Part time truck driving and commercial driver license?

[Conan The Librarian]

I'm thinking of studying for a commercial driver license. Not to use right away, but to have it in my back pocket in case I need work, or want to do some semi-retirement work later.
 
I'm thinking that I should be qualified for pretty heavy trucks, like dump trucks used for construction. But maybe drive around town as a courier or parts delivery guy. The idea is to drive during the day then go home at night. I'd be driving an employer's vehicle.
 
Can you tell me what the ups and downs of this kind of work are, and what kind of training I'll need?

[BUGEYE]

you can study for the written part, but for the driving part you would have to have an approved trainer to teach you to drive.   after I retired, I drove a school bus for a few years but the county transportation dept was licensed to teach the driving part.
I had a class-B which was good for school busses, dumptrucks, etc.
plus for a school bus I had to have two different endorsments, passenger and school bus.
the passenger endorsement would allow you to drive a small bus like an old folks home would have.
I can't tell you the cost of all that,   but a lot of people would hire on with the county as a school-bus driver  and when they got their license they would quit and drive a dump truck.

[Larry L]

Make sure to check with your insurance company before you get that license. I drive a pickup and when my employers decided we all needed commercial licenses to drive our own vehicles, I called my insurance company for information  They told me if I had a commercial license, employed or not, I would be paying for commercial insurance on my truck as long as i carried a commercial license in my wallet. May be different where yer at but I'd check with them first. I changed employers as have the rest of the crews I worked with to avoid the higher insurance rates with zero raise in salary to compensate for it.

[BUGEYE]

Make sure to check with your insurance company before you get that license. I drive a pickup and when my employers decided we all needed commercial licenses to drive our own vehicles, I called my insurance company for information  They told me if I had a commercial license, employed or not, I would be paying for commercial insurance on my truck as long as i carried a commercial license in my wallet. May be different where yer at but I'd check with them first. I changed employers as have the rest of the crews I worked with to avoid the higher insurance rates with zero raise in salary to compensate for it.

here in Ga a private vehicle under 10k pounds doesn't require extra insurance.  but the rules on commercial drivers are many and vary by state.
when I had my defibrillator installed in my chest, I had to give up my CDL.

[blind ear]

Check on job availability in your area for the type work that you want. Many employers won't touch a driver wo at least 2 years experience because of their insurance liabilities. ear

[Doublebass73]

I drove trucks in my early 20's. I delivered beer plus oil and propane. All of it was very physical work, even back then when I was young I knew my body wouldn't take it forever so I went back to school and now I sit at a computer all day.

I still renew my CDL class B license every time. I can always find seasonal truck driving jobs if I were to ever get laid off. I always used to renew my HAZMAT endorsement until the stupid Patriot Act came out. I let it go when they told me I had to get a background check in order to keep it. I was even willing to do that until they told me I was responsible for paying the fee which was $132 at the time plus I could only get it in Concord which is over an hour away from me. I told them they could keep it and that I should have been grandfathered in.

[blind ear]

I drove trucks in my early 20's. I delivered beer plus oil and propane. All of it was very physical work, even back then when I was young I knew my body wouldn't take it forever so I went back to school and now I sit at a computer all day.

I still renew my CDL class B license every time. I can always find seasonal truck driving jobs if I were to ever get laid off. I always used to renew my HAZMAT endorsement until the stupid Patriot Act came out. I let it go when they told me I had to get a background check in order to keep it. I was even willing to do that until they told me I was responsible for paying the fee which was $132 at the time plus I could only get it in Concord which is over an hour away from me. I told them they could keep it and that I should have been grandfathered in.

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The renewal cost and required physical made me drop my class A also. Wasn't worth it to "maybe" use it. ear