Quote:
Originally Posted by exopuppy
So I've recently joined the site and been reading various threads on joining the truck driving industry. First of all, I wanted to say how helpful the information on this forum has been as far as giving an inside perspective and helping me get a realistic idea of what to expect. Thank you to everyone who contributes here!
Now as I'm considering getting into driving I'm sure you can guess what comes next - the helpless newbie plea for advice. I'll start out by telling you that I am coming from an absolutely unrelated field.
|
Theres money in trucking but to reach the brass ring which seems to be 50k in this day and age you gotta work alot of hours and be away from home a long while. OTR trucking isn't a job per se it's more of a lifestyle and lots of folks get burned out and quit. If you log the job 100% legal you will go broke in a hurry so the business basiclly forces you to break the law in order to earn your daily bread. Aint a truckin' man out there who's logging it 100% DOT legal and if say they are then ask them about that oceanfront property in Arizona they got for sale. Now see here I pulled loads of out Cleveland OH out of the mills in 1975 for $1.50 per mile. Do yourself a favor and check the loadboards and you'll see all kinds of loads in 2009 going for less than that. Some are even going for under a buck a mile if you can believe it. So that's 34 years gone by and guys are pulling for the same money I did back in 75'. Look around the truckstop you'll see alot of folks wearing turbins and cooking up curry in the sleeper and playing Russian roulette
and many don't speak English. They speak hindu and Pakistani and Spanish and all sorts of other mumbo jumbo. Now I'm not a racist by any means but these folks are undercutting American drivers and pushing the rates and wages down cause it's better than the pesos or rubles or sheckles or whatever they make in ther homecountry.
I'm semi-retired now hell I can retire right now if I wanted to but I still like driving truck and I've got a nice dedicated daycab run that pays good and gets me home everynight. But if I were a young man starting over I would not drive truck for the rates and wages being offered today. It's a damn shame what these brokers and 3pls get away with skimming off the top and low-balling rates like they do. But then again if they couldn't find people to haul their cheap ass freight than they'd go out of business, right?
Back in my day they'd do what's called ABC dispatching where one man would pickup the freight and drive a certain distance and then swap loads with another driver. Then they'd both head back to their hometowns. This allowed drivers to get home more with their families and friends. But nowadays they want you to live out of the truck for 2-3 weeks and maybe get 2 days off. Alot of your weekends will be stuck in the truckstop or a motel. Ditto for holidays. If you don't got one of them onboard generators, your dispatcher will be hollaring at you about idle time.
Well, give it a try and see how it goes. Maybe that's the best way to get it out of your system. Hell, maybe you'll like it. I don't which is why I stay local. But different strokes for different folks I guess.