Professional truckers are very important in the USA. Nearly 8 million of them drive trucks across the country distributing everything from food to heavy machinery. For you to be considered a professional trucker, you need a CDL.
In this post, you will discover several reasons why the CDL license is important for drivers and the trucking industry.
Table of Contents
1. The license provides you with necessary skills
Trucking career, though very rewarding, but comes with uncertain dangers and risks. Thousands of truckers die every year on American roads. These two statements mean that you need very good skills as a trucker to stay alive. This is where the CDL license comes in.
Only truck driving schools that have been approved or board-certified are allowed to provide CDL training. In other words, only schools with programs that are deemed to offer the necessary skills provide CDL training. So when you get the training and get the license, you get the skills you need to stay safe and alive as a trucker.
2. The license will provide you with great pay
Before you get a CDL, you cannot drive a CDL truck. You can only drive a truck that does not require a CDL. Most trucks that do not require a CDL carry lightweight cargo. Therefore, truckers who drive them do not get paid as much as those who haul heavyweight cargo in CDL trucks.
So if you want to get paid more in the trucking industry, you simply get CDL training and license. And when you do so, simply find an employer who wants CDL truckers and you will be in a good position to earn more than when working as a non-CDL trucker or driver.
3. The license will prepare you for the trucking industry
If you want to be an owner/operator or just an owner of a trucking company, getting a CDL license will be of great benefit to you. It will help you to know the rules/regulations of the industry, it will help you to know how to keep yourself/your drivers safe, it will help you to know how to pay your drivers, and it will help you to know how to calculate delivery times and quotes.
Basically, at the core of the trucking industry are truckers. So if you want to know the inner secrets of the industry, you need to know what truckers know and do. Thus, if you want to be an industry insider before actually trucking or becoming a truck company operator, you should get a CDL license.
In case you also want to know to the inner secrets of truck or auto renting, you should visit Auto Renting Tutors.
4. The license will give you the freedom to choose where to work
Without a CDL license you are restricted to only working local delivery jobs that do not require a CDL. Your potential employers are usually very restricted. However, this is not always the case when you have a CDL license.
Because a CDL license allows you to work with many employers across the country. You can virtually get employed in any truck driving gig as long as you present yourself. So if you want the freedom to choose where you want to work as a truck driver, you should get a CDL.
5. The license allows you to travel the country
While you can certainly travel to any part of the USA as an American, you will have to pay a lot of money for air fare and accommodation. In contrast, if you have a CDL license, you will be traveling through and to many towns throughout the year without spending a lot of your own money.
In fact, you could end up discovering just the perfect location to live out the rest of your life with your trucking money. So if you want to travel to many towns across the US without spending thousands of dollars, you better get yourself a CDL license.
6. The license carries many benefits beyond great pay
As mentioned earlier in this post, with a CDL license you are virtually guaranteed great pay. However, what many people do not know is that, in addition to great pay, you can get plenty of work benefits as a CDL trucker.
The excellent benefits normally include 401K, life insurance, and dental insurance, health insurance, paid vacations and so on. Moreover, most trucking companies usually increase the pay for truckers either annually or bi-annually.
7. The license enables you to join a family
Truckers are a family. Once you get a CDL, it is kind of your ticket to the truckers’ family. Truckers who travel long roads usually meet at rest points and become very good friends. Many get to know each other and help each other when in trouble on the road.
Conclusion
A CDL license is very important to truckers. You cannot be a real trucker without a CDL license. You cannot pretend to have the necessary skills to drive a huge truck without a CDL license. Therefore, if you want to legally be a trucker and to safely drive a truck, you need to get a CDL.
