Small Business Success Strategies

Truck Drivers: Beware And Prepare - A Guide To Trucking In The Northeast

As someone who is investigating the opportunities in truck driving careers, you undoubtedly have heard the horror stories about trucking  in the Northeast. The stories of overcrowded roadways, lack of parking spaces and the constant fighting to jockey into position so you won't miss your exit, are all true. A driver has not lived until they have experienced trucking in the Northeast. This area of the United States is one place that the truck driving schools cannot prepare you for. Even seasoned drivers will stop beforehand and psych themselves up before tackling what lies ahead.

The major problem of driving in this area of the United States encompasses several areas. The first problem, obviously, is the enormous amount of traffic. Thousands of vehicles are doing battle to get to wherever they are going. Traffic jams, accidents and, within the cities, pedestrians EVERYWHERE! Within the boroughs of New York City, it is no easy task to get 18 wheelers down streets that are packed with hundreds of cars and thousands of people, and which were originally built in the mid 1800's!

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Allen Smith, our official Trucking/Truck Driver Training Expert

The Cheapest Route to Getting Your CDL

Professional truck driving  is a major force in today's economy. Presently, there are over 8 million licensed CDL drivers in the United States today. For the thousands of "new" drivers breaking into truck driving, they find themselves in a tough dilemma: few companies will hire you without at least 6 months to a year of driving experience, so how do you get the experience once you've achieved your CDL? This is where the companies come into play.

Many trucking companies offer a "school" that usually lasts around three weeks which will get you your CDL license. After finishing, you will be asked to sign a one year contract stating that you will drive for that company, and that company ONLY! Thus, getting your one year of experience. After that, you can go anywhere and find truck driving jobs. The problem being: this company "school" or any of the many truck driving schools can end up costing you thousands of dollars and MORE! Going through a company CDL program is a very dangerous thing in this author's opinion.

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Allen Smith, our official Trucking/Truck Driver Training Expert

Truck Driving Jobs: The Number 1 Mistake by Shippers and Receivers

Driving a truck professionally can be a tormented vocation. Truck driving schools enjoy manipulating new students in believing that over the road truck driving is an easy, laid-back lifestyle. At times, perhaps it can be, but for the most part it is a stressful, aggravating way of life. There are hundreds of thousands of pick-ups and deliveries made every day by our truckers and if you ask them which shipper and receiver is usually the worst to deal with, the answer will nearly always be the Grocery Warehouses.

I have never understood the management team of the grocery warehouses. You would think that management, lower to upper, would comprehend the main principle of business management . . . take care of the customer. Dealing with a grocery warehouse, primarily delivering, is most often the truck driver's worst nightmare. They purposely make you sit and wait for hours on end, and most often make you, the driver, perform the unloading.

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Allen Smith, our official Trucking/Truck Driver Training Expert

Trucking Job Brings Me Face to Face With Vietnam Vet

It's amazing what an over the road truck driver can encounter on a daily basis. All of the sights and sounds they experience become so vast that they soon forget and accept them as simply a part of their daily lives. Experiences that few will ever know and even fewer can only dream about. I often stop and remember such things like slipping through the back roads of the Blue Ridge Mountains.......literally sliding my way down a snow covered Snowqualmie Pass......or slowing the rig down a few notches so I could enjoy the scenery of actual wild horses running across the plains of Wyoming.......and of course, that time I had no choice but to stop in the middle of the road and let that massive, huge moose cross in front of me in Caribou, Maine. All the sights, sounds and wonderment that now only live in my memories.....

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Allen Smith, our official Trucking/Truck Driver Training Expert

Affordable Health Insurance

With the high cost of insurance premiums and the economic hard times we are facing, 48 million Americans are presently without health care coverage. Of this 48 million, studies showed that 9 million were children, as of 2005. Furthermore, employer provided health insurance plans have dropped and has shown a decline for four years in a row. To rely on your employer health coverage is proving to be an ill-fated plan.

Governmental policies also come into play when discussing the over-all health issues of the United States. Past outbreaks of the Mad Cow Disease, the current Swine Flu awareness and the policies of NAFTA creates much more concern about future health problems for U.S. citizens.

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Allen Smith, our official Trucking/Truck Driver Training Expert

Moving Companies Have No Insurance

Moving scams abound throughout the United States and each year thousands of consumers fall prey to this kind of operation. On the other hand, 40 million moves take place each year, and the large majority of these are performed satisfactorily. The key to having a good move by moving companies, is knowing what to look out for when making the decision.

There are simple, easy steps one can take to insure their move goes smoothly and without any hitches. The biggest concern for a consumer is the price of course, but more so, I believe, is the transportation of the items without any damages. It is possible to increase your chances of having a claim-free move if you follow certain "insider secrets" that I have seen work time and time again.

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Allen Smith, our official Trucking/Truck Driver Training Expert

An iPhone App Designed for Truckers But Appealing to Everyone . . . If you Drive You'll Love TRUCKER

When the first iPhone application for professional truck drivers was introduced into the iTunes market, no one ever thought that the audience would permeate beyond the trucking community. After all, this was an application designed for the needs and entertainment of truck drivers, right?

Some of the features which TRUCKER boasted, was the ability to find lowest fuel prices, locate truck stops, truck washes and weigh stations, find the nearest repair stations, up to date industry news, trucking load boards, trucking job locators, a mileage calculator, low clearance directory, weather and traffic updates, even an affordable health insurance locator. Also, included in this first of a kind application were emergency links to homeland security, FEMA, The Red Cross, not to mention the popular blogs, forums and radio stations that many truckers enjoy reading and listening to. State by State and national links to the USDOT are also listed as well as the FMCSA, ATA, and OOIDA. This, along with the many other resources designed for truckers, has made the Drivers Resource page a popular and much needed application for truckers all over.

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Allen Smith, our official Trucking/Truck Driver Training Expert

Truck Driver Jobs and the Student Driver

There is still talk about the truck driver shortage in our country. The shortage of over the road truck drivers have been an on-going topic for years. Truck driver jobs have become harder to come by in recent months, mainly due to the present state of the economy. The business practices by many trucking companies have created this factor that has become known as the truck driver shortage.

There are still truck driver jobs available. What continues to keep this driver shortage topic alive, is the problem that so many newcomers and even veteran drivers experience: finding the right trucking company. The current economy situation has, without a doubt, placed thousands of experienced truck drivers into the truck driver job search market.

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Allen Smith, our official Trucking/Truck Driver Training Expert

Those Wonderful Women Truckers

Presently, there are about 8 million licensed CDL drivers in the United States. Approximately 4.5 million of these are active truck drivers. Professional truck driving, specifically over the road trucking, has always been noted as a field dominated by men. The rough and tough trucking life could only be handled by a real man . . . well, times are changing!

Women in trucking actually goes back to 1929 when Lillie Elizabeth Drennan became the first women to receive the CDL license. Driving an old Chevrolet, she was a rugged lady who carried a loaded revolver with her on her trucking adventures. Born in 1897, she paved the way for women truckers up to her passing in 1974.

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Allen Smith, our official Trucking/Truck Driver Training Expert

Truck Driving Jobs - The Top 30 Jobs of the Future

Truck driving jobs are always plentiful due to the constant driver turn over rate that now stands at 128 percent for over the road drivers. The average yearly income for truck drivers is $35,000 to $45,000 for company drivers, and $95,000 to $130,000 for owner operators, depending on where you live. Currently, as a local driver, working five days per week and home every night, I enjoy a driving job grossing $50,200 per year.

Every two years the US Bureau of Labor Statistics releases their list for the top 30 fastest growing job opportunities. Just released, this list shows the best career choices projected to the year 2016. Truck driving didn't make the list, but how does truck driving jobs salaries compare with these 30 fastest growing jobs for the future?

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Allen Smith, our official Trucking/Truck Driver Training Expert