Older Female Getting CDL?

Posted by swilliamsalters@reddit | Truckers | View on Reddit | 34 comments

Hi All. After browsing for a bit, I see lots of “am I too old to get a CDL” and lots of “ how will I do as a woman getting a CDL”. Gojng to combine the two questions.

I’m female, and 58. My husband lost his job a number of years ago, and it set us back financially. We managed to get one of our three kids through school with only a very small amount of debt accrued, but we weren’t able to set aside as much money for the others. My husband just told me that the older of our boys will be out of money after this year. He still has two more years to go. The second son starts college in the fall, and only has enough for just under two years.

I feel very fortunate that we’ve been able to help them as much as we have, but I’m really worried about having them come out of school in this economy being $75-$80,000 in debt.

Which led me here. Is it a crazy idea for me to go for my CDL? Have a clean driving record, but not a ton of experience. As the scoutmaster of a local troop, I’ve pulled our trailer a few times, and backing that sucker up on some of those narrow wooded trails was crazy hard.

Any input is much appreciated.

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GoodGoodGoody@reddit

Start with school bus. They often pay for upgrading.

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threeglude@reddit

This. This right here. Drove both dump and combination trucks in construction. Plenty of female drivers out there, all of them, the ones who lasted at least (most did), out performed most of their male counterparts. Decent money in construction too, especially if you get hired on by a minority owned company (female owned counts as minority owned btw), because they'll get preference for federal/state funded projects, which comes with prevailing wage. Depending on your state, that wage could be as high as $55/60/hr or so!!!

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Mystery_Chaser@reddit

Dump trucks require two years experience

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threeglude@reddit

TLDR - politely said, stop being an idiot making blanket statements based on your limited data pool set.

That's more dependent on company. Sure, maybe it's true for a few companies in your region, but you can't go making blanket statements based on your small data pool set.

That's like saying all tractor trailer companies require 2 years experience.

There are plenty of companies willing to work with and hire new drivers, in ALL areas of the trucking world.

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Mystery_Chaser@reddit

My deepest apologies. I didn't realize we were talking about the world. Where I live, I have applied to many dump truck companies because I would seriously love to drive a dump truck. They all have told me their insurance companies require two years experience. Where I live Every CDL Job besides a school bus driver requires two years experience. why don't you tell me where you can get a dump truck driver job with less than two years experience and I'll go there and apply. I'll go there anywhere in the United States. I'll go there anywhere in the world. Tell me where I can get dump truck driver job with between zero and two years experience. Please do, sir.

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Mystery_Chaser@reddit

Yes, start with the School bus. They're the only people that will hire you without any experience. Drive for a year and a half and start looking for a better job. Most companies say two years experience. However, they will take you out a year and a half without any accidents or tickets.

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Ancient_Alien_@reddit

This right here ma’am.

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AdagioEducational124@reddit

I don't recommend it, unless you have your own truck, the owner operator is the better route to go. If you don't have your own truck, I recommend going to school for something else. Reasons I say this, being a company driver is so controlling and it's a job you can easily get fired from. Having a CDL is not a ticket to middle class. You will be working driving 70 hours every week no overtime pay. If something happens out on the road, it will get reported on your DAC report. If you get a speeding ticket on your personal time, you can lose your job. Don't be fooled, this is not a job you can rack up 80k a year working 40 hours a week. This is a job you will work 70 hours a week no overtime pay.

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theroyalpotatoman@reddit

But you can make up to $80K?

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st_psilocybin@reddit

Controversial take but youre not wrong. I got my CDL almost a year ago and been a company driver since, it really aint that great. The unloading is brutal, the schedule is weird (sometimes i gotta be there at 3am, other times my trailer isnt ready til afternoon) and usually work 50 hours a week but sometimes 70.... and all for about $50k/year pre tax. I dont think its impossible to make a good living doing this but it seems like you have to be willing to work insane hours. Its definitely not for me and I warn everyone who is thinking about it to be very very aware of the 70 hour clock and the expectations your company actually has, not the expectations the recruiter claims they have

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AdagioEducational124@reddit

Did you know Amazon freight partner offers overtime and hourly pay. You get to work 60 hours and it's overtime time pay. You get PTO and benefits.

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Kenworthsteve@reddit

I started at 60. Male.

You should do it. Get a class a with as many endorsements as the school teaches. With a A you can drive virtually anything.

There are lots of local jobs in B. But get the A so you have options.

If you can drive manual get a unrestricted.

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swilliamsalters@reddit (OP)

I drive a stick daily, but just a five speed. I'd guess there's a big difference. I'll admit I haven't looked into this in depth yet, but am in a 'gathering info' stage.

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Kenworthsteve@reddit

If you can drive a manual five speed you can learn to drive any other manual.

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SanNightfire@reddit

The biggest difference between a car trans and a semi trans is the trucks trans is unsynchronized (twice as many gears, but you high a switch for high and low and you literally just repeat the pattern), meaning you gotta rev match up AND down. It's not hard once you get the rhythm right

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SanNightfire@reddit

I work LTL and I love the chaos but I'm a tad younger than you. We have an older female driver around your age absolutely killing it. The customers LOVE us because we are personable and friendly, we care about the freight while still getting shit done.

I'm madly obsessed with my job, best damn thing I ever did was get my CDL. You just gotta find your groove. You like chaos? Run LTL or Food. You want something more chill? Fuel is very chill! You want OTR? Any big box company. There's always drawbacks, but you got this!!

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navlgazer9@reddit

I’d do school busses

And it’s not gonna hurt your kids to attend community college and work part time etc

In fact it will make them stronger , guaranteed.

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Mystery_Chaser@reddit

Fact

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swilliamsalters@reddit (OP)

We're in NJ. In-state tuition is ridiculous here. All three kids got offers/scholarship that makes their chosen school less expensive than in-state. Our "better" community college is an estimated $19-$27,000 depending on whether you live at home or on campus. So while it would be less expensive for them, the price difference is roughly $4,500 a year, since they wouldn't be able to commute.

And to be fair to the kids, they've all worked since they were 15. My daughter held down a job where she started at 5AM all through college. Older son isn't working right now, but he's on swim team (which helps make school affordable for him.)

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Auquaholic@reddit

Local jobs are pretty hard to get without experience, except for service and it's work. School bus or postal service is what I'd go for. You don't need a cdl for postal service.

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Mystery_Chaser@reddit

Take the School bus job get your CDL. That's what I did. I'm making 40 bucks an hour now.

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Twisty12223@reddit

You would be fine. Lots of people enter this in their 50s. I am a woman and been doing this for a decade. Companies like to hire us because we are cheaper to insure:) My son is in college right now and I am able (along with the hubs) to get him through without debt and keep saving for retirement. The thing you really have to be honest with yourself about is if you have the personality that can handle this job.

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Mystery_Chaser@reddit

Personality? All you have to do is say hi shut up and drive. If you're gonna be a school bus driver say hi shut up drive and don't look in the student mirror just keep driving. Drive like a grandma. That's why they hired you.

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Mystery_Chaser@reddit

You're totally fine. All of the people I know who are bus drivers are mostly women and over 50.

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jabber1990@reddit

the truck doesn't care who's driving it, the company doesn't care who drives it, and nobody actually cares who drives that truck. the ONLY people who would care that its a woman aren't people who you want to be around anyway

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jabber1990@reddit

although I've learned that you want a good penis joke: women drivers have them

that guy wearing that "Marines" hat looked at her and said "what is wrong with you?" while laughing his ass off

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-slaps-username-@reddit

not old, but as a woman all you have to do is not listen to any sexist bs or get in your head about it. got my cdl at 24 and all you have to do is pay attention to the instructor and be adaptable. i had other women in the class spewing nonsense about certain things being harder for women, but i was told i was the best student in the class.

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boogityshmoogity@reddit

I work the inbound/outbound lanes of a large facility and drove for 23yrs before this. I have noticed that I have seen more female drivers in the last year than the 20yrs before this combined. Once you get the hang of it it’s the easiest job ever except those 1 or 2 days a month where everything goes wrong.

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possibly_lost45@reddit

You'd be fine. Might be time for your boys to be men and finance their own college.

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st_psilocybin@reddit

A lot of state colleges are only $20-30k/year for in state tuition depending on the state. Have em do community college for the first 2 years to save even more. My bachelors degree should cost $50k total by the time im done and im paying at least half of it out of pocket

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Maybe find a good trucking school that can help you find a local gig and get your class A.

I also recommend dump truck work.

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ThisUnitHasASoul@reddit

There’s a few women who drive log truck where I am, one of them will be 68 this year.

You can do and drive whatever if that’s the path you wanna take.