Known as the most exciting of all, trucking always triggers truck driving questions regarding the industry. It is wide-knowledge and answers demanding.
Due to this matter, truck drivers never stop being eager to learn something new about their unique profession.
Whether it is the history in question, trends regarding the trucking or law and regulations, truck drivers possess continuous curiosity.
Besides, the trucking industry is constantly facing changes and is mostly affected by the rules of DOT, FMCSA, DOL etc.
Continually, it also requires you to respect those rules and regulations because there are fees and inspections involved.
With regards to this, down below are the most frequent truck driving questions posed by truck drivers:
1. How Much Does Truck Driving School Cost?
As you begin to consider attending trucking school and how it could change your life, it is important to think about the required financial investment for becoming a truck driver.
First of all, you need to find out how much the truck driving school costs. Second, you need to follow an adequate preparation for this chapter of your life.
Overall Tuition Costs
To begin with, you need to calculate the overall tuition costs. The traditional truck driving schools charge by the entire course instead by semester or week.
However, you need to know the exact sum because, in each part of the country, the costs vary.
In addition to this, it is best if you choose the state where you plan on attending the school and then request costs info.
In general, a trucking school varies in costs from $3,000 to $7,000 for an entire program. It mostly depends on whether you opt for a Class A or Class B CDL license, including the endorsements.
2. What Does the Average Over the Road Trucker Make?
If you are thinking of becoming a truck driver then you need to get informed about the average salary.
In general, the salary is one of the most asked truck driving questions.
To continue with, there are different careers in truck driving which are coupled with a short term and long term jobs.
Even though there is a determined salary of truck drivers, the thing is, it all depends on your knowledge and experience.
For example, experienced truckers together with the professional drivers make more than the new truck drivers make.
Continually, this triggers the truck driving questions like: What is the average salary of truck drivers?
This is important to every wanna-be truck driver because they want to know whether it is worth it to become a truck driver.
In order to emphasize, the median salary of truck drivers is $40,000. In addition, the salary also depends on the type of a trucking company you work for.
For instance, there are trucking companies which actually pay more than the average salary that other companies offer.
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3. How Long do you Have to go to School for Truck Driving?
Once you start collecting information about the truck driving programs, then you will be able to plan the classes accordingly.
Knowing the exact length of the classes, you can choose which trucking school fits the most into your schedule.
What is important to know is that most of the programs are full-time. The course’s length mostly depends on the state you live in.
If you are willing to dedicate 40 hours weekly to your training classes, you need to finish the course first in order to start working.
There are two programs for you to choose:
- Class A CDL Program
- Class B CDL Program
Regarding the truck driving questions: the Class A course lasts for about 7 weeks where the programs run for 5 days in a week.
On the other hand, you can complete the Class B programs in a week.
As an explanation, Class A programs last longer than Class B because you can drive different types of trucks and haul large loads.
The class B programs teach you to drive straight trucks, dump trucks and other small loads hauling.
The best way to get the answer to one of the frequent truck driving questions is to contact your potential trucking school and find out about the length of the programs.
4. Truck Driving Questions: What is good pay for a truck driver?
In particular, truck drivers belonging to a union receive a higher salary. They have specific rules which accordingly drivers are paid by and also include increases.
When drivers are involved in unions, they have to respect different trucking industry regulations. Moreover, each union is different and each driver of tractor trailers needs to read the agreement before deciding to join.
Over the Road (OTR)
Over the road truckers probably have the higher salary. This is mostly due to their long stay on the road and mostly providing cross-border shipments.
There are the hours of service involved here as well. For instance, Walmart is the company which offers the biggest pay.
To emphasize, the company offers an average $71,500 salary on a yearly basis without the bonuses.
Over the road drivers also haul under higher standards. For instance, they have tight schedules they have to respect while traveling abroad.
Specialty Drivers
The specialty drivers are hauling specialized transportation, overloaded transportation, and hazmat materials.
To put it in a different way, in order for a candidate to take over the job, one needs to have a special training.
This is due to the weight of obligations the drivers have and the higher salary is one of the reasons why these drivers make more.
More importantly, there are additional rules and regulations to respect besides the regular ones in the industry.
Ice Road Trucker
Ice road trucking belongs to a specialized transportation field including oversized loads and hazardous cargo.