New York Commercial Drivers Licenses: What You Can Do with Yours

If you live in New York state, you might consider getting a CDL. That’s shorthand for a commercial driver’s license. Getting one requires study and skill, but once you have it, several potential career paths open up. 

Let’s take some time to talk about potential career opportunities available with a CDL in New York. If one of these appeals, you may decide you want to look into the process, especially if you’re about to graduate from high school or you feel like it’s time for a career change.

You Can Become a Long-Haul Trucker

If you get a commercial driver’s license, you should know that you can get them with various endorsements. Some of these allow you to not only drive commercially, but also to transport some particular items that not every driver can.

We’ll start by talking about becoming a long-haul trucker. If you get a CDL in New York state, then you can potentially find a position with one of the commercial trucking companies based there. As you might imagine, New York has several trucking companies that operate not just within a few neighboring states, but that also dispatch their drivers across the country carrying various goods.

If you become a long-haul trucker, you don’t have to sit behind a desk all day. You can greet the dawn on an unfamiliar road with no else around. You can also meet interesting people at truck stops.  

Not everyone will like that kind of life, but some feel it’s a little slice of heaven. Truckers often don’t conform or fit into conventional society. If you feel like you’re an unusual individual who likes to have some degree of freedom in your work, then this path and profession might appeal. 

You Can Drive an Amazon Vehicle

If you get a CDL, then you might also drive an Amazon vehicle. Whether you’re in New York City or anywhere else in the state, you will probably frequently notice the large, bulky Amazon vehicles driving around all day, dropping off packages.

You can potentially make pretty good money this way. You can also usually get some benefits that you might like. Amazon offers a better-than-average healthcare plan, and that’s certainly a possible incentive for wanting to work for a company in the modern era.

If you drive for Amazon, you will also have an association with the company if you ever decide to move. If at some point you feel that you want to leave New York state and to see what it’s like in another part of the country, you can potentially transfer and work as a driver at an Amazon facility somewhere else. 

You can find these facilities all over the country, so there’s almost nowhere within the US where you can’t move if you start an Amazon career that you want to continue elsewhere.  

You Can Work for UPS or FedEx

You might also work for UPS or FedEx if you get a commercial driver’s license in New York state. Much like working for Amazon, you should find plenty of routes that UPS and FedEx cover that need drivers.

Like Amazon, you can get very good benefits if you decide to work for FedEx or UPS. You also get the camaraderie that comes with this type of blue-collar job. 

Again, like Amazon, you can also make inroads with the company and then decide at some point that you want to move elsewhere. If you start with FedEx or UPS on the East Coast and then feel that you’d like to see more of the country, that’s probably a viable option without you needing to switch companies to hunt for another job somewhere else.  

You Can Agree to Transport Hazardous Chemicals or Industrial Waste

If you have a commercial driver’s license in New York state, then you can also get one of the endorsements we mentioned earlier and drive hazardous materials or toxic waste around. That’s a little dangerous, since there’s always a significant health risk if you cause an accident. If you feel like you have excellent driving skills, though, then you might feel like this option makes sense.

It’s undeniable that if you drive dangerous or hazardous materials around, then you can make more money than you would working for Amazon, FedEx, or UPS. The danger element might not appeal that much, but you can sometimes make close to six figures if you get into this line of work.

Also, some individuals who get a commercial driver’s license like the excitement that goes along with transporting dangerous freight. Just like those who want to get into the military thinking they might see some action, the risk may actually attract you if you have a certain personality type. 

You Can Transport Livestock Around

You can also transport livestock around if you get a commercial driver’s license in New York state. You will not find as much work as you might in the American Southwest or certain other parts of the country, but there’s still this kind of position available.

You can transport animals that the owner might want you to sell at auction. You may also transport animals going to slaughterhouses that will become food for New York residents. 

You might drive within the state or some neighboring ones, or you may get a job where you transport livestock across the country. That kind of work can pay quite well. 

No matter what you decide to do with your New York state commercial driver’s license, once you get one, you can consider a long list of options that you simply wouldn’t have without one. If you have a particular career path picked out already, that’s great. If you need to take a little time to decide which direction you want to go, that’s fine too. 

Much like getting a college degree, though, it all starts with you obtaining the license. Along the way, the right job prospect might present itself.