Trucking isn't that horrendous
 

This is fr all those out there that say trucking is so horrible. I may not be in the trucking industry yet, but I have read a lot of what you guys have been saying. The ones pleased with their trucking jobs, and those who aren't. Most of you may think that I have no place to say this, but I am not really talking about trucking. I am talking about a job that is much worse when it comes to the things you guys have complained about with trucking. It's a job that I have had 13 years of experience with, though I have not worked it. That job is the military. My experience is with the Navy, so I can't comment on whether or not it is the same with the other branches of the military.
You guys complain that you are away from your families for weeks, whining about working 60-70 hours a week. You complain that your pay is low for the kinds of hours you work.
My father was in the Navy for 20 years. He was gone from his family for 6-9 months at a time, not seeing us at all during that time. And a lot of times, he would be home for a week, and then head back out for another 6 months or so. He didn't have a 34 or 36 hour restart, or 10 hours off from working. At least you have the option of taking your spouse or child with you. He didn't have that luxury. Unlike truckers, who can walk away from their job anytime they like without repurcussions, being able to get a job fairly easily if you didn't give a notice. My father didn't have that option. He had to stay in for the entire term of his reinlistment (which was usually 4 years at a time). And if he just walked away, he would have gone AWOL, which would have landed him in jail and gotten a Dishonorable Discharge, which makes it almost impossible to get a job afterwards.
So, be glad that you can walk away anytime. That you are away from your families for ONLY a few weeks at a time. That you are able to have that restart, with your 10 hour breaks a day. So, when you start thinking that trucking is so crappy because you are gone from your families for a few weeks, or you aren't getting paid crap, turn your mind to think how the soldiers in Iraq and Afganistan feel, how the sailors on those ships feel, being gone from their families for a year, some even longer. And that's if they are lucky enough to not go home in a casket.

I am not saying that trucking is an easy job. I am sure that it is really hard. But I get tired of hearing people complain that they don't get to see their families for a few weeks when I wasn't able to see my father for months at a time. He missed birthdays, holidays, even the birth of his children, because he was gone on a ship.


Just something to chew on. Tear me apart for this. I don't care. It's not that bad being away for a few weeks. At least it is only a few weeks unless you CHOOSE to be out longer. My father, and many other military personnel, have no choice.

There are many occupations, both civilian and military that require extended stays away from home. OTR trucking is not the only one.

There are also many jobs that require very long hours and if you take the pay and divide it out by the hours worked you start to think that you are way under paid, but the annual pay is still above what you could make at many other jobs.

In the mid 90's I worked in retail management. My annual salary was 28,000. For that I usually worked 70-80 hours per week and some weeks I put in as many as 100 hours. Sure I was home every night, but it was just long enough to eat a quick dinner, get some sleep, get a shower and a quick breakfast and head back to work.

Living in a walk in closet (sleeper berth) can be some what trying at times, but one advantage to that over others whose jobs take them on the road for days or weeks at a time is that you do get to sleep in the same bed every night. I don't know about others, but it always takes me at least 3 nights in the same bed before I would be able to get any real sleep. :wink:

Yeah. I know about the small size of a sleeper. But it is more room than what you get on a navy ship. 3 beds to each bunk, about the size of a cot. Sharing the same bed with another guy (he sleeps while you work, and vice versa). I have been on one of my father's ships when he was in the navy. The sleeper of a truck is a palace compared to that.
I am not trying to downplay the horrbile aspects of trucking, but comparing that to what my dad did, and comparing trucking with some other jobs (like what you did), then trucking doesn't seems so bad. Trucking isn't one of the best jobs by far, but it isn't the worst either. There are plenty worse than trucking.

Complaining is one way that fixes things. I complained to boss that I didn't want to stay out for two weeks, now I am home every week.

Squeaky wheel gets the grease.

http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l2...nd10/worst.jpg

I know you are preaching to the nay sayer choir, but God Bless them. Misery loves company. The art of complaining is as old as mankind itself. This art form predates Trucking by thousands of years.

Complaining is a right of passage. Once my grin and honeymoon was over, (about a year) from the joy and enthusiasm I felt after scoring my first Trucking job, I started to realize I was beginning to even sound like a "Real Trucker." When that dawned on me...I felt accomplished, and soon began to see things for the way they truly were.

It took about another few years, but I finally became a Road Scholar, and now I can bittche with authority. http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l2...10/Driver2.gif http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l236/Leland10/24.gif

Hey Fox,

I agree completely I look at a military wife and thank my lucky stars. I have the highest regard for those who fight for us and their loved ones left at home. That there marriages survived is a miracle.

I am very thankful my husband chose trucking over military dont think I will get as lucky when it comes to my sons. One is completely bent on flying jets for the airforce. My sister is a staff seargent in the air force. Thanks for your reality check.

Trukrswyfe

With an all volunteer military, no one puts a gun to your head to join up. That means you choose the Navy, choose a service that keeps you away for months on end. You choose to do this, no one makes you do it, so no pity from my end.

I have been a military wife, so I know the life you put up with, at least the family member side of it. But, it is volunteer....just like truck driving, no one forces this on you or your family.

The O.P. is not SAYING that anyone FORCED her dad into the Navy (although it has not been so long since we DID have a DRAFT!!)

She is saying that trucking is no worse than OTHER jobs, and not as bad as the military (in many ways) and the constant bitching gets a little tiring! I've been saying this ALL ALONG!

If drivers here don't LIKE the conditions, get OUT! Take 2 jobs to make the same money.... and THEN see how much time you get to spend with family.

However, Hoggie is right. Bitching IS somewhat part of the job description. We ALL do it at times. It's just that SOME do it ALL the time, and can be read like a book! :lol:

Anyway..... welcome to the mosh pit, Foxoreo..... and thanks for showing that I'm not the only one who thinks trucking CAN be compared to the military life!

If you leave the trucking industry, you should be upgrading, not downgrading. It's never too late to get a higher education and there are a lot of scholarships and grants available to those who take the time to seek them out.

I hated being an OTR driver, so I went local after 3 months, flinging 5 tons of Pepsi for 12 hours a day got to be a little too much. I went and talked to the advisor's at a local community college as well as the University of New Mexico. Now the problem is deciding what to major in, Biotechnology or Mechanical Engineering. Both of those jobs would pay well and above 98% of trucking jobs while still maintaining a somewhat "normal" schedule.

I do fully agree that if someone hates trucking so much, like I did, that they do get out. Bitching about something you can change is just plain dumb.

what happens if you love trucking and hate it. Then what do you do??? I love driving trucks but hate the LOW PAY.