endorcement in the book is a waste for students, 90% of the time. Get your experience first, and worry about the endorcements when you figure out what you want to do in this industry.
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wrong again, the prices and questions now on all the endorsement tests are cheap (and some what easy) to pass..

you wanna bet on it that those endorsement test fee's stay "as is" forever and ever..??

you wanna bet that the test will stay with a small number of questions, and NOT go up to (say) 50 or 100 questions.>???

it is BEST to get ALL the endorsements ASAP, be done with them, and any price increase for those who sat back on their "duffs" absorb this higher fee's and possible higher number of questions to answer and get right...
 
Let's agree to disagree. You and I will not see eye to eye on this.

BTW, a hazmat isn't required to drive for Swift and the likes.
 
Airbrakes said:
Let's agree to disagree. You and I will not see eye to eye on this.

BTW, a hazmat isn't required to drive for Swift and the likes.
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they are like many other carriers, they "prefer" that a driver has it...

sooooo let me ask you this...

they got a hazmat load, and you're in that area, and NO other driver is with-in say 5 hours of getting to that hazmat load.

the load is what any company will deem.."hot and has to go now"..

only as a driver, one failed to obtain the hazmat endorsement....

what now....they lose a load all because some schmuck failed to get the endorsement when he could have done it in the very beginning..??

now, how pissed off will the company be..??

pissed off enough to make that driver sit for hours, if not DAYS, and he loses on a week's pay check..??

if one desires to "become" a "professional truck driver", then one must do all that is possible to secure his/her place at the top of the food chain....

other wise, move over for us more professional thinking and doing drivers.

or better yet, get a job at the post office, and let a real trucking company take over the loads that those drivers have no real desire to handle for the sake of being professionals.
 
Try not focusing on the negativity you hear.Its definitely different than it was 5-10 years ago,but you werent a part of it then,so that wont apply to you.The guys that have answered your request have given you good info and im sure they will continue to do so,if requested...My most important info to you is stay positive and make sure the negatives are general info and not someones personal animosity toward their jobs.Welcome to Truckingboards.
 
a9faninnc said:
Try not focusing on the negativity you hear.Its definitely different than it was 5-10 years ago,but you werent a part of it then,so that wont apply to you.The guys that have answered your request have given you good info and im sure they will continue to do so,if requested...My most important info to you is stay positive and make sure the negatives are general info and not someones personal animosity toward their jobs.Welcome to Truckingboards.
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i am "positive" that i am not "negative"..

but yes too, that the changes we are going thru, should NOT be hard for any "newcomer", as it is us oldies that must adapt to change, and not too many of us like change....is that a fair statement....??

but still, trucking is not ever going to return to the way things were. is that a good thing, or a bad thing???

probably (for some) a good thing, but will the pay match the betterment of the rules, regulations we are going through..??

again, i think not, especially when a driver should have ALL that is necessary in his/her possession to haul the loads. there will ALWAYS be loads that will require a certain endorsement. if one were to obtain the tanker endorsement for say orange juice hauling, then naturally, hazmat is NOT required. but what if a back haul were to be acid, food grade acid, like used in cola's..?? i speak of this acid.....Phosphoric acid - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

so now, here one is, a tanker endorsed driver, but not a hazmat, and cannot bring back a load of this acid to the coca-cola or pepsi plant. he can only haul orange juice..?? how valuable to the company is THAT driver..??

i'd say about as much as the help wanted ad brings in a whole lot of applicants, that's how valuable he/she is...
 
RacerX69 said:
I think the post was directed to the OP.
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yes it most certainly was, but i know too that some guy here, (AKA) "Mr. Negativity".......(whom ever that is....:LMAO:).......was only saying that he is positive he is not negative, due to any animosity towards the industry....but rather blunt in his description of the industry from being in it longer than God has been walking in Heaven, or walking on water.....
 
In the winter when I pick up my laptop I get a static shock and I always wondered...am I positive or negative? I mean...which way is the charge going?
 
ABFer said:
In the winter when I pick up my laptop I get a static shock and I always wondered...am I positive or negative? I mean...which way is the charge going?
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i used to "get a charge" watching our cat walk across the carpet and get near the radiator, and then get zapped....

or the times when he'd come up to us, and as we would go to pet him, he'd get zapped....
 
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