As I start to write this comment it is 25 till 9 AM on the east coast. I just got off the phone with a driver I know who has driven for Schneider for close to 30 years. He is sitting at a Truck Stop waiting to hear back from the company. Another company driver seems to have peeved off a dock manager and got asked to leave the property. This guy drove up soon afterward and was cussed out by this guy. There are few OTR drivers that have not been disrespected by someone at a dock. My friend is giving serious thought to retiring. He is almost 70 now. If he retires that company will have lost a driver with many millions of safe miles over a career spanning almost 5 full decades. In today's environment, he can't be replaced.
Miscalculated + farewell
Discussion in 'Questions From New Drivers' started by Doggod, Jul 13, 2022.
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kylefitzy, bryan21384, Another Canadian driver and 4 others Thank this.
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As for your friend, and I don't mean to be rude, but a 70 year old has no business in a truck these days. I'm sorry, some guys say "oh I love to still drive", when in reality, they either HAVE to drive, or don't know what to do once retired, and die in 6 months. 30 years with Pumpkin, got to have some retirement built up, no? With SS, you can do okay, just no new pickup trucks. I LOVE my retirement, and it gets easier on the 3rd of every month,,,
If it's any consolation, pretty clear the company will probably hire 3 UNqualified drivers to replace your friend, and just put up with whatever happens. Nice huh?Another Canadian driver and LtlAnonymous Thank this. -
Fare thee well, OP. I bid thee adieu...lol
Another Canadian driver and LtlAnonymous Thank this. -
201, bryan21384, Another Canadian driver and 3 others Thank this.
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I don't drive full time but I drive enough to keep abreast of what's going on. I have several retirees from this company that still come back and drive when I need them. One of them just left with a logging truck, he's 80 and he was like a little kid on Christmas Eve...goin' truckin' for a couple of days.
So...if you at your age don't feel like you should be driving, that's okay. A man should know when it's time to quit and when he's incapable of doing a decent job anymore.
But keep your halfass broad stroke blanket judgements about us older drivers to yourself. Nobody is paying attention to them anyway.The Big T, Magoo1968, Crusader66 and 12 others Thank this. -
he offered me a new Penske lease truck, my choice of stick or auto.
i just could not go on anymore myself.
actually, about 3 years after i retired..??
the company sold out that division (dedicated customer/freight) and just went into logistics.
i didn't think trucking was going to work out for me, but with a family, and a student loan on my shoulders, i sucked up a lot of bull hockey, and did my best.
it is a better idea for someone to get out early if they can, rather than to be miserable every day.bryan21384, Dennixx, Another Canadian driver and 2 others Thank this. -
@buddyd157 in my case I was slowly becoming medically unfit to drive. I remember speaking to one of the Vice Presidents of my company in the terminal break room. I was almost crying I was that depressed. I wanted to stay in trucking and at the time thought I could still drive. I was offered a job in safety and was excited to make that change. In late 2012 a few days before Christmas I had an EEG done. Then the neurologist laid it out for me. I still wanted to do something, so I moved to Virginia and was still planning to work in safety. That ended in disaster, I had a tonic clinic seizure that cost me my CDL as well as ALL my driving privileges.
Sirscrapntruckalot, bryan21384, Another Canadian driver and 3 others Thank this. -
Crusader66, bryan21384, Another Canadian driver and 5 others Thank this.
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Heck, I recently hired a 78 year old as a part-time driver. Some drivers retire and then figure out quickly that they can't just sit on the couch. 3 days a week is just about right for him.Crusader66, bryan21384, Another Canadian driver and 4 others Thank this. -
I do think a driver much over the age of 65 has more productive days behind them than ahead. By 70 a driver should have some kind of exit plan in place. Here is why I say that. First I said exit plan, not setting a date to leave. As a driver, I could tell my body reacted differently at 50 than it did at 30. After I got to around my mid-40s I had to watch how I pulled myself up to get inside my truck. There were many times I went to bed with some kind of pain cream on my arms after pulling a muscle. I was 54 when I retired. Had I not been forced to retire I most likely would have continued driving for at least another 12 to 15 years. It just comes down to the rigors of the job. If you can handle it all power to you. If you can't you need to hang up the keys.
bryan21384, Another Canadian driver, Boondock and 1 other person Thank this.
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