Rookie McRookerson,

The cast of characters you'll meet on the road are unlike any other you'll ever meet. All walks of life, all education levels, all sizes & shapes. Some very professional, many are not, just like any other business. Except in this business everything you do is in the public eye so you're always under scrutiny. It's those that seperate themselves from the riff-raff that enjoy the work, and do their job that have the positive attitudes in this business.

There are going to be days you can't believe you went through that if you tried to explain it to someone not in the business they wouldn't believe you. Those in the business know you'll have some days that will have you shaking your head and wondering "what am I doing this for?". And you'll have even more days where you wouldn't want to be doing anything else for a living cause you just love the open road and the faint smell of diesel while listening to your favorite music with not a care in the world and plenty of time to get to your destination. It sure beats any desk job and the scenery in this business can be absolutely amazing.

Is it easy? No. But it can be very rewarding. It is what it is and it is what you make it.

Happy Trails to you McRookerson

I've been where you are, a little older at 58, but I also was fed up with corporate, love to drive, had driven 47 of the lower 48 states in my car, and finally decided to go for it as an OTR driver.

I enjoyed my training, could do my 11 hours behind the wheel with no problem. BUT....BIG BUT.....the company treated drivers (at best) like high school freshmen. For example, during my orientation I took the required computer training sessions. I got 100% on all of them but I was told I needed to do them over because I did them too quickly! The company (Werner, by the way) set a benchmark average time. If you did them in less than the benchmark they assumed you cheated, and made you take them again. So I sat there, while others waited to get on the terminals, and twiddled my thumbs re-doing exams I'd already aced. Total BS. I was in the military as an enlisted man and this was more BS than I ever experienced in the there, and that's saying a lot.

So my biggest problem was coming from a corporate situation where everyone was expected to perform and to know what they were expected to do without being micro managed, and then going into the trucking industry where companies seem to have low expectations of the drivers, and treat them accordingly.

This is in no way a comment on drivers. But it is a comment on how the companies view, and treat, the drivers. So if your experience in corporate was to be treated like an adult, you may have some major adjustments to make before you can accept how you'll be treated as a driver. I was prepared to be treated differently, but quite frankly I was not prepared for how extreme the difference would be.

BTW, I bailed from Werner and will be starting again at a smaller company where I hope I will be viewed more as an asset than a peon.

Having said that, go for it and give it a try. But be prepared to be treated like you've probably never been treated before, and if you were in a management position, like you'd never in your wildest dreams have treated anyone you'd managed.

Good Luck.

Re: Career Transition to OTR Trucking
 

In other words, you want people to tell you what you want to hear: that OTR truckdriving is all about sunsets, rainbows, and Shania Twain on the radio. That the "Highpay Highway" is paved with gold dubloons as far as the eye can see.

If so, then why the massive 130% annual churn rates in the biz?

Truth be told, I enjoyed my time in OTR as far as driving the truck was concerned. Why did I quit? Mostly because I thought $8.00 - $11.00/hr was crap money for the job. With such a low hourly wage, you end up "fudging" the logbook so you can keep the wheels rolling. The result is living to work instead of working to live: 12-14 hour days are pretty much industry standard.

Then there was the whole living out of the truck thing. It's fun at first - almost like camping. But the novelty of truckstops and not being able to find a decent place to sleep at night wears off and after awhile I yearned to be in my own bed.

I left OTR but I didn't leave trucking. I now work for an LTL company that gets me home everynight and pays me an excellent wage for every hour on the job. As a result, I don't have to work 12-14 hour days just to take home a decent check. I'll never go back to OTR as long as the crappy pay rates and working conditions persist. And with all the foreigners, felons, and Mexicans getting behind the wheel, it's only gonna get worse.

So there you have it. That's my story and I'm stickin' to it. Catch ya' on the boulevard! :D

I too am new to trucking (eight months in now) but I love every minute of it. I agree with G-man. GO FOR IT !!!!!!

Coldfrostymug,

I'd already read a lot of your negative comments on the subject of driving. I was merely looking for some balance. If you don't have anything good to say, why don't you start your own blog and see how many responses you get. I think you'd be a very lonely man.

ColdFrosty is telling the truth about trucking... I left my previous job because all of my life I wanted to go truck driving. So I did it not once but three times 1995 with Werner....2003 with Schneider... and 2006 (won't say company name just yet but they are a very reputable company) and one of there main competitor is Old Dominion.. And each time I tried it you get excited at first then you realize at 3:00 am you have to get up to get delivered and you are getting a shower at a truckstop and you have to wear flipflops in the shower being butt naked!!! Then when you are driving to get to your destination and then your stomach starts acting up and you find the nearest reststop 30 miles away and oh wait... The rest areas are all filled up and no place to park or move forward because 2 trucks on the each side and one tanker truck in the middle so you cannot move forward.

One location I went to few weeks ago in Bessimer, Al would not even allow me to microwave my Chicken ' Dumplins so I can eat while they take 6 hours for me to get unloaded and I have another stop to go to in 1 hour and I have to drive 300 miles (I was able to talk to a lumper to heat up my food). The lady at the location says no truckers are allowed to go thru and I told her I was a Freight Transport Engineer and she just looked at me.

Another thing that happened it was raining Thursday morning and it was 5:00 am and I had to dock into door 52 and two truck on each side and then another truck about 50 feet in front of my hole and could not get it in the hole and I just wanted to start crying because I felt like I failed when my trainer had to do it (It took him 10 minutes to get in and the truck on the right of me pulled out so he had more room).

I am not trying to be negative about trucking I'm just giving the facts of life on driving. When you are on the road and driving it is great but then reality kicks in and it is not worth it.

I prefer Product Relocation Specialist. :lol:

Alot of people will tell you about the low wage. They count your sleep time and breaks, but this is not the way to look at it. If you had a local job you would still have to sleep anyway, so this cant be counted. The same with breaks and your personal time during the day! If you work local or LTL as people call it, unless you do more than drive, like (having to unload, and multiple stops and unload) your chance of making what you do OTR will be more than local. There is an exception to every rule though, and the company's who have these jobs will have a lower turnover rate. I came off the road last Dec. and went to work for a large Drugstore chain, multiple stops, Indy to Chicago 5 days a week with a average of 10 to 14 hrs a day making upper 60k a year. When I get home I eat watch a little TV then hit the hay, kind of sounds like over the road but still paying all the expense's at home.If you sit in the truck and just drive and wait to load and unload you will realistically earn 40 to 45k a year. You will still go home, eat then sleep to be ready for the next day!! So in your situation you need to look at what you want for your life. As an experienced driver if you cant make into the 60k a year OTR, your at the wrong company..

Secretoktober,

Your comments seem to be typical of someone who is extremely unhappy with your career choices. What I don't understand is why you have chosen to come back to such a lousy career choice three times? If its as bad as you describe, instead of banging your head against that same wall again, why don't you turn left and take a different careed path?

The reason why I came back is that the previous times I guess I didn't give it a chance. Maybe I did something wrong. I am not trying to make it seem if I was unhappy I am just giving the facts about it and not sugar coating the job field.

Rookie McRookerson I go thru different message boards about trucking and when someone tells the truth about driving then someone brand new like yourself gives the speech why do you come back and they have no idea what it is like. Go to other trucking boards layover.com, truck.net and you will see it. What is funny is people come and ask about driving and are curious then they write and so excited and then after they start school and then drive for a company alot of times you never hear from them again on the message board it is like they disappearred into the Bermuda Triangle.

Trucking can be done and it is the easiest hardest job to have. Sometimes trucking realizes things that you don't know what you have till it is gone.