>>847409Commercial Driver's License. The class is 160hrs in the US, so normally 1 month to 6 months depending how you do it. Costs anywhere from $1500 to $4000. But depending where you live and who you know, it is entirely possible to get the license for free if you have access to a truck.
>>847566Not necessarily. After getting a Class A CDL from a school, the majority of people will go cross country and don't touch shit inside the trailer. They just open the doors, back up to a dock, and wait for warehouse workers to unload it. Great way to get fat and sleep inside a truck for 345 nights a year.
I didn't feel like living in the truck, but if you want to stay local without years of experience, you have to work. So I been slangin cases of Pepsi for the past 2.5yrs. I need to get out of there soon though. I could get on a fuel truck or something else local where I don't have to work physically but I'm lazy and don't want to start from the bottom again.
The OTR (cross country) rookies will normally make like $35k-$45k driving for one of those big companies but they are always on the road. I do better than most of those guys, especially now since I know what I'm doing. I worked a lot of hours in the beginning but these days I get mad if I'm stuck there for more than 45hrs a week. There are a few local gigs that will get you $60k-$70k a year with no hard work, but the real money driving trucks comes once you buy your own rig.
