As continental says, once you are in, its hard to get out of it. You make enough money to pay your bills and maybe a house payment, but for the most part not enough to save up to make a change. Most drivers are not highly educated and would therefore take a pay cut for changing careers.
Then, if you do and you decide after a year+ to go back, you start at the bottom again...what a fraud. Finding another career often means networking and researching that is hard to do while OTR.

About the bitching: Trucking is very dangerous and very stressful. Theres no hazard pay, not enough home time and no support if your psyche suffers from it like so many of us wont admit. The law is against us and so is public opinion for the most part. Lack of human interaction makes you antisocial and prone to anger. Im sure many will disagree, but hey- acting out on this forum is the only place where many can do that without hurting someone.

One

 

I don't think it's truckdriving itself that's so bad, it's those long hours and all that time away from home that gets you down.

 

The cold war ended and I was laid off. There were a bunch of people looking for not to many jobs...so I started driving. Its an adventure {in discipline} for sure and a way to see the country. There is no way I could go back to the "industry", seeing the same people every day would drive me nuts. Once driving is in your blood "you got to go..."

 

Thanks, Trubbledog (and Goldiesplating) but somehow, I feel you are just "stroking me" to make me feel better! :lol:

Personally, I have very few conflicts about what I do. I'm somewhere between line 1 and 2 on Gearjammin Penguin's list.

I might find it hard to make this kind of money elsewhere, because I am not dedicated enough to finish a degree program that I abandoned years ago. But, on the other hand, I LOVE what I'm doing! I KNOW that I have options.... I COULD do something else. But, this is what I choose to do at THIS time in my life. I've only got about 20 years left 'til retirement, and there are AT LEAST 5 major "segments" of trucking left for me to explore.

Right now, I'm driving team interspersed with solo. Cali (or thereabouts) and back each week. Someday, I'll venture out into the world of 3-5 week solo runs. After that maybe heavy haul. Eventually, I may move back to my beloved Western 11 and run regional there. I would like to go overseas and pull for the government shutting down a base somewhere. I even got an itch to haul logs in the beautiful mountains of the northwest. I wouldn't mind living at the beach in SC, and hauling out of the ports there. At least when I get home, I'm "reseting" at the BEACH! There are just SO many options!

Name me ONE factory job, or retail job, with that many options!?

I don't like wearing a TIE! And I don't like kissing butt! Don't like punching a clock, or looking at walls! I'm single and getting older every day. I'm not a sportsman, but I've WALKED many miles surveying for oil in the WEST. I've been in the deepest circles of the Intelligence community, flown on aircraft on a daily basis, and owned my own business.

I guess I feel like, until the day I started driving a truck, I'd done it all! And NONE of it, turned me on like driving a truck has! Yeah, it gets in your blood! But, I believe it helps if it was already IN your blood, though dormant.

There's no doubt that it takes a certain kind of person to drive a truck. But, that person is often hidden beneath the lives we ALL end up living. The trick is to recognize ourselves when we look in the mirror!

EVERY ONE of you that are spending time on this forum are here because it excites you! There's a book out called "The Purpose Driven Life." None of you need to read it! You KNOW what purpose drives your lives!

I'll bet all of you have seen the movie "The Call of the Wild." We are all Free Spirits! Or at least, I THINK we are! It's a struggle to keep our spirit in line at times, but we must remember the seriousness of what we do. Be SAFE! BE dedicated! Be CIVILIZED! But.... Live FREE or DIE!!

 

I'm only here because I heard the chick's dig it.

 

Because if there were no truck drivers how would you get your goods at the store? If you got it a trucker brought it!

Besides that my husband and I actually get along better when he's driving over the road, guess we're just backwards or something but for us it works :P

 

once you get your start in trucking it's like trying to eat one potato chip. You can't quit :P
Plus Driver like to piss and moan but they stay at it.

 

You been listening to too many trucker's lies!! :lol:

 

The trucks maybe, not nessesarily the drivers :P :lol:

 

Trucking is defiantely a life style, its a part of every area of my life. Most of my friends are on the road.
I do it because it works for me and I love it, plain and simple.

Cheers