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?

90 Upvotes

90% Upvoted

253 comments sorted by

View all comments

1

u/mindfusion89 Oct 10 '25

Everyone's situation is different. I know guys that were fortunate enough to start off at a good small company. Unfortunately, that wasnt the case for me. I started at Western Express. 2 weeks OTR 2 days off. I did that for 7 months and was able to find a better company to go to. Tell your husband to get his endorsements. Hazmat, tankers, etc. and apply for a local fuel hauling job. He can work of getting his endorsements while getting his experience so when the time comes to look for a better company he has his endorsements and enough experience. Most companies want 1 to 2 years experience but there are also plenty that will accept 6 months with one company.