whats the worst part of truck driving?

[tropolis]

from what ive heard its the paperwork.

[LARM]

Paperwork is the easiest part.

I'd say the general disrespect shown to truck drivers, mostly by shippers/receivers and mostly at grocery warehouses. They'll expect you to wait sometimes 4+ hours to get loaded/unloaded and not even have the courtesy to have a public restroom on site (they do, but they won't let dirty truck drivers use it). Then when you go in to ask when you might be unloaded/loaded they'll either lie and tell you "a few minutes" when it's really a few hours or completely ignore you. I guess I can understand because if I worked in a warehouse/plant all day I'd probably want to kill myself.

Other than that it's the disrespect of dispatchers. They feel the need to make it a hassle for you to get home to see your family and friends after you've basically given your life to the company for the past month or two on the road. Unless you're with a smaller company, you'll be treated like nothing more than a number.

Get ready to deal with a lot of disrespect. Try to ignore it and stay strong and just remember that no matter how rudely or poorly you get treated, at least you don't have to work in a nasty warehouse or sit behind a desk all day.

[driver67373]

Paperwork is the easiest part.

I'd say the general disrespect shown to truck drivers, mostly by shippers/receivers and mostly at grocery warehouses. They'll expect you to wait sometimes 4+ hours to get loaded/unloaded and not even have the courtesy to have a public restroom on site (they do, but they won't let dirty truck drivers use it). Then when you go in to ask when you might be unloaded/loaded they'll either lie and tell you "a few minutes" when it's really a few hours or completely ignore you. I guess I can understand because if I worked in a warehouse/plant all day I'd probably want to kill myself.

Other than that it's the disrespect of dispatchers. They feel the need to make it a hassle for you to get home to see your family and friends after you've basically given your life to the company for the past month or two on the road. Unless you're with a smaller company, you'll be treated like nothing more than a number.
Get ready to deal with a lot of disrespect. Try to ignore it and stay strong and just remember that no matter how rudely or poorly you get treated, at least you don't have to work in a nasty warehouse or sit behind a desk all day.

I'm sorry for ya. Other than my brief time at Covenant (3 weeks) I have been blessed with wonderful dispatchers...at Maverick, Crete and yes Prime. If you don't like your dispatcher, tell them you want another one. Shouldn't be a problem getting resasigned to another one unless your company is small. There are good fleet managers out there. I plan on becoming one.

For me, it was the lonliness of being on the road for weeks at the time that ultimately did me in. I couldn't ever fully adapt to life on the road because of that. So I turned in my rig to go back to college and that is the best decision I've made. Ironically, I now am working in a warehouse while in college. It's not that bad actually. I work at Pepsi though so that probably doesn't compare to grocery warehouses. I get 50-60 hours a week, it pays the bills and I'm home every night with my family. I couldn't be happier.

[MartenDrvrCA]

Paperwork is the easiest part.

I'd say the general disrespect shown to truck drivers, mostly by shippers/receivers and mostly at grocery warehouses. They'll expect you to wait sometimes 4+ hours to get loaded/unloaded and not even have the courtesy to have a public restroom on site (they do, but they won't let dirty truck drivers use it). Then when you go in to ask when you might be unloaded/loaded they'll either lie and tell you "a few minutes" when it's really a few hours or completely ignore you. I guess I can understand because if I worked in a warehouse/plant all day I'd probably want to kill myself.

Other than that it's the disrespect of dispatchers. They feel the need to make it a hassle for you to get home to see your family and friends after you've basically given your life to the company for the past month or two on the road. Unless you're with a smaller company, you'll be treated like nothing more than a number.

Get ready to deal with a lot of disrespect. Try to ignore it and stay strong and just remember that no matter how rudely or poorly you get treated, at least you don't have to work in a nasty warehouse or sit behind a desk all day.

Well said,I dont think a more true answer could be given.

[jonekatz1]

The Worst Part OF,

Driving if you,Happen to live in a rural community, AS I Do with not many income Opportunities is if YOU end Up OTR for long stretches Of Time & if you have small children You miss Alot of there growing UP. there is no substitute for being with your Kid's,That I've ever seen. there is no replacing the lost time together. Ounce it gone it lost Forever. 8) :idea:

I Want to Know GOD'S Thought's, the Rest ARE just DETAIL'S / C.S.Lewis 8) :idea:

[Useless]

Guess I was one of the lucky ones, but the company and the dispatcher I worked for were both absolutely super. "Grumpy", the man who trained me was awesome as well; no "using his trainee to pad his paycheck".

The worst part of trucking for me was that I was almost always fatigued. I drove at night as often as I could (my choice), and that, combined with the sedentary nature of the work, (we handled "no touch" freight) and poor living habits took it's toll on me physically.

[druid2874]

worst part to me is bad directions
a part from rude and disrespectful people, well that’s all most any job you have asshats and rude people. Honestly I don’t see why a person with a family and kids does OTR trucking not fair to the spouse or the kids in my opinion

[tropolisclone]

worst part for me was the weeks away from home and dispatch's inability to keep me as busy as I would like. When I leave my family for 2 weeks at a time I want to make as much money as is legally possible.

[BigDiesel]

I have heard it is reading asinine posts from tropolis and his sister tropolisclone...

[Mackman]

#1 paycheck.
#2 D.O.T.

[Soladad]

I agree with druid2874. Bad directions but add the lack of road signs and no addresses on buildings or small print. Oh and the "No trucks allowed" sign posted half way up the road after you have made the turn onto the road.

[JeffTheTerrible]

#1 paycheck.
#2 D.O.T.

How about this one:

"Your truck broke my windshield! I saw the rock come off the tire!"
"We're not responsible for objects thrown from the road..."
"Ummm... I saw it come out of your tailgate!"

Aside from that, what comes to mind are..

1: DOT on a witch hunt. If you drive a dump truck or end dump in the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill area, you know how bad they can hound you sometimes.
2: Greyhound bus drivers. They just piss me off for so many reasons I could spend the better part of the night typing them up, but won't.
3: RVers. They're kinda like bus drivers, only much slower, and without any real purpose in life.
4: Shutting down for a 34 hour restart at some desolate little fuel center in the middle of nowhere, with no decent facilities.
5: Radio Rambo nonsense.
6: [bull excrement] stories about how every driver was a (pick one) Green Beret/Navy SEAL/CIA paramilitary in (pick one) Vietnam/the first Persian Gulf war, and they were part of a special unit which actually tracked (pick one) Ho Chi Minh/Saddam Hussein for some period of time, but could never get the authorization to take the shot, etc
7: Lot lizards.
8: Thieves at truck stops, rest areas, etc.
9: Murphy's Law in general. If it can go wrong, it will, and always at the worst possible time.

[zipy46]

If one could use some sort of mind control to over look the

entire trucking world it would be a fine job.

( this is meant in a positive way)

Driving the scenic places is cool...maybe get a 34

and cut loose with the digital camera kinda thing

while waiting.

[BigWheels]

................
Freedom.
................
Oh...you said the worst part of truck driving. My bad.

[MartenDrvrCA]

6: [bull excrement] stories about how every driver was a (pick one) Green Beret/Navy SEAL/CIA paramilitary in (pick one) Vietnam/the first Persian Gulf war, and they were part of a special unit which actually tracked (pick one) Ho Chi Minh/Saddam Hussein for some period of time, but could never get the authorization to take the shot, etc

I thought I was the only one who got those stories.lol

[JeffTheTerrible]

Nope. And it's usually pretty easy to tell who's full of it within the first few seconds of their conversation. Such as the guy who said he was in the "Ranger Battalion at Fort Bragg", or the guy who claimed to have been in the "101st Airborne Ranger Battalion", or countless other stories. I'd love to have caught some of them on videotape, so that I might run those by several veterans' organisations which are sifting through such stories to determine what is real and what is false, and having the ones who falsely claim military decorations prosecuted under the Stolen Valour Act.

[Jimbpard]

*The DOT.

*Bad directions. (Yesterday I went 40 miles north looking for a exit sign that didnt exist because I SHOULD'VE been going south. I would've been real pis$ed if I was an O/O that just wasted all that fuel because YOU dont know where YOU are located!!!

*Public Transit buses (Pittsburgh specifically)

*Having to drive through the night, and not having anyone to talk to or even call at that time of the night.

*Searching for a radio station every 20-60 miles. (Satellite here I come!)

[all18wheels]

nothing. its ALL 100% great :wink:

[pronghornracer]

Extra weight gain, getting out of shape, not seeing the house much,
and some disrespect as already mentioned, favoritism, being lied to, and
at times, lack of support, bad directions/ or missing info., like phone
numbers, or wrong numbers.
In the winter, having you're 5th wheel freeze, or not be able to get
out from under a trailer due to ice and snow, or trying to slide frozen tandems.
Rude people on the cb, esp. tward women.

pronghornracer

[Useless]

6: [bull excrement] stories about how every driver was a (pick one) Green Beret/Navy SEAL/CIA paramilitary in (pick one) Vietnam/the first Persian Gulf war, and they were part of a special unit which actually tracked (pick one) Ho Chi Minh/Saddam Hussein for some period of time, but could never get the authorization to take the shot, etc

I thought I was the only one who got those stories.lol

10-4 on the driver stories!! Strange, how all of the unsung war heroes became truck drivers!! I used to listen to driver stories on the CB, or in the coffee shops, and I would ask myself:

"Self"?? "Do these guys even believe the stories they are telling??"