After Six Months to a Year: Would You do it Again?

Discussion in 'Questions From New Drivers' started by GSWx, Aug 20, 2011.

  1. GSWx

    GSWx <strong>Doc In The Box</strong>

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    Basically, I'm a wannabe trucker and have been reading the various forums on TTR. If you could turn around and start all over would you do it again with you current company? This is in regards to going with a company for example, Stevens, FFE and CRE that offers driver training and a job.

    Did you get the pay and mileage you expected or told by the recruiter during your first year? :biggrin_2559:

    Life on the road?

    Satisfaction with the equipment you drive?

    Getting home as promised?
     
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  3. 123456

    123456 Road Train Member

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    6 months to a year...........

    75% of them are No longer driving !!!!!!

    :biggrin_2556:
     
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  4. American-Trucker

    American-Trucker Road Train Member

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    at least :biggrin_2559:




    American Trucker
     
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  5. walstib

    walstib Darkstar

    Did you get the pay and mileage you expected or told by the recruiter during your first year? :biggrin_2559:

    Yes, no lies from my company...


    Life on the road?

    Love it!


    Satisfaction with the equipment you drive?

    Yes.


    Getting home as promised?

    Yes!
     
  6. NDBADLANDS

    NDBADLANDS Medium Load Member

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    Yes I would and I haven't been lied to or treated poorly either. I think a person needs to be proactive and not reactive to their career.
     
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  7. Dave_AL

    Dave_AL Light Load Member

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    Aug 9, 2011
    AL
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    I would.

    But only going into it what I know now, and even then with the understanding that I have to look out for myself and not make any rash decisions based solely on what they tell me.

    And only if it were the only option open to me in terms of getting started. If I wanted to get into driving and going with one of these companies was the only way I could do it, then I would with the view that they are basically starter companies - therefor, it's only a stepping stone.

    Anytime you start a new career in an industry you aren't familiar with, you're gonna have to start at the bottom and work your way up. There are alot of people who go with these companies and have horrid experiences for various reasons and you read about them. The ones you don't hear much about are the ones who have generally decent or even good experiences - or the ones who have a bad experience and then say it was (at least in part) their own fault.
     
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  8. dave26027

    dave26027 Road Train Member

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    When I went to work for JB hunt, they took a polaroid pic and posted it in the hallway in the Dallas terminal. The driver with the most seniority was in the top left corner. The pics were about 15' long and five rows deep.

    Six months after I was hired, I was walking through the hallway and decided to see if anyone who was hired with me was left. To my surprise, I was on the top row, not far from the guy who had been there twenty years. All the people that were in orientation with me were gone...

    It only took two years to have my pic moved within two or three spaces of the most senior driver in the terminal. When I left them, with five and a half years' experience, my pic was third in line behind the most senior driver in the Dallas terminal (the same guy).

    Pictures say a thousand words.:yes2557:
     
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  9. RoadRaid3r

    RoadRaid3r Light Load Member

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    6 months to a year later, I am no longer driving, but I would do it again tomorrow if I didnt have the job I have now. I was driving for Schneider and got a job working for a company I was hauling freight out of. A better environment, better benefits, more pay, and home everyday. Oddly enough, the one thing I am enjoying the most, is working with a team of people, instead of all the isolation time sitting alone in my truck.

    Good Luck in whatever you decide.

    Raid3r
     
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  10. roadkill4512

    roadkill4512 Medium Load Member

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    I'm 4 years in now and a year ago if you asked I would've said "sure I'd do it again."

    Today, I'm thinking it might've been a mistake. Or atleast I'd done things a little differently.

    I'd say it would be good to have an exit strategy. Do OTR for 1 year. See the country and try to take every opportunity to explore the attractions on your 34 hour restart. Rent cars, take tours, go in the Gateway Arch, see ballgames in historic ballparks whatever floats your boat as if you were taking a vacation.

    After one year try to transition into something that allows you to have a life outside work. Either a local driving position or something totally unrelated to trucking.

    I say this because after a few years trucking becomes a trap. It's hard to escape. My health has suffered and so has my mental well being. I'm trying to figure out how to get back to having a healthy well balanced life. I have some mystery issues involving my heart. The doctors can't find anything wrong yet I've had shortness of breath and chest pains. I am not too overweight (6'3 235 ) don't smoke, don't drink, low cholesterol, eat pretty healthy, no family history of disease. I've concluded my deteriorating health is directly related to my driving profession. But what to do? How many other professions can you make $55k a year with no degree or specialized skills? At this point whatever my condition is I don't know if it is reversible. So bottom line is take advantage of seeing the country but try and limit how long you do it before you're suckered in and can't escape.
     
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  11. AZS

    AZS Honk if anything falls off

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    PHX, AZ
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    Yeah I would do it again but don't want to go back to the starting pay ever again. I knew it would be rough coming in and yeah brutal would be a better term, at least for first six months. Suppose a lot of miles would fix that but I didn't get that until just a couple months ago. This is with swift flatbed division. Now its nothing but cross country runs and 7 stoppers in-between.

    To expand on the post above mine, I've only been doing this 9 months and it is readily apparent how important diet and exercise are to a truckers, I saw a fella today that was as wide as he was tall. You can't just eat whatever you want when you're that sedentary. Sorry, tangent. lol.
     
    Last edited: Aug 20, 2011
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