[Windwalker]

Originally Posted by nigeve

Hi Guys, this might seem like a strange e-mail but read on anyway please. I live in London England. I’m very English. English accent, English Mannerisms, even my name is very English (Nigel) and I use different words to you such as Truck = Lorry, Sidewalk = Pavement, Garbage = Rubbish… You get the picture…
Well my sister is a US citizen and I’m always sat at my desk developing databases bored out of my brains daydreaming about being a trucker in the US…lol
This is a great forum for telling it as it really is, not the way some of the ads I have seen tell it. Long hours, congested roads, average pay, overheads and downtime are all the bits they miss out of the glossy broachers. However, the clincher for me is ageism. I am 41 years old and work as a computer programmer. I know I’ll be struggling for work when I am 51. As a trucker will I be able to continue working until retirement age? Or is it though to get work in your 50’s and 60’s..?

At 60+ years of age, there are more than a dozen companies I can go to and get hired almost instantly. And, I know guys that are 70+ that can do the same. The biggest thing you need to do is maintain a good driving record. Then, refrain from "job hopping". That does not help you.

When I'm in my 60's, I'll be sitting on a beach drinking mai' tai's...not parked at a dock watching a red light flash in my westcoast mirror. Nor would I give up a cush computer gig to drive truck - I can tell you that much. Why forgoe being home every night, off every weekend, and a normal life outside of and away from the cubicle?!?!? You will miss standing around the water cooler shooting the shit with your co-workers...in trucking half the people you come across won't speak a word of the king's English.

Trucking will turn your mind to mush, put bags under you eyes, and add about 8 inches to your waistline. There's a reason why the life expectancy of truckers is around 57 years old. If the sedentary nature of the job don't get ya', then the po' folks diet high in salt, sugar, and monosodium glutamate will. That's just begging for Type II diabetes.

The last time the job paid decent was when Flo was slinging hash in Mel's diner. Back when "6 Days on the Road" was considered long-haulin'. But the water-to-water runs of yore are all gone now...today's truckers are regional/short-haul guys banging out more stops, sitting in more traffic, driving bigger tractors/longer trailers for less money.

[BigWheels]

Originally Posted by LeBron James

When I'm in my 60's, I'll be sitting on a beach drinking mai' tai's...not parked at a dock watching a red light flash in my westcoast mirror. Nor would I give up a cush computer gig to drive truck - I can tell you that much. Why forgoe being home every night, off every weekend, and a normal life outside of and away from the cubicle?!?!? You will miss standing around the water cooler shooting the $&!+ with your co-workers...in trucking half the people you come across won't speak a word of the king's English.

Trucking will turn your mind to mush, put bags under you eyes, and add about 8 inches to your waistline. There's a reason why the life expectancy of truckers is around 57 years old. If the sedentary nature of the job don't get ya', then the po' folks diet high in salt, sugar, and monosodium glutamate will. That's just begging for Type II diabetes.

The last time the job paid decent was when Flo was slinging hash in Mel's diner. Back when "6 Days on the Road" was considered long-haulin'. But the water-to-water runs of yore are all gone now...today's truckers are regional/short-haul guys banging out more stops, sitting in more traffic, driving bigger tractors/longer trailers for less money.

Well said Mr. James...well said.

Those of us driving big-rigs past our 60's are either lovin' it (still!), hatin' it (beats flippin' burgers), or just plain loco -- we're plumb dumb enough to not even think about hangin' up the keys. :lol:

[bentstrider]

I say come on over here and give it a shot.
Being home every night/weekend is only good if you've got a family, or cool people to hang around with.
If not, then people just look at you as the weird guy with nothing to do on a Friday night.
Even though I'm not doing it right now, that's the only reason why I'm itching to get back into it.

You see, if I've got a Friday night off in another city/town, then I'm liable to have more of a good time, and get away with it.

[nigeve]

Hi Guys… Well thanks for all those replies. North Americans are definitely friendlier than us Brits. It must be all that English reserve getting in the way of things and not speaking to people until you’ve been introduced…
Crazy Tulip, thanks for you offer, much appreciated. I have some good friends from Eindhoven (have you heard of Hans Segers) and I know just how crazy you guys really are…lol

LeBron James, that was another interesting insight. Now let me give you one into a typical day in my life. I have not lived less than 90 minutes commute from work in nearly 20 years. Typically it can be up to 2 hours in each direction to get from my front door to the office because the roads are so congested with over protective mothers who won’t allow their precious offspring to walk a mile and a half to school. Or if I’m really lucky I get an hour and a half’s journey on a train. Overcrowded, over hot, late, dirty with no where to sit and the sound of someone else’s iPod buzzing in my ear the duration of the journey.
Then I get to sit on a chair for 10 hours a day staring at a computer screen till my eyes go fuzzy. I’ll tell you about sedentary lifestyles shall I? I get up to get a cup of tea and I get up and walk 20 feet to the bathroom to take a piss, then I sit right back down again and feel my stomach folding over my trousers. I do very little programming because of politics and other garbage that I have to wade through. The highlight of my day is lunch. Cracker bread, 70grams of ham and a mint tea as I’m on a diet. Then back to the computer to eat while I work. My back gets stiff, my eyes ache and I leave the office every night with a headache. I do get to go home every night. I have time for diner, a shower then 8 hours insomnia before it’s time to get up and start all over again…
:shock:
I get £35k a year for this. I bring home £2.2k each month. My mortgage and other bills come to at least £1.5k a month because England is so expensive. £1 here has the same buying power as $1 over there.
So I sit at my desk day dreaming about driving a Peterbilt 389 across the prairies with a tasty hottie (I’d settle for an old bat) at my side and to be able to see the horizon instead of my computer screen.
And now I’ve been on this forum and read the truth about trucking my day dream has been shattered and I can’t even do that anymore… lol
I think I’ll shoot myself now and end the misery HAHAHA
:roll:

[Phantom433a]

trucking is what you make of it....don't let the "this job sucks" or "this is the greatest job in the world" groups dissuade you. You have to make your own choices.....but considering I've been paid to se 49 of 50 states and Canada on someone elses dime.....SAweet.

[bigtimba]

. . provided elsewhere in this thread . . I recently recieved word from my home terminal that my terminal alone was short 40 trainers. I have heard nothing in terms of laying off or cutting back.

Now, Nigel; on another note . .

Glory, Glory Man United!
Glory, Glory Man United!
Glory, Glory Man United . .
and the Reds go marching ON ON ON!

[TomB985]

Here's my thought on all of this...

There are people here, like there are in any job, who will blame their problems on anybody and everybody else but themselves. This includes their company, dispatcher, other drivers, and everything else that can be blamed.

That "cush" job you have right now is the type of job you couldn't pay me enough to do. I would personally go stir crazy over sitting at a desk, staring at a computer screen all day, every day. People on here say "but you're home every night"....how much does that matter if you HATE what you do? Not saying that you do, but if it were me...that's exactly where I'd be with it...

Almost everybody here who drives OTR knew EXACTLY what they were getting into when they started...living out of a truck, working long days, and not knowing where you'll end up a day or two in advance. This is what this is all about...

That being said...this is exactly WHY I like my job! Don't get me wrong, I don't like being away from my wife, but on the other side, I've seen things that I would have never ever seen had I been doing another job. Almost every day, I'm doing something different...be it hauling a diffferent type of load, barely getting my truck into and out of a difficult customer location, fighting traffic in all manner of different cities... the variety out here is almost endless. I love that about this job.

If you go into trucking, do it for YOUR reasons, not for anyone elses. You could get into it and hate it(which I doubt), or you could really love it out here. If the lifestyle you see described on this forum is for you...go fer it!

[nigeve]

So what do you guys do on the road when you’re not driving? You can’t drive 24/7 right? Do you have huge truck stops on all the Interstates..? Grab some diner, take a shower then go get a few beers and talk shit with other guys..? What about girls. I imagine it would kinda suck if you couldn’t find some chicks to chat up now and again… Or is it literally pull in for fuel, grab 7 hours sleep and crack on again..?
Also, it must kinda suck turning up for a new job and being given a piece of shit rattley old unreliable crate to drive around in. I guess someone is riding about in new rigs. Are these the owner drivers?

You gotta love the Internet right? Here I am in an office in England shooting shit with a bunch of Truck drivers in the US…

Bigtimba... Tottenham for me mate, till the day I die :-)

[TomB985]

Well, no, you can't drive 24/7, federal law limits driving to no more than 11 hours per day, and mandates a 10 hour break afterward before you can drive again.

My first truck was exactly one year old when I got it, had 100,000 miles on it, which is barely broken in. Most companies have very good equipment that's less than 4 or 5 years old, but if you really want a new truck, look for those who advertise the average age of their fleet somewhere around 2 years...