Can you make good money trucking? Sure. But like anything else you have to pay your dues. This industry is run on supply annd demand. The more freight, the less trucks, the higher the pay. And vice versa.
Right now there is more supply than demand. Too many freakin trucks. So the wages suck. Granted, they're better than they were, but they still leave ALOT to be desired considering the respondsibility that is required.
Working for a specialized carrier you can make the nice coin. But you won't start out there unless you know someone who knows someone who knows someone else and gets you on board. Kinda like trying to land a gig as a driver on the Nascar circut. Good luck with that, unless you know someone who......
I'm guessing you didn't start out making $50k a year in sales either. You worked up to that. Same thing in this occupation.
I don't look at this business as an end to all means. I'm a guy who drives a truck, I'm not a "truck driver" so-to-speak. I try to take things in 3 year increments and re-evaluate my situation. Do I still enjoy it? Do I like who I'm working for/with? Do the pro's outweigh the con's? What is the upside if I stay in it another year or two? What is the downside? Can I make more money doing something else? Working for myself, in another industry possibly?
This business is strictly a stepping stone for me. There will always be a need for drivers. I have a very entreprenurial mindset. I do it for awhile, get out and explore other business opportunities. This business is always something to fall back on if hard times surface in my endeavors. Just keep your nose clean, stay out of trouble, don't get any ridiculous speeding tickets and you'll always have a rig to jump into, even if it's for 6 months just to get back on your feet. I go about and do my job, do whats asked, keep my nose to the grind with my eyes on the prize (my goals, dreams, ambitions...my log cabin secluded in the woods on 10 acres and a couple of lucrative internet businesses
. You get the picture. Plus one advantage of trucking is you get alot of time to think out your game plan.
I've been off the road for 10 years now. Totally walked away from trucking. I've recently met with some hard times and unexpected circumstances and lost everything I built. So here I am again. I've committed 3 years and I'll evaluate my situation again in Jan 2010.(that date just sounds like 25 years from now) Do I stay in or get out and pursue other things? Time will tell.
My suggestion is make a 2 year committment and re-evaluate things then and see if it's worth looking for another job in trucking that has what your looking for, or get out and move on. By then you'll have a couple years experience under your belt and provided you have a good record, other driving opportunities will present themselves and force you to take a hard look at all your options. By then you'll be in the drivers seat (or should be) and who knows what the trucking industry will be like in 2-3 years when a ton of these companies who are hanging on by a shoestring will be going under.
When that happens (not if), you'll have a market full of "qualified" drivers and only so many trucks and trucking companies. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out how the wage scale will go from there.
Will wages go down because you now have a huge surplus of drivers so the companies (not specialized ones) can keep paying low wages to get a butt in the seat?
OR...
Will the companies see the value in the cream-of-the-crop of the surplus qualified drivers and have to step up and pay them accordingly. Like a PROFESSIONAL driver should be paid, like any other professional, above average wages for the skills needed to do the job.
That would be an interesting debate....
Contrary to what you may think though, or anyone else for that matter, it takes a lot of skill to manuever 80,000 lbs of equipment from one side of the country to the other. It is not an easy job. But the starting pay has to be much better than what a manager at a Wendy's would get to supervise the smoke breaks of a bunch of $7 an hour employees.
Starting out I wouldn't go OTR. Look for an O/O, a smaller company, LTL carrier, a courier company, something like that to get your experience and get your toe in the water. Once you get alittle experience your options open up some more and you can grab another gear if you want to go that route down the road a ways. If you jump right into an OTR job chances are you'll get fed up reeeeeally quick and bail out before you've really given a chance. IMO start small, or local for a year or two and go from there.
BOL whatever route you decide to go.
PS. and thanks for letting me ramble on this subject. Sorry but my fingers get a plunkin and it's hard to slow them fellers down sometimes.
