Is trucking right for me?

[GMAN]

I can't believe it! I agree with almost everything said by GMAN ... AND... RockyMtnPro in the SAME thread!

What's going on, Hobo? Are you having a breakdown or something? First you agree with TF, now with me and RockyMtnPro. Somehow that just isn't natural.

Next thing will be that you will beg for Bush to return to office.

[Mackman]

You will clock-in 80-100 hours per week driving truck OTR.
But you will only compensated for about half those hours.
The hourly rate breaks down to around 6-10 bucks an hour...you'd make more at McDonalds flipping burgers if they worked you 70 hours per week.
No overtime after 8/40 hours.
Worthless benefits with high co-pays (if you even get them).
Hometime a roll of the dice.
No friends, family, or social life whatsoever.
Treated like a 4th class citizen at some shippers/receivers.
Traffic, tickets, fines, DOT/LEO's watching your every move.
8th most dangerous US occupation.
No place to park in some areas of the country.
Sedentary nature of the job combined with poor diet and irregular shifts will take a toll on your health.
Median age-of-death of truckdrivers is 61 years old...16 years less than the general population.
Highest divorce rates of ANY occupation.

There's a reason the turnover rates are so high in this biz.
It's because the carriers can't keep drivers due to the low pay, long hours, and drivers having NO LIFE.

One of the best posts i have seen on here. I think this needs to be a sticky. There is more truth in this post then lies.

[Flying W]

Golfhobo...I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree, but I appreciate your post.

I mostly hope he realizes that what many companies pay an OO is roughly the same as living the chorus of the song "Sixteen Tons." The only difference is the companies pay the driver in cash, all $0.90 cpm + fsc (cut/paste Cold Frosty Mug here). I can't understand why people think this is somehow better than being a company driver (not in debt to their equipment). It should reward the driver for the risk taken, and at that rate I just don't see the point in doing it. If he has a way to get paid the difference for his risk, then by all means do so. I just don't think he has an honest idea of what he's getting into, and likely won't till doing it for roughly six months.

Btw, I liked the comments of Joey Shabadoo & RockyMtnProDriver. Well said.

[silvan]

And why did you become a trucker? Anyone else a trucker with a degree?

I became a truck driver because a BA in Spanish and French is pretty much the same thing as a BA in English, except slightly harder to market to anyone. The old addage that you can get a degree in anything and go to work somewhere making decent money is just no longer true. It was true for my parents, but not for me.

I picked that specialty because I found it interesting, and I was really good at it, but it's pretty worthless in the job market. I was working at Walmart (where I am once again working at the moment) scraping by to feed a wife and kid when my wife turned up pregnant a second time, even though she was on the pill. We lived in a three-room hovel at the time, and didn't have enough room to raise two kids. I needed to make more money somehow, and I was pretty depressed about my outlook. Not being able to take care of the people who are depending on you sucks.

One of the women at work suggested I go apply where her husband worked, for some linen service in a nearby city. I did, but they laughed at me, because I didn't have a CDL. What's a CDL anyway? How do I get one? One thing led to another.

I don't come from a trucking family, and my parents hated my career decision with a passion. Neither one of them could offer me a better paying job or hand me a wad of cash to make my problems go away, so they had to get over it and live with my decision. I was kind of at war with my mother over this for the rest of her life.

I ended up hanging it up right after she died. The freight I was running fell apart, drivers everywhere were staying out all week to make $400, and I could make $400 at Walmart. I went back where I came from to explore the other fork in the road, and try to become a retail manager like my father. After two years of this, the best I achieved was having everyone genuinely surprised I didn't get the promotion I sought. I had an alignment of the planets the likes of which I will never see again in this lifetime, and with all those influential people standing behind me, I still didn't get the job.

It's time to end it and go back to work. I'm really fed up with the high school drama, and at least the drama of the trucking industry seems a lot more adult to me from this perspective. Also, since you can't drive until you're 21, there are fewer retarded teenagers out there on the road. (Though you'll find there are still plenty of 40-year-old teenagers out here. Especially if you buy a CB radio. For the love of God, I hope people have finally stopped saying "I ain't got no panties on" at least.)

As to you finishing your degree, I agree with the people who have said this is something you will never regret, and I, too, encourage you to do it. Having said that, however, CS is one of the worst fields to get into these days. I've been volunteering in the open source software development world for eight years now, and I have plenty of skills and plenty of supporting evidence to back them up. There's not much I can do with these skills in the job market right now, or I would definitely pursue that in preference to getting back in the driver's seat. I started trying to get out of the driver's seat in about 2005, and I finally made it when everything collapsed to the point where I had to take a 66% pay cut no matter what I did. Now it looks like trucking has bounced back enough I can make at least slightly more money driving than installing tires on cars, so I'm aiming back out. (Waiting on my TSA background check. I hope it doesn't really take 45 days.)

It turns out I'm looking forward to going back behind the wheel where I belong, but that's because my soul is already lost, son. I traded my soul for the smell of diesel exhaust, and dreams of seeing America and making $60,000 a year in blue jeans. If I could get my soul back, I'd rather work for $40,000 a year in a tie, but that trade was made a long time ago, and it is done. There's a reason "well screw it then, I'll just go back to driving" has become my default answer to everything that annoys me. It's because I never stopped dreaming about driving, even if I've never quite been able to figure out if these are happy dreams or nightmares. It haunts my sleep, and will never leave me alone, for better or worse.

I don't really want to go work in a cubicle farm, in spite of what I just said about how I would choose to be a programmer if I had that option. I'm kind of mixed up about all of that. Don't think you're going to see much more than the dirty butt cracks and stinking armpits of America though. In our business, all the interesting places have NO TRUCKS signs posted prominently, and the part you get to see is littered with Walmart bags, cigarette butts, broken beer bottles, and the occasional used condom or hypodermic needle if you have a really exciting day.

I hear this is just about the worst year ever to be graduating from school with a freshly printed CS degree. A huge number of jobs have moved to India, where guys come over here to study so they can go home and earn $9,000 a year to live like kings. (Think about that for a moment. They're going to live like kings for less than half of what you can pull down working at Walmart in this country. I've talked to more than a few of them, and this is a lot of money back home.) I think CS is a field whose prime years have come and gone to a much greater extent than trucking, and I would reserve it for those people who can't imagine studying anything else. If you're studying it for the money, then it might be best to skip it, and pursue something else.

Don't be afraid to change majors. I wish I had listened to my heart and changed to Biology, but I had so many foreign language credits at that point. Who knows if that would have been any easier to market, but it's one thing about me I wish I could go back and change, just to see what would have happened. I wouldn't really take back most of it though. The hardships I got through along the way to getting here today are what made me who I am, and I'm comfortable in my own skin for the most part. I struggle with the issue of what I want to do for a living when I grow up, but I've provided for my family, and even though I got laid off from the best job I'll ever have in my life, I never drew any unemployment. I don't want handouts, even when I've earned them. I just want the opportunity to earn a living and take care of my own, and because of this I have little fear that I will ever want for a job doing something somewhere, even if it's not the job I want.

What would I do in your shoes? That's not an easy question. I have a son almost your age, and I don't have a better plan for him than to get a CDL when he's old enough. There's not much out there to do, no matter what your degree is in. At least not around here. Frankly, I'd be afraid to take a chance on anything except becoming a doctor, a nurse, or most kinds of engineer. Even some engineering fields, like software and electrical engineering, seem a bit too risky to me. Too much competition from India.

You've got a few years to think about it. I wish you the best of luck!

[KW10001]

@silvan, Thanks for your extensive input. My choice of my Major was based on the subject I was most interested in, not the one I felt had the best outlook for employment. I'm concerned with just getting a degree, because even if this country dries up with CS positions, I can still get a good paying management job or something. Sounds like you have had a pretty bad time finding a steady job. If you didn't have a family to support would you still enjoy trucking? Or is your enjoyment of the job strictly out of necessity to make a paycheck?

Thanks Again!

One of my other newbie questions was whether you keep the truck that they assign you for the time you spend with the company barring breakdowns or a requested change in equipment. Or do you turn in the truck before vacations and get assigned a different vehicle when you return for another few weeks?

I have a feeling you just keep the truck as unloading and re loading a new truck with your belongings every week or two would get old.

[GMAN]

One of my other newbie questions was whether you keep the truck that they assign you for the time you spend with the company barring breakdowns or a requested change in equipment. Or do you turn in the truck before vacations and get assigned a different vehicle when you return for another few weeks?

I have a feeling you just keep the truck as unloading and re loading a new truck with your belongings every week or two would get old.

Most carriers assign a truck to one driver. There are a few who may still do what we call slip seating. In other words, when you come home for a couple of days you clean out your truck and someone else is assigned your truck. When you come back from your home time you are given a different truck. JB Hunt used to do slip seating. I have no idea if that is still the case. Personally, I think that it is better for a driver to drive the same truck. That is a question that you should ask any carrier for whom you want to work. Each makes their own policy concerning slip seating.

[BanditsCousin]

Gman is right. Slip seating generally for OTR drivers is more like a regional/home weekends or less deal sometimes, as opposed to an OTR driver that spends a week or 2, or 3, etc in the same truck. Letting a driver take a few days off after a few weeks and keep the same truck is kinda the norm, I hear. There are always exceptions. I think Roehl slip seats on their 7/7 fleets and whatnot. IE: home for 7 days, out for 7 days...they gotta keep that truck rollin

[TomT]

KW10001,

IF Computer Science is dying out (hope not, that's what I'm going to college for) then look into Information Assurance or Computer Forensics or anything computer security related. The U.S. gov. is very much interested in getting people qualified in these areas. Here is one example: Student Opportunities - NSA/CSS

Best of luck to you, I still "dream" about getting a Class A.

TomT

[Steel Horse Cowboy]

Golfhobo...I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree, but I appreciate your post.

I mostly hope he realizes that what many companies pay an OO is roughly the same as living the chorus of the song "Sixteen Tons." The only difference is the companies pay the driver in cash, all $0.90 cpm + fsc (cut/paste Cold Frosty Mug here). I can't understand why people think this is somehow better than being a company driver (not in debt to their equipment). It should reward the driver for the risk taken, and at that rate I just don't see the point in doing it.

And you COMPANY drivers to need to realize that the O/O hauling for a company paying $0.90cpm is just hurting the industry. Not all of us are that stupid nor willing to be a wasteless truck on the road.
To run a business you need to just have a good credit rating...... to run a successful business you need to be smarter than the ones giving you the loan.

I paid CASH for my truck, and have not ever looked back. I have been on the same dedicated run for the last 2years and don't see it changing in the near future. I make a GREAT living, I work 4 days a week, and have an awesome life and all the toys a man could wish for. You just have to be smart and willing to work hard.
Anybody can back a freight box into a dock (granted it may take some an hour to do so LOL) but eventually that driver will get tired of the same old thing and the bad treatment and quit.....guess what, there is a newbie willing to take over his truck for .30cpm
Eventually you drivers will realize that working for CPM isn't going to accomplish anything for you, but hey, we all need someone to take the crappy freight across this great nation because I sure as hell ain't gonna do it for no .90 or even $1.50 per mile.

That being said, Good luck to ya. make sure you do your homework and take your time looking into companies.
Honestly, if you can find a daily job that is paying $17hr plus benifits then take it...... you won't come close to making that OTR

[MoBoy]

I'm the same way like KW10001. I was a young kid wanting to drive a big truck, but as I got older I fell out of wanting to drve a truck. I went to school, well should I say I fell into Architectural Drafting & Design. I got my Associate in '07 & could not find a job. I'm working @ Target right now. I'm hoping the economy picks back up soon, but I don't see it anytime soon. I would like to go back to school & get my bachelor degree but I don't have money & I don't qualify for good grants now.

I'm now thinking about driving a truck again, thinking about doing it for a few years so I can get it out of my system & use the money that I earn to pay 50% for school & try to find a grant for 25% then get a loan of 25%. 25% is better than 100% loan.

So what do you guys think about my plan?
My family "my mom & sister" don't want me to drive a truck, they want me to wait until the economy picks back up & find something in my field. They longer I wait, my skill are not going to be good for me in the future & need to do something.

[strawberryrhubarbpie]

KW10001:

2.) Get ready to deal with disappointments; broken promises, lies, back stabbing, companies that spew one line of rhetoric about running safely & legally, but push you to start shaving margins on HOS and safety compliance.

Can you please explain what HOS and safety compliance is?

KW10001:

The adage that you work 80 to 90 hours per week, log 70 hours, and get paid for 40 to 50 hours is, unfortunately, all too true.

PLEASE someone tell me this isn't true. I'm about to go to an accredited driving school (PTEC in St Petersburg, FL) and this is scaring me away!

*gulp*

[strawberryrhubarbpie]

Ok, deep breaths. I read through all the other posts and I'm not scared off anymore lol. I just pray I make it into the class, as of right now I'm on the waiting list.

[Orangetxguy]

Ok, deep breaths. I read through all the other posts and I'm not scared off anymore lol. I just pray I make it into the class, as of right now I'm on the waiting list.

Hmmmmmm.......You're on a list? That is a heck of a note. Who's list are you on?

[xcarsalesman]

You always can join the National Guards or the Reserves. They will pay for you for your schooling and Pay for Truck driving school. Also, you will do a great service for the country. Some will disagree with me, but how can you not pay your country for being Free. ok off topic... This is directed toward Moboy

[strawberryrhubarbpie]

PTEC in St. Petersburg, Truck Driving Enrollment Procedure - Pinellas Technical Education Centers

There were 4 on the waiting list for the May 31st class, so hubby and I make 6. They said they would be making calls this week to see who was really going to show up and that we should know by Thursday. My 2nd choice is Mid Florida Tech in Orlando, and they are constantly running out of seats in there classes also, their next class is June 6 and as of last week they only had 1 spot left in that class.

[tracer]

I was attending a university in Russia and pretty much did the same thing: almost quit in my 4th year to become a truck driver Family and friends persuaded me to finish school and I"m glad I did: without having the university diploma I wouldn't have had enough "points" for immigration to Canada, where I eventually became ... a long haul trucker So, to a point higher education can be useful in achieving your dreams.

[MoBoy]

You always can join the National Guards or the Reserves. They will pay for you for your schooling and Pay for Truck driving school. Also, you will do a great service for the country. Some will disagree with me, but how can you not pay your country for being Free. ok off topic... This is directed toward Moboy

I could, but. I hate guns & I don't want to be around them.....Well I guess I could go & do driving for them or do drafting & Design. but I would love to be able to tell my kids when I have kids that I drove a truck when I was younger. lol