Being new to the industry you will have to take my opinions with a grain of salt and an admitted lack of experience, but since I like to share.....


I dont care if you drive a truck, repair jet engines, platic surgeon for Paris hilton herself, or flip burgers at Mickey-D's your job and success will be a DIRECT reflection of your attitude and pride in what you do. If you dont like trucking, you will fail, plan and simple. Same with that burger, imagine getting a half cooked burger at a fast food joint?

Research what you are getting in to, prepare for the challenges you face. And approach your new career with excitment, commitment and sincerity. That my friends again applies to any career you choose. But trucking is a special kind of work, and it takes a special kind of mindset to make it. As anyone will tell you, it isnt for everyone. But others wouldnt trade a second of their time for anything in the world.

I think the first lesson to take is no matter what a recruiter tells you, just nod your head and smile cause we all know 90% of them are full of it. Ever talk to a Army recruiter? My best friend just upped, he was promised a $100,000 sign on AND choice of any job he wanted...and he actually believed that lie!!!! Of course he did get close to be fair. He got a $000,000.00 bonus and got choice of Infantry, Infantry or Infantry. Trucking recruiters will fill you full of wild pipe dreams like that too. But remember something all our moms used to say, "if it sounds too good to be true it probably is"

Year 1 reality (or at least what I expect to find). Lower pay. Less miles. Dispatch that you havent earned the trust of yet so is less likely to work with you. You will not be a top priority when it comes time to schedule you home. You will get there, but you likely wont be there when you thought you might. A lot of nice places to see. A ton of things to learn. Lots of new friendships. Intersting people all over the place to meet. Earn enough to survive, while putting in that invaluable first year! Equipment issues (lets be honest how many fresh from school get top notch equipment). Challenges to face from shipping/recieving depts. However with any real challenge is an opportunity to establish a better line of communication and with any luck a healthy mutual respect.

I guess I will leave it at that. That first year can suck or can be a lot of fun. It's all about reality and which one we choose to expect. The recruiters version, or common sense version.

Very strange...how did this thread get pulled to the top when the last response was 08.01.2007? The only thing I can think of is someone must have voted on a 5 month old poll.

When I began trucking the money sucked, but if you work for a decent company you can make more...Lifestyle?...I had to change my lifestyle completely.....alot of adjusting, like sleeping in the daytime, indoor plumbing, etc.

I love my job and hope to drive until I get too old....I would recommend trucking to true sincere people....trucking is not for everyone...

__________________

"Once in every life....someone comes along and I was so in Love...it was almost like a song..."

I love the Truckers Report...my favorite place to be...

Mike makes a minimum of over $15 an hour with this new company. It seems the local jobs pay really well. OTR pays well, too, but you MUST live out of your truck and be away from home A LOT. Now, if you find a good company that pays you to sit while unloading/loading, you have it made. Most do not, though, unfortunately, so your "hourly wage" goes way down if you work it out that way.

$800 a week is a slow week with lots of bad weather.

There's darn good money to be made out there, just like several have said, you have to spend the time to FIND one of those jobs. I took a belly dump job here in AZ 2 and a half years ago - hauling dirt from one portion of a freeway that was being built to another. The company's contract wasn't going to be renewed, so they invited me to drive one of the belly dumps up to Seattle - the state this company is based out of - and then to work for them up there. The pay was $35 per hour plus overtime plus $7 per hour on top of that dumped into a retirement account. Do the math. I was taking unbelievable amounts of money home every week.
I didn't stay - I'm not from Washington, have no friends or family there, and simply didn't want to abandon my teenaged son here in AZ.
The point is simply that there are companies willing to pay, but you have to spend the time and energy that it takes to FIND them. I'm currently at a postion making less money than I was at the belly dump job, but the benefits - I don't know any other companies giving 28 paid days off per year.

I THINK THAT THE GUY THAT STARTED THIS SHOULD HAVE NEVER LEFT THE WOMB

I make 350.00 a week driving a concrete truck. 7 or 800 dollars a week would greatly improve me and my families financial position. Me and my wife have been talking about it for a year now and were ready for a change. I have loved trucks since I was a kid and the thought of being behind the wheel makes my stomach turn with excitement, and the thought of keeping America moving is something to be proud of. Thank God for truck drivers. Thats kinda the way I look at it.