Considering a career change, any cdl drivers in here?

I currently am a fraud operations manager. I make a good living and have been in banking for 16 years total. Only one problem. I hate my job. It's like babysitting grownups. I was going to hold out for an analyst position but I've been trying for that for 3 years and am hitting a wall. (I was a legal analyst at another bank and loved it but family circumstances led to my current company). I'm 37 years old and all my other experience is in trades , ironworking , welding, home construction, law enforcement. Never going back to LE before someone mentions this lol.

Really don't want to revisit any previous trades I've done but have been kicking around the idea of getting my cdl. I've driven big trucks before in high school (family farm) so I know I can handle them, but wanted opinion of anyone who drives for a living . I would not do otr , would be either regional or local only. Have 2 kids and a wife, 1 kid in high school the other graduated.

 

Second hand info, but have friends who work for local beer distributers. Make good money running local routes to bars and restaurants, it's also sort of a sales position so there is commission. Typically they start out as merchandisers(stock shelves) and the company provides the CDL training as the move up. There's a lot of lifting, so not so good if you have back issues.

 

My dad has been driving big rigs his whole life. Starting out he had to go cross country for 5-10 years which was miserable for him and our family. Now that he has a local gig with UPS and is home on a daily basis it isn't too bad. I think there are better career choices out there if you are starting over.

 

What I heard, semi truck driver don’t make that much money anymore all my friends that drive semi change trade

 

@Tundratoofun I sent you PM

 

Not sure what your area is like but the local school districts are seemingly always looking for bus drivers and pay well.

There are a few bus fleets around too that provide training but I'm not sure how they are.

 

Yea the confusing part I'm finding is info is all over the place. Some people say it pays well, some says it pays horrible. Mainly I'm wanting some reliable info from people in the industry. I'm in a position where if I don't find it's viable or if it doesn't pay well, I'd just stay with my current company and keep holding out for an analyst role. I'm fortunate enough though that my job does take good care of me. I just haven't enjoyed it quite awhile.

 

I'm heading into changing careers as well. I'm not here to give you ideas, so I apologize, I'm advance. I work in corrections currently. My wife and I work so much OT that we can't stand it. This is leading us to finish the sale on our house, pack up and start over, in Florida . The point is, I hate my job. I am excellent at it. But I hate it. My wife hates her job. We are starting over and looking to make less and spend more time together.

If you hate your job, you know what to do.

 

That's is exactly how I feel. I'm great at my current job. Always have been. But as I get older I am less and less of a people person (never really was a people person to begin with , but I faked it well) which when you are a people manager causes alot of stress. Faking caring about my employees and their issues is becoming exhausting. I've always been good at it bc I treat people fairly and like adults and filter upper management bs out so they don't have to

 

CDL B here, drive many years for propane companies, now work for a highway dept. Hauling dirt blacktop and plowing snow in the winter is what I do now

 

What are things to look out for ?do you have any advice for someone starting out? Do you think you would do it again if you could do it o ver?

 

I could not have said it better myself. The only positive to my job is I can tell someone when they are full of bs and there are no repercussions lol

I digress, time for me to move on. Life is a journey.

 

Yep, I can't do that lol as a matter of fact, as my career progresses, our industry is catering more and more to the snowflake generation and we are having to be more and more careful to not upset anyone's feelings even when they are the worst employee ever and can't do their job. It's hard to manage

 

From someone that works at a company employing about 35 CDL drivers, I can tell you drivers are a real need! Overall as a whole there has been a shortage in recent years. More drivers getting out because they do not like all of the E logs and technology that has been forced on them. We have raised our drivers substantially over the past couple years. Driver pay has really increased around here as everyone are looking for drivers.

Before working where I do now, I spent 15+ years in the petroleum and lube industry. Those drivers made really good money with their hazmat endorsement. Nothing for them to make $75k+ and you are home every night.

If that is something you want to do, now is no better time.

 

Speaking of this. My best friends dad got bored with his job and is the exact same thing. He went to TN truck Driving School about 2 years ago.

He got out of school and pretty much had his pick. He just a large carrier asked out of Nashville. He leaves and does loads and is gone for a month at a time. Goes all out the western states and absolutely loves it! He gets to see a lot. He is divorced so getting out of the house so it fits him.

 

Around here where I live there seems to be tons of fuel driver jobs 90-100k year and also lots of excavation dump drivers in the 60-70k range both home everyday. I never paid much attention to driver pay, but it seems much higher than the last time I paid attention which was back around 2002 or so. @knoxville36 do you feel it is a good career ? I know the eld you talk about from researching. Are they mad bc they can't cheat the books anymore ? Or just old school should not wanting to learn

 

Yea I can't do the otr thing bc of wife and kids. But if I was single , I'd be sold on that lol I've always enjoyed driving anything with wheels and a motor. Drove/operated skytracks when I was ironworking, occasionally a crane as well. Tbh I fit in better with that kind of worker too than anything I've met in the office...... except my wife... met her there lol

 

You have no idea how hard it was for us to find drivers when I was in the petroleum industry. Your $90k to $100k is probably not far off. Ours were not quite that, but typically our drivers would do 4 12 hour shifts, home every night.

As mentioned before, I changed careers 2 years ago and your second example is really really good example of what I currently am in!

Dump truck drivers with 0 experience will be $18/hr. to start with 0 experience. Your experienced guys will be $22-$25 if you want to keep the good drivers. You will see a ton of hours once weather breaks in spring through fall. 60 hours per week in not uncommon, but you are home every night. Fall and winter can slow down. A lot of guys go on hunting trips, vacations, etc.. Some guys are good about saving for winter when not a lot of hours, some aren't. $60-$70k would be very accurate for paving, excavation, comstruction, etc...

Keep in mind I am on the desk/financial side but I deal with them on a daily basis!

 

I've been told by owner/operators that lease out their rigs that its very hard to find drivers that are willing to put in miles. I get the impression that if you want to make money you really need to own your own truck and be willing to travel a lot of long distance. Be prepared for high maintenance costs and losing a lot of money when you are down and trust me you will be down.

FWIW, looks like we are the same age and I also came from a banking/financial background (series 7, 63, 65, 9/10 certified) for 11 years and totally know what you mean by babysitting (last job was annuity and life insurance supervision). I threw all of that away and went into business for myself and haven't looked back. Feel free to PM me if you want to chat more about what I do now but either way good luck to whatever you decide to do.

 

That's good to hear. Yea from what I can tell my area is slated slightly higher paying for local jobs. I know I'd have to prob do some long haul the first year to get exp.

 

Finance will kill your soul lol that and I live in constant fear of "the layoff" which has been constantly looming

 

would I do it over again, Yes! I enjoy it more so when I was delivering propane cause I enjoyed being out by myself and not having anyone barking in my ear all day! It’s fun! Always need to be aware of your surroundings and make sure your truck is tip top shape, DOT is a pain in the… I was fortunate to work for companies that safety was always number one and trucks were very well maintained. Working for a municipality like I do now I have people in charge that don’t care when I have issues with the trucks. DOT doesn’t bother government trucks, we get the wave and keep it moving! There’s a lot of money to made out there over the road and locally! Find what suits you!

 

That's good to hear. I know used to (2007 ish or so) to make any real money fudging the books and running longer than allowed was the name of the game, has that changed with the switch to eld or in the industry as a whole? My buddy worked for a welp known company I won't name back then and he said they didn't tell him to break the law when he was out of hours , but if he did they "looked the other way" and if you didn't you couldn't get miles to make a living. Is this still common in the industry or has that changed. Also your views on it are kind of what I feel I would enjoy as well

 

I haven’t filled any hours log in 5 years because I’m only NY state, I’m med cert exempt because I work for a town but I can’t drive for anyone else or out of state

 

Just actually got my license renewal papers in the mail today $184 in which my job will reimburse in full (in our contract) I’m 5 years in state retirement system and at $75k a year without OT…when the snow flies I’m in it and hogging it all, not bad for a small town job 5 miles up the road from home

 

Amen!

 

If you want a Monday-Friday job and make good money look into LTL section Old Dominion,SAIA,ABF or whatever smaller outfit that’s near you. LTL is one of the easiest job and most will start you close to 30hr and when you get some experience pulling doubles and triples you can move into their line division and that’s where you be hitting over 100k a year. I pull triples every night night Monday-Friday averaging 8-9 hrs. I did beer and food service and that job is labor intensive with not much money, maybe the food service if you put in lots of hours you can make good money. This my rig every night lol

 

@Wahayes what part of the country are you in, if you don't mind me asking. I know this is public forum so I understand.