One of the biggest go to jobs for felons is trucking. The average salary of a truck driver is $40,000 a year. In addition to high pay, becoming a truck driver is actually a realistic way for a felon to earn a good living.

There are many trucking companies that are willing to hire people without experience, and are open to giving someone with a felony conviction a second chance.

However, you will still have to explain your lack of employment, and pass the criminal background check.

Lets take a look at what it takes for a felon to become a truck driver, how much you can make, and which trucking companies you should apply with to land a job.

Average truck driver salary

Across the US, annual trucker salary is $39,000-40,000. This is for a commercial truck driver with a Class A CDL license. Considering the fact the median individual income across US is only around $30,000, trucker pay is very good. As truck driver you can be earning at least $10,000 more.

Highest paying CDL jobs for 10% of truck drivers are at least $58,000.

OTR (over the road) truck drivers earn the most money. They can make $65,000 – 73,000 per year.

Overall, there are a number of factors that will ultimately impact how much you will earn. They include:

– your CDL license class
– commercial driving experience; veteran truckers get the highest pay.
– type of driving you do and cargo that you carry
– company you work for
– where you live

There are basically two types of pay structures – Local and OTR:

OTR (over the road) jobs

OTR means long distance hauls, across many states .. you get the picture – you go on the trip for 2-3 weeks at a time.

You get paid per mile – anywhere from $0.40 to $0.60 … sometimes a little less – sometimes a little more. The average is around $0.45-0.50 per mile. Most OTR truckers put in 2500 miles per week. So if you do the math, average weekly salary is $1,125 – 1,250. This is equivalent to $54,000-60,000 per year.

You get this kind of money only if you work for a a company, and not as an owner-operator or OO (meaning you have your own truck). Owner-Operator truckers make a lot more per mile, but often EARN LESS, after deducting all the costs (fuel, maintenance, insurance/bonding, other overhead).

As a felon without experience, you can start at around $0.38-0.40 per mile

Local trucking jobs

This is self explanatory – you come home every night. A good example of a local truck driving job is working for UPS or FedEx

Typical hourly rates in US are between $12 and $29 per hour. Clearly, there is a huge difference there, but the average is around $19 per hr (50th percentile so to say).

If you have a felony conviction and no prior experience, your starting pay rate will most likely be $12-14 per hour.

List Of Top Trucking Companies Hiring Felons

Most of these large companies require little or no commercial driving experience and some are even willing to pay for your training.

If you would like to contact any of them you may click on their link and it will take your directly to their website.

The following companies are known to hire felons with convictions that are 10 or more years old:

Swift Transportation (offers driver training)

J.B. Hunt

Shaffer Trucking

TMC Transport

Crete Carrier

Dick Lavy Trucking

CR England

Celadon (offers truck driver training)

Dutch Maid Logistics

Hunt Transportation (12 months experience required)

JBS Carriers (12 months experience required)

Companies that will hire felons with convictions which are 7 or more years old:

• Roehl Transport (offers truck driver training)
• Melton Truck Lines
• Stevens Transport
• PGT Trucking
• Falcon Transport (6 months experience required)
• Knight Transportation
• Tango Transport
• Barr-Nunn Transportation (12 months experience required)
• Groendyke Transport (TX, OK, LA Only)
• Interstate Distributor Co.

Companies hiring convicted felons 5 or more years after release from prison

• Boyd Brothers
• Western express
• Transway Inc.
• TransAm Trucking
• Paschall Truck Lines
• Carolina Cargo
• DeBoer Trucking Company
• Florilli Transportation (12 months experience required)

Companies that hire felons on a case by case basis:

• Werner Enterprises
• Navajo Express (No felonies in past 10 years)
• Millis Transfer (offers truck driver training)
• Conway (XPO) – (Local and OTR – some jobs don’t require BG check)
• FFE (offers training)
• Carolina Cargo
• Schneider National (offers truck driver training)
• E.W Wylie
• Prime Inc. (offers truck driver training)
• USA Truck (offers truck driver training)
• Maverick Transportation
• US Express
• Tyson Foods (offers truck driver training)
• Covenant Transport
• Cardinal Logistics
• Freymiller (6 months experience required)
• Hirschbach (6 months experience required)
• J & R Schugel
• LCT Transportation
• Walmart

Walmart Truck Driving Jobs For Felons

Trucking jobs at Walmart are considered to be some of the best in the industry. This is because Walmart is known to pay the highest salaries to its OTR drivers.

According to a CBS News report issued in January 2019, Walmart will pay an average of $87,500 to its first year drivers. Truckers who are working in the Northeast regions of the US will also earn a 5% premium on mileage as well as activity pay. Moreover, a quarterly bonus is given to any driver that maintains a safe driving record.

In addition to generous pay, Walmart offers an impressive benefits package to its truck drivers. It includes a 401K plan, excellent health and dental insurance, an associate stock purchase place, a discount center for shopping, estate guidance and other commuter benefits.

Walmart is the largest retailer in the US, with stores in every state and almost every city. As a result, truck drivers are needed to move millions of goods and products across state lines to thousands of store locations and distribution centers. Walmart employs about 8,000 drivers and its truck fleet is considered to be one of the largest and safest in the world.

A Walmart truck driver averages about 300 mile hauls per week, has a regular work schedule, and is home every week to reset and rest. Drivers are not responsible for loading and unloading of the merchandise.

This is a huge bonus, and is very different from any truck driving jobs. Many commercial truckers can be away from home for weeks, and only get a chance to relax at random rest stops and motels on the road.

To be considered for the job, you must have at least 2.5 years of prior driving experience as a Class A truck driver in the last three years. Also, you should not have any traffic violations or convictions for a DUI, reckless driving involving alcohol/drugs within the last ten years.

In addition to trucking, there are dozens of others felon friendly job opportunities at Walmart.

Trucking Companies That Hire With No Experience

This is a list of companies that will hire you even if you don’t have any experience driving a commercial truck

Pam Transport
Roehl Transport
CR England
Swift Transportation
CRST
KLLM
Knight
TransAm
US Xpress
Stevens Transport
Maverick
Covenant
Schneider

How to apply

The majority of large trucking companies have an online application that you need to fill out.

Before you go to fill it out, have the following information on hand:

– Social Security Number
– All your residential addresses over the past 3 years
– Current drivers license number
– Drivers license history for the past 3 years
– History of employment (up to 10 years)
– History of traffic accidents, violations, and / or convictions during the last 5 years (includes any – DUI, reckless driving convictions and license suspensions)
– Any military service history

As we said before, having a criminal record or a felony conviction WILL NOT disqualify you from getting hired. However, you need to be 100 % honest about your history, when you are filling out the application.

Do realize that every company you apply with is required by law to conduct a very thorough background check on all applicants. So they will discover everything you may want to hide after digging through your driving history and all related arrests/convictions.

But again, the good news is that if your felony is does not involve a motor vehicle in any way, you have a strong chance at being employed.

If you don’t have a CDL, but have an excellent driving record, consider ride-sharing driving such as Lyft or Uber. Find out whether Lyft and Uber hire felons, and what the job requirements are.

Become a Lyft Driver & Get up-to $2,000 Signup Bonus!

Both Lyft and Uber are in need of new drivers, and offer excellent signup bonuses!

Another piece of good news is that because there is such a shortage of professional truck drivers, many big companies are willing to hire people who only have a CDL learners permit and can provide training as well as help with obtaining the license.

Job Outlook For 2022-2025

Currently, there are as many as 200,000+ long haul trucker positions open across the US. By 2023, the number of open positions is expected to reach 330,000!

While trucking, especially OTR, is a very hard, exhausting and often depressing job, its in great demand. This is because trucker turnover is extremely high.

The median age of a truck driver is 47 years old, and the industry is having an extremely difficult time recruiting and retaining young drivers.

This means that if you have a felony and are struggling to find steady employment, this may be a good opportunity for you.

Moreover, trucker salaries are growing at a rate of 8-12% per year, which is huge considering the fact that most other professions see an annual salary increase of around 0.5%.

There are also handsome sign-on bonuses that large trucking companies offer to recruit drivers. Typically, these can range from $1,500 -3,500. However, an experienced OTR driver can get a huge sign up bonus of up to $10,000.

For example, Roehl Transport offers to pay $10,000 sign on bonus to experienced OTR truckers with a CDL Class A license. You get paid the first $500 bonus after completing the first assignment, and then bonuses in the increments of $500 for every 10,000 you drive, until you reach a total of $10,000

Some negative features of OTR work

For many people who start driving long haul trucks, there is a huge lifestyle change that requires a serious mental and physical adjustment:

– For weeks at a time, day and night, you are crammed into a tiny space the size of a closet
– Tremendous pressure of making the delivery safely and on time
– Erratic sleep patterns, many truckers drive at night
– You spend the majority of your time alone, and its easy to get lonely and depressed
– It may be hard to be away from family and friends for weeks at a time

Can a woman get a job as a truck driver?

Yes!!! In fact, the truck driving industry is aggressively recruiting female drivers, offering large sign-up bonuses, training, and assistance paying for truck driving courses. Currently, there are only 6% of women employed as truck drivers.

This means that if you are a woman with a felony, and think you may be cut out for this lifestyle, trucking can become a steady source of income. This is an especially good opportunity if you are young, single and don’t have kids.

Other Types Of Driver Jobs For Felons

If trucking is not exactly your dream vocation, but you do like driving, there are a few other opportunities to explore:

–Tow Truck Driver – Many towing companies are small owner-operated outfits, and do NOT perform background checks. In fact, they would prefer someone with “experience” in dealing with unpleasant situations. You do need a CDL class A to drive a tow truck.

Ride Share Driver – can felons drive for companies like Lyft or Uber? … Hint – yes with limitations!