Drivers Still Unhappy With Their Jobs - Page 3 - Truckers' Trucking Forum

truckerdave1970 · **^ Top** #21 08.13.2009

several other posts explained my reaseons for still driving truck alot better than I could. but here goes:
1. It used to be more fun than it is now.
2. I used to make alot more $.
3. Drivers used to have more respect for others and themselves.
4. I used to get home more often.

Ducks · **^ Top** #22 08.13.2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by brsims

Why? Wish I could give you a simple answer. I've tried to leave driving behind, due to family pressure (they think I'm too good to be a truck driver, I'm afraid I'm not good enough), or a company finally pushing me just too far. I go to college (snore), get a job, do all the normal things. But within a month at the longest, I just get these itchy feet. What they say is true. Love it or hate it, the road gets to you. It's a love, a need, an addiction every bit as debilitating as some drugs to some of us. We are the nation's Gypsies, we need to keep moving. We may hate the abuses we put up with everyday from the companies, shippers, recievers, and everybody else, we may hate what driving does to our families, and we may hate the constant stress of driving day in and day out. But I'm willing to bet there are quite a few drivers on this forum who still wake up the next day, sit down behind the wheel of that big-azzed truck, and find a smile on their faces. And maybe even a little kids voice going off in their heads saying "Oh boy, oh boy, I get to drive a BIG TRUCK!" You really gotta love what you do to make it in trucking. No ifs, ands, or buts. If you don't feel something similar to this, chances are you're probably not gonna stick with it. No shame for this. Some people are born truck drivers, some (like me) discover the joy of driving, and some just aren't drivers. Like I said, ya gotta love it.

Thanks for your honest answer, brsims. I think that's the reason for most -- it gets in your blood and ya' just have to do it. And some place, amidst all the junk of the profession, there is satisfaction and pleasure. In my book, the drivers who have found that are the true truckers.

Ducks · **^ Top** #23 08.13.2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by FriedTater

Trying to explain "why" to a sidewalk sissy that hasnt sat in the seat for over 20 years would never properly relate.
Truckin has always been "Feast or Famine" good months/years and bad months/years,again without living thru it . . . . . .

Quote:

Originally Posted by stranger

I only do it part time these days. And I can tell you this, it sure ain't what it used to be out here. At one time it was fun. I still enjoy driving to a large extent, but that still doesn't make the statement any less true about the overall truckers life.

Most long time OTR drivers have had more than one marriage fall apart directly related to trucking. Drivers don't generally live as long as non-drivers. Shippers and receivers at some places think they are a god. Many trucking companies will not let you idle to stay warm or cool. Truckstops are not what they used to be. Fast food is the norm.

These days it's not unusual for a driver to be out months at a time, with a few days off. This would never happen 30 years ago, unless a driver just wanted to do it. You live in a truck cab, fighting traffic all day and night. You are looked at as a source of revenue for every state and town. You do not get to see your family much.

I'm only out 4 1/2 days on average, but I have to team. When I run solo I make about 3 CPM less than I did in 1989, with no benefits, except if I work, I get paid.

Sounds great, doesn't it.

I understand your complaints about the job. All of us, regardless of our jobs or careers, experience things that make us unhappy... and I certainly don't argue any of your issues with trucking. It's an entirely different way of life. My question was simply why you would choose a career that carries such a heavy pricetag?

My personal opinion is that brsims hit the nail on the head.

Ducks · **^ Top** #24 08.13.2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by truckerdave1970

several other posts explained my reaseons for still driving truck alot better than I could. but here goes:
1. It used to be more fun than it is now.
2. I used to make alot more $.
3. Drivers used to have more respect for others and themselves.
4. I used to get home more often.

Do you stay with it hoping it will get better again?

Please understand, guys/gals, I'm really not attempting to be a smartazz here. I'm trying to understand why people will cling so hard to a career that makes life so miserable for them. Is it something that gets in your blood (as brsims said, and which I personally think is true for most)? Is it the desire to pit yourself against the adversity with the determination to conquer it? Is it the satisfaction of having your own "workspace" away from ###-kissing and office politics?

Somethings keeps you there, keeps you fighting, and I'm curious what some of the reasons may be.

stranger · **^ Top** #25 08.13.2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ducks

I understand your complaints about the job. All of us, regardless of our jobs or careers, experience things that make us unhappy... and I certainly don't argue any of your issues with trucking. It's an entirely different way of life. My question was simply why you would choose a career that carries such a heavy pricetag?

My personal opinion is that brsims hit the nail on the head.

I wanted to drive a truck for as long as I can remeber. My dad drove a 10 wheeler local, and I couldn't wait to get to go with him. I would get maps, and ride my bicycle all over the area pretending I was trucking around the country.

Where other boys would take off running across a field making engine and tire squealing noises, I would make noises like a truck starting off changing gears. I could hear the interstate that was several miles from my house. There wern't very many trucks on the road in those days. In the summer(we didn't have a/c) I would listen to the trucks change gears and pretend it was me.

I watched every move my dad made. He would let me move the trucks around as soon as I could reach the pedals. The first time he let me drive on a dirt road, I hit every gear perfectly in the old IH, with a 250 Cummins and a 10 speed. At 16 I started driving a school bus, at 18 I got my Chauffer's license, and spent the next year begging for a driving job. I got one driving a 6 wheeler. Soon I moved up to a full 18 wheeler, and within one year of starting driving I had my own truck, the one in my avitar.

I have had many jobs and trucks since. I have quit, and came back. I have ran my own businesses, and did well, but always came back to trucking. It is a love hate situation for me.

stranger · **^ Top** #26 08.13.2009

Here is a copy of a post I made in Feb. 2007. It sums me up pretty well.

Quote:

I started in the mid 70's. Trucking wasn't as bad back then. Traffic was MUCH less, DOT didn't bother you much, a driver was treated with more respect, and I was home every weekend and once during the week, and still ran 2600+ miles per week.

I saw lots of scenery I would not have seen otherwise. I met quite a few interesting people, and had fun. I learned a lot about life. I was proud of my job and my truck.

I have left trucking several times in order to persue other interest, some jobs working for others, and I also have owned a few businesses not related to OTR trucking.

When ever I needed extra money I would run loads for local companies, or get back in full time trucking if needed. Trucking has keep a roof over my head in bad financial times.

The down side is I lost two marriages due to my being gone. I now have several health problems due to the trucking lifestyle. I don't have the money I would have had if I had either picked out a good LTL and stayed there, or went to college and picked a profession I liked.

My trouble was I wanted to drive a truck ever since I could make an engine sound with my mouth. I used to get maps of the US and ride my bike pretending I was driving over the roads making stops. I drew pictures of trucks during school. I made pretend gear shifters and played driving when it was too wet or cold to go outside. I cried for toy trucks at the store. I had it in my blood.

My dad ran local, and when he came by the house for lunch I would cry to go with him. I used to sit beside him and change the gears when I was 10. I would move the trucks for him. The first time he let me drive on a dirt road with me alone in the drivers seat I was 13. I changed every gear in the 10 speed perfectly. I had watched him do it so much I felt like it was second nature.

After I came off the road I would hear or smell a truck and have a longing to be in it. Certain times of the day, or a type of feeling in the air would remind me of places I had been.

I would forget all of the hard times I had out there, and go back like a moth attracted to a flame, only to be shaken to reality after I had been out a while.

I have a love/ hate relationship with trucking. Many times I wish I had never set down in the first truck, other times I threaten to tear up my CDLs.

If I had to be OTR today knowing what it was like when I started, I would not do it. My last long haul was Oct. 2002. I sold my truck in Feb. 2004. From what I read on here and other forums and drivers I talk to, and from what I see every day, I would not go on the road again unless necessary to survive. I have been driving a tanker four days a week, 10 hours in the evening and night, since I sold my truck, and I want out of it. It is a very easy job, but I still want out. I am burnt out.

I was just offered a great OTR job that would have me home every Friday, Saturday, most of Sunday, and one night during the week, with great pay and benefits. It's a local company that I know the owners of, pulling their materials out, and come home empty. I turned it down.

I know this is a long, rambling post, not entirely on topic, but there is more to the answer than just yes or no.

I guess I should say that trucking is very dangerous, and it will make you old before your time. You deal with much stress, you are seldom home for emergencies and family affairs, and all for not that much pay with all things considered.

If this is what you think you want, go for it.

My avitar is the first truck I bought in 1976 at the age of 19. A 1966 White, 250 HP, 10 spd. I rented a trailer and went wildcatting. I had been driving local for about a year before I bought it and went on the road. Talk about green. I had never been more than 250 miles away from home, and never out of state in a truck when I left with my 13 year old brother in law on that first mile trip that consisted of 4 loads, 13 states, 5000 miles, and 14 days. (click on the picture for a better view)

I have since went back OTR from NC to Ca and back this year. The draw of the flame continues.

danelady · **^ Top** #27 08.13.2009

I am certain that if I had to stay in one place and work in one place and sleep in one place every single day...I would be pumping lot and lots of money into the drug companies coffers...just like so many other people do nowadays. How many people go home everyday and and have family and friends and relationships...but they got scripts for EVERYTHING under the sun to wake them up or to get it up,and then to knock them out! And what does that cost a year? Nah, I'm probably ADD and have OCD and the only thing that keeps the demons at bay is white line fever. Truckin' is my drug of choice.

Ducks · **^ Top** #28 08.13.2009

Thanks, stranger, for sharing your story. I appreciate you taking the time to research your earlier post as well, and I find it confirms what I think is true for most truckers. It just gets in your blood.

Living in the east and having an older brother on the west coast, my family spend several summers driving cross-country to visit when I was young. Early in our travels we pulled a 17' travel trailer, but as years went on, we made our trips in a pick-up truck with a 30" cap on it. Figured we could access more without hauling the trailer behind us... and being "country folks", we knew how to travel light.

My mother could cook one heck of a meal on a little Coleman propane stove, and we fed more than a few truckers during our travels. As we'd share our meals, I'd listen to these men talk about their lives, and I found it absolutely intriguing. By my mid- to late-teens, I decided I wanted to be a long-haul truck driver.

Unfortunately, that wasn't typically a woman's career back then... and although I have plenty of rebel blood in me, I also realized that spending my life on the road wasn't compatible with raising a family. So I entered the workforce in an office environment, got married, stayed home with my children 'til they started school, and then returned to the workforce as a bean-counter.

I love my job and find that it suits my personality pretty well... and I'm not unhappy with my life. But I have to admit that I still have that niggling little desire to get behind the wheel of a big truck just for the experience. For me, it's a heart vs. head deal -- my heart would love to try it, but my head (and pocketbook) tells me I can't be spending money on something that would be -- in all reality -- no more than a whim for me. While I could handle the lifestyle, I have my doubts that I could handle a big truck in some of the situations in which I see some of these drivers.

So I live somewhat vicariously through the folks on this board. I enjoy reading... learning... and feeling the camaraderie among the drivers here. It's so different than my own life.

And when I post an occasional question, I appreciate those who tolerate my ignorance of the profession and provide an honest answer. It might seem really basic to you folks, but I'm sufficiently removed from it that I find it interesting.

Thanks again, stranger... and all who answered my post. I still find it fascinating.

danelady · **^ Top** #29 08.13.2009

What great memories to have of your family and those exciting trips. I'm your age so I know EXACTLY what you're talking about when it comes to what women did and did not do. I grew up in the Italian section of Newark,NJ.
We were't even supposed to break a sweat,haha. I too,was the rebel on my stoop...ya hafta be from back there ta know what 'stoop' is,right? I got married too,and divorced. My kid is now 22 and I got my cdl just as he was about to graduate from high school. He's grown and I'm FREEEE!
The last time I saw my x I made sure to tell him how happy I am now,all thanks to him trading me in for a newer younger version.

Ducks · **^ Top** #30 08.13.2009

A fellow "stoop'er"!

It was certainly different then. I elected to take architectural drawing in my senior year of high school, but was denied because I was a GIRL. Girls weren't allowed to take architectural drawing... or shop... or any of those "boy" subjects.

We had to take home ec... and learn how to put sleeves in dresses. I did well in cooking, but lordy I hated sewing.

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