My new experience in trucking is what my first experience should have been. I am enjoying my privacy these days and having more free time for myself to have a personal life.
I don’t think anyone really understands what a sacrifice it was to spend every waking moment of my time trying to share my story to help others like me over the past few years. It took me many months to adjust to living off the road and in a house with no wheels, to reconnect to the world away from trucking.
The moral of my student trucker story is that you have to fight to survive in trucking to get to the other side of the rainbow. The retention numbers in truck driver training carriers speak for themselves. It continues to be a system set up for failure; therefore it is up to each individual to come out swinging if they intend to be trucking more than 6 months.
I have just launched the “Women Truckers Network” (WTN) Free Phone Conference Events which have quickly become a success. The founding members are Sandi Talbott a 71 year old female truck driver who pulls a reefer for Cargill Meats, Alison an owner operator Flatbedder and the inspiration for the phone conference network is a one armed trucker also known as “The Monkey Gouger”. Tracy Tuttle-Hamm, a trainer for USA Truck is also a host for the WTN phone conference events and shares her insights for students planning to enter trucking.
Every Wednesday beginning at 9am Pacific time ( 10 am mountain, 11 am central, Noon eastern) the WTN free phone conference lets real women truckers chat live with one another to exchange information, lifestyle tips and to help women entering trucking make better decisions.
Below are links to past conference recordings, you can also listen to the last conference replay recording using your phone by dialing 805-399-1099 access code 560199#
- REPLAY LINK: Women Truckers Network Introduction June 28, 2012
- REPLAY LINK: Women Truckers Network – July 4, 2012
- REPLAY LINK: Women Truckers Network – July 18, 2012
- REPLAY LINK: Women Truckers Network – July 25, 2012
If you are a lady trucker or a lady planning to enter trucking and would like to join the discussion please email realwomenintrucking@gmail.com to receive the WTN call in number and access code.
Topics we have covered in our first 2 conferences include the violence against women issue in training carriers and lack of qualified training overall in trucking.
Our goal is to provide useful REAL information for the purposes of personal safety and to create a better trucking lifestyle for women on the road, which includes making new friends.
Thank you Desirre, very well stated. Looking forward to Wednesdays every week. Talk to you tomorrow.
Sandi
Thanks for commenting Sandi. You are truly an inspiration… talk to you Wednesday on the WTN , Cheers, Desiree
[…] the short time since we launched the “Women Truckers Network” free weekly phone conference events, an abundance of helpful information has emerged. Our […]
I’m glad to hear someones supporting the women truckers. I started driving in 1993 and 3 years later, after seeing one of my my paychecks, my husband decided to join me. We drove 2+ million happy miles in 8 years. I now stay home & take care of him since he can no longer drive. I sure miss all my trucker friends but I don’t miss the toll the truck took on my body. Maybe when he’s gone I’ll see about volunteering to help other women drivers. I’ll need to “do” something I just can’t sit home when I miss the call of the road. They called me Mishap and the stories I can tell have to do with my CB handle…………..Ya all take care now and will be watching from home for now!
Hi Betsy, My boyfriend & I are planning on starting a career in trucking in the next few months. However, we have tons of questions on which company to sign up with & how little will we make in the 1st few months as team drivers. Can you please contact me, we really could use some advice from other team drivers.
Thank you,
Tracey
Hi Tracey:
Not sure Betsy will respond but I wanted to let you know that team drivers are sought after by just about all carriers. If you and your boyfriend work well together under pressure you should do well. In my experience personalities can change once you start trucking together and may take a toll on your relationship.
Better training carriers and ones to watch out for are discussed on our weekly phone conferences and blog talk radio program. You are welcome to call and ask live questions.
http://www.RealWomenintrucking.com
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/womentruckersnetwork
I have been getting good response from students that have attended USA truck and Knight Transportation. In a recent blog talk radio program 2 recent CDL student mentioned H. O. Wolding and Halvor Lines.
Good Luck!
Desiree
Hi Desiree,
Thank you so much for your quick response & advice! We looked at USA, but it would require us to become residents of there state prior to entering school. We’ve planned for being without pay during class room training, so finding the best training program that will get us on the road together is essential. We live in San Diego, Ca and we’re completely prepared for the cross country trips. Our biggest challenge will be finding time for him to work out (he’s a personal trainer), but if there is a will he’ll find a way. He’ll be the guy running laps around the truck stops…lol
Thank you again!
Tracey
Sweet! , most of my immediate family lives in san diego county. I spend part of my hometime there. I am aware that USA has a hiring area and California is unfortunately a state where many carriers either hesitate to hire from or will mislead you. The reason is that they say they cannot get you hometime but as a team that shouldn’t be an issue as plenty of team freight comes out of the state.
A few other carrier names to check out are ROEHL, Schneider National and you can email me directly at truckerdesiree@gmail.com I will give you information to the best of my knowledge.
Check out “The Truckers Report” for carrier warnings and recent reviews
Take care,
Desiree
This isn’t where my story begins but I can’t comment on FB by my choice. My trainer was great, he was messing with the other women in the truck so he left me alone. He was totally comfortable with my driving abilities and I guess he was happy with where she did her best driving!
Thanks for writing Betsy, I would like to invite you to check out the http://www.REALWomeninTrucking.com blog and new internet radio program. It is the first trucking radio show hosted by women truckers. Here is a link with our first 2 shows available to listen to replay on your computer or smartphone. http://www.blogtalkradio.com/womentruckersnetwork thanks again for your comments, Desiree
Dear Tracey, We drove for February 14th Inc. They were one of the best places to work and got us home every week. At the time it was Out 5 days then home for 2. Their location is in Grand Rapids, Michigan. They liked the fact that they could split us up when needed since I taught my husband how to drive. We worked for the owners father for 1 year because He needed one years experience to drive there. That was a bunch of crap because there were others that taught their WIVES to drive while working there. In the beginning I had a problem with MANY company’s because I wanted to teach him & they turned us down because I’m a women. I don’t know your teams experience, when we left we were EACH making 41 cents a mile. After being home almost 5 years I don’t know what the going rate is now. The miles are HARD on the body & my back is ALL arthritis now. We did roughly 5000 miles a week for them and it was a GREAT COMPANY. I miss everything about driving. But a word to the wise! If you have kids or planning on them don’t do it. I didn’t start driving until my youngest was 13 but then it was a dedicated short run to Chicago 5 days a week so I was home a lot and my husband was home every night but she still managed to get in normal teenage trouble. But I do know of a Mother who’s daughter was raised in her truck and she ended up going to West Point Military Academy. So I guess it’s how bad you want it to work out. But the thought of a having wreak with kids in the truck kept us from doing it very often. We did bring the grandson many times but only if we knew where we were going. I WOULD NEVER OWN MY OWN RIG EITHER. The first 3 months together are the hardest AND IF HE’S CRITICAL OF YOU I’D THINK TWICE BEFORE YOU DO IT. He has to know how to talk to you and be your BEST FRIEND.
mishap2345@yahoo.com
Thanks Betsy for responding to Tracey… I love the sharing of information …. Thank You! Desiree
Hi Betsy,
Thank you so much for getting back to me so soon. Both you & Desiree have provided me with some great advice. I’m so excited about this career change & look forward to seeing other states even if it’s just a pit stop. My boyfriend & I have 2 daughters each that are young adults. Our only concern is his pit bull. I definitely will look into the company you mentioned.
Take care,
Tracey
My name is Joyce Randall and I have loved and traveled by road since childhood with my mother and six siblings. I was the youngest who would just gaze out the window at the warm homes at night, the lakes and ponds, the wildlife, and tall trees. It was all so exciting to me, while everyone else was bored this was how I passed my time and time we travel the same road I could always find something different. I am 49 years old and I am unemployed after 9 years as a director at a women’s homeless shelter. I helped women who were coming out of prison, coming out or going into rehabilitation, women who are working with children services to get their children back, and other women raw right off the streets to begin the process of rebuilding their lives. I was also a client in this homeless shelter and this meant so much to me because I was able to help the women better because I possessed some of the same breakdowns. I was physically assaulted by my supervisor on this job and was eventually fired after I reported it to Fair Employment. I had planned to retire from the shelter and live happily ever after but this was not the case. I won my case but I was devastated and suffered a mental breakdown from depression. The thought of how I was going to pay my bills, my medical bills, how was I going to live, and in the mist of all this my 29 year old son passed away, my fiancée a professional truck driver himself left out on me because of all I was going through and I was forced into homeless. I relocated from CA to Miami Florida taking that long journey by myself I gathered my TA, Pilot, and Love’s books and stayed at every truck stop where I felt safe and was safe. Every day and every night I would see the women on the road and at that time I made my mind up with what I wanted to do in my life but I needed to get to Miami. I made to Florida to only witness my daughter living in depression because of her brother and when I saw the living conditions that my grandchildren was living in I knew I had to get back to work, I knew I wanted to do something meaningful, something I love doing and something I can do well and the only thing I love is the open road. My daughter and grandchildren is all I have left in this world and want to make a good life for us. The REAL WOMEN Truck driver stories inspired me to satisfy this adrenalin rush that I have when I think of this is my time and I want it!
1. What steps I need to take to become a REAL WOMEN Truck driver.
2. What are some good companies who hire women?
3. Are there good insurance plans for my family?
4. Can I support my family off truck driving?
5. How long are the schools?
6. What can I expect as a new driver?
I am so exicted about the career change where do I start?
Hi Joyce,
I apoligize for taking so long to reply. I have written you a private email so we could talk more because your questions will take awhile to answer appropriately.
In essence though,
The steps you need to become a REAL WOMEN Truck driver are patience and eagerness to learn. There are 2 training carriers that emerged from a recent blog talk radio program we had where our female guests identified a carrier named H.O. Wolding and another gal identified Halvor Lines as good options. To begin with though you need to get your CDL and there are lots of ways to spend a whole bunch of money needlessly for this. Check out community college programs first. Read the post called “Truck Carrier Warnings” on the http://www.REALWomeninTrucking.com blog. With regards to taking care of your family on this income, I would not count on that. I thought I was going to have a 401K and good benefits when I entered trucking and I found myself having to call my ex-husband to ask for help a few times just to eat food. The first few months you may be surviving on as little as $250.00 a week. In the first year you may make $37,000 but that is with all things being perfect. Some students report making as low as $25K because they lost bonuses for fuel efficiency or had a fender bender that took their safety bonus away. Abosolutely DO NOT believe trucking recruiters that tell you that you will be making $45K in your first year, THEY ARE LYING TO YOU!!!!
The CDL school portion will take 3-4 weeks but you are better off to find a 8 week community college program because one you go to the training carrier they will put you out with a trainer and expect you to be running team miles when you have really no grasp of what handling the truck means.
You asked: What can I expect as a new driver? Low pay, Poor conditions, Poor communication, poor support. You will need to ask for help. Do not wait to have it provided to you. You must be adaptable and not get caught up in the romantic imagery of trucking. This is hard work for low wages and there are plenty of ways you can get taken advantage of if you do not research every CDL school you are considering and training carrier you are considering.
You should start by googling the word “complaints” after the name of each CDL school and truck driver training carrier you are thinking about signing on with. That is the best way to start and decide what you can personally tolerate.
Good Luck!
Desiree