Somewhat inexperienced player returning to the game after a long hiatus, and want to get into hauling.
Looking at the contracts, I see the collateral that I have to put up in too expensive for me just starting out.
So, my question is, do I need to put off starting hauling all together until I can build up a good amount of ISK just grinding out other things, or is there some other way to start?
Unless you want to completely do this solo / in your own corp / as your own service, you can join one of the well established hauling corps / alliances.
PushX (Ingame Channel: PushX) and Red Frogs (Ingame Channel: RF Freight) are the more popular hauling corps that you can look into.
Also Tipa suggested, āHaulers Channelā is also a great place to go if you want to be solo. They also have a mailing list as well that you can join that people post contracts to as well.