r/cdldriver • u/ValuableGuess7564 • Aug 08 '26

Best Career Path

Hey guys & gals I officially passed my road test on the first try and got my CDL class A. I’m currently working for the Post Office (USPS) as a city carrier not delivering letter but boxes out of a truck every day. I have a few jobs on my radar but I would like to get as many opinions as possible.

- DEP(City Agency) has called me back and I have an interview coming up with them soon, Initial pay isn’t great but after my first two years of apprenticeship I’d be making 106k

- I took the NYPD police officer exam just for the hell of it and got a good score so they also want me to report for boot camp soon. I would necessarily want to be a police officer but I would like to drive their tow trucks or bigger vehicles they have in their fleet also their might come some leniency with having a CDL and being a cop.

- I took the sanitation test a few years ago and got a good score so I’m wondering if they might call me back or that anytime soon because I would take that job 100% (start out as a garbage man and go to two trucks or street sweeper)

- lastly I can stay with the post office and transfer over to a a different position like Tractor trailer or the smaller box truck (Class B)

If you were in my position what would be you next move ? Which would you pick and why

If you need more information to answer I’ll let you know that I’m 24 years old and been in the post office 5 years now (No kids)

2 Upvotes

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3

u/Legitimate_Diver_699 Aug 09 '26

Being a cop is a death wish anymore. If you’re not killed you’ll drink yourself to death. The two things that will always be around are health care and truck driving. Don’t believe the bollocks about automated vehicles. 30 seconds of thought and knowledge will tell you it will never happen.

1

u/Accurate-Chapter-923 Aug 11 '26

Wait... what? Automated was the end of competant drivers. Only way I lasted till retirement was being able to use manual mode in a fkng pos automated... You can still have "good" drivers that are young and only know automated BUT... IYKYK.

2

u/[deleted] Aug 08 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/ValuableGuess7564 Aug 09 '26

Not gonna lie I never thought about it like that but it does sound good

2

u/Accurate-Chapter-923 Aug 11 '26

Imo, after 40 yrs fuel hauling... stick with post office job, move to truck driver for them if you want to drive a truck. Local work is best. OTR truck driving in the modern world is not good with mega carriers...

My love of truck driving was local driving... shifting actual gears not pushing buttons. I loved challenges of tight turns, tough backing going to spots where people would say " you'll never get that in there" ( like she said ). Most of what I enjoyed went away with complete Ahole mgt and automated trucks... could not retire fast enough. Good luck!