Hey everyone, I stumbled across this website looking for information on the dump trucking business. Little about myself....I'm 25 years old and married. I'm a 3rd year electrical apprentice. I've been thinking seriously for a while about venturing into the dump trucking business and the trucking business in general. I have no experience in big rigs except for MRAPs in Iraq. My dream is to be self employed and I think the trucking industry would be a great opportunity for me and my wife. I don't like jumping blindly into anything so right now I'm only in the researching phase of the idea. So if anyone could talk to me about how to get into the trucking business I'd be most grateful, thanks.
hello saw someone with the same first name as me so I had to say hello, I am new to this forum also but I think you will like it. I am third generation in the dirt business so I can speak with a wealth of experience even though I am not that old-37, my grandpa [rip Pappa 1917-2001] decided in the late thirtys that there had to be something easier than pulling logs out if the river swamp with oxen, so he got in the truck business , he started selling sand that he and my grandma loaded off the riverbank, with shovels, onto a flatbed IH , backed on the sandbar on top of sawmill slabs. dump truckin aint for the faint of heart, if you don't love it you wont make it, and many that do still don't, NUMBER 1. WHERES THE WORK, look around your area , are there a bunch of dump trucks parked in the weeds. 2. start simple, don't get up to your arse in debt to start with 3. if you don't know how to mechanic--LEARN. 4. MAINTENECE -- DO IT!! ( dumptrucks are like women) 5. Don't haul cheap freight, its easier to be hungry , than tired and hungry. seen many a good hand one major breakdown from bankruptcy. if there no good work park it , don't wear the tires and brakes out or bust a chunk then park, if you do find good work you wont be able to go to work. 6. Find out when pay day is FIRST! NOT WHEN YOUR OUT OF FUEL. 7. VOLUME --- that's the knob on the left side of the stereo , JB Hunt hauls on volume NOT the guy with a few dump trucks STILL INTERESTED ??? get a job driving with a local trucker, do a lot of listening, find out all you can, make mistakes on somebody else's dime, trust me its easier. if there are a bunch of cheap haulers around your gonna have to deal with them constantly, they will cut the price in half so they can haul twice as much. believe it or not, its so.. You need friends in the business, contractors and other truckers, Its a good life ,but it is work. Be the first truck to load and the last one to dump, keep you mouth shut and haul. contractors don't like azz kissers, cry babies, and drama. they will tell you quick ''HAUL DIRT OR HAUL ASS'' GOOD LUCK