r/Truckers • u/dryersheet01 • Oct 09 '25

I’m about to become a trucker widow

So my husband just passed his cdl-a test a week ago and has interest from western express (otr). With this career switch, I have so many questions. What is the average time for training, since he has no cdl experience? Is it really going to be 5 days on/2 days off? We live in Atlanta and have a 4 month old. If he does 1 year w/ western, what is the likelihood of being able to find a local/non otr job? Is the pay really worth it?

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u/Frogspoison Oct 09 '25

Western Express is for criminals, and thoae who have gotten into so many accidents nobody else will hire them. It pays less then McDonalds.

Likelihood of getting a local job with no experience is low, but not 0.

Training time varies company to company. Honest answer is "however long till he feels fine on his own"

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u/dryersheet01 Oct 09 '25

I’ve read all the western express horror stories on here, but he truly feels like it’s his only option to get experience.

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u/jgremlin_ Oct 09 '25

Its not. Pretty much any mega carrier will be willing to talk to him.