Advice? Don't become a trucker.

I guess the point that I want to make is this. I was hearing the very same things when I started researching becoming a driver.
If I had listened then I would still be on unemployment.
If I can be successful, then others can to. This gives a person hope.
And just because they do not make the correct first decision, that does not mean that they can not push on until they find the correct spot for them.
I would rather encourage people to go for it and keep on trying instead of trying to shoot them down before they ever even try.
Where would we be if the pioneers would have listened to all of the nay sayers?

 

Good point & remember my dad and his friends stayed with a company for 30 years, got the pension & watch & relatively happy. No Loyalty either way now. What happened? You are correct (to me).

I remember when I first started the layoffs started?? The company (large company) stated the marginal performers would be let go. HAH, I saw that the smart older people that taught me & where 20 times smarter where let go??? HAH & made me want to vomit. The people that are left over which I usually was worked 3 X as hard, more hours as the work did not go away with same pay & no OT.

Large group of 300 engineers made up of 10 teams (the so-called Team Building concept==what a joke==it was separate empires!!). We had the option to change teams (lose your boss) and average loss of a team was a headcount of 1.25 people.

All 10 of our people wanted to transfer. I was actually ranked number 3 of 80 technical people & the VP called me in & said I can let your entire team transfer out as other new people will join but I can not afford to have you leave the team as it would be detrimental to the organization as you are one of our top performers.

Does not pay to be top performer. All 9 of the other teams wanted me but I had to stay, so I resigned from the company!! HAH. Then they call and said to come back & I can go to whatever team. Stayed independent ever since. NO PERM EMPLOYEE == No such thing either way. Day at a time.

What great posts here from the Real Truckers different skill set but similar issues. Hard workers (and smart) the Truckers are & they taught me hard work during the summers trying to save for college; got to be a journeyman & drive the trucks (IH & Mack) & they made fun of us college kids.

Have been successful because of them and the truckers that provide input on this forum. They taught me to work hard and smart!! This forum is helping me to make a decision and in no rush as I see more each time I read the posts about options.:smt026

 

That's right, keep pursuing your direction. My uncle who was a successful businessman, gave me a speech the night I graduated high school.

He said the world is run by 3 types of people (1) The do'ers (2) The doubters (3) The dickheads. The do'ers build the product, the doubters say it can't be built and the dickheads buy the built product at market. It's kind of a crude example of simple economics, but it gets the point across. In order to enhance my marketability I can't internlize all the negativity out there, I have to plan on being a solid professional with a reputation that I will guard like Fort Knox. I am also a realist, I don't expect the big money or the nice jobs to come to me, especially in this, the Obama economy. I will have to look for those opportunities and capitalize on those myself as I gain experience and freight picks up. All things are possible.

 

Maximum Texas, You've got your head on straight. You're gonna do fine.

 

Folks I thought I might add my $.01. I'm retired now from trucking and living in Italy. We just had a planning session for our next trips to see this part of the world. We are trying to see if we want to go on another cruise or go up in the Alps for Xmas. Now I know this isn't a normal retirement but working alot of years in trucking and watching my $$ has gotten us to this point. My wife's retirement from teaching doesn't hurt either. To you young folks just starting out I want to say this. Trucking is hard, always was and always will be,but if you stick to it and work smart and hard you can make a good life. Good luck to you all, and yes there is such a thing as luck.

 

I truly respect the truckers like you who have been out there for decades, sometimes longer than alot of trucking companies. My hat is off!

I too believe in luck, but I don't see luck as some sort of external magical force for good.

To me, defining luck is simply when "skill meets opportunity" as echoed by many wise people on them there internets.

 

En I've been out there for decades. I was just now thinking of the dishonesty I've encountered. Everything from chiseling you on your unloading pay, to the one that is my pet peeve: Falsification of the logbook as a condition of employment. EVERY SINGLE company that I worked for did it to me. Navajo, Swift, PST Vans, Averitt.. ALL of 'em did it.

You say you run 3500 a week and keep a legal log and I'll call you a liar. It's the old "Odometer Log". At 56 years old I have had it, and can't keep up with it no more. Especially with the CSA or whatever it is, gonna hammer the driver. Man- they hammer the driver already.. I guess they are gonna whop up on us some more now. You can't hardly run 3000 a week and log it legal, unless you are on rail course with no one else on the road, no construction, no weather, no obstacles at all.

Sick of loads that will barely scale, or can't scale, and running around all day then hammering all night. Produce is especially bad. But some of the customers out there, act like their load of toilet paper is going to be the salvation of the world if it's on time.

However, it used to be worse than it is today..and I mean FAR worse. But I'm far older. I started out at .19 a mile, hungry for that money, and boy I'd just do anything. God must have looked out for me, not to mention the people that shared the highway with me.

I had a hernia get bad on me at my last job, now I've got another one. The last one, Averitt, paid good, but they were the coldest blooded, most slave drivin' outfit I worked for. It was run by these corporate types with computers. Their promises vaporized, just like every company I worked for did.

After that first operation, I don't want to go through it again. "Oh we run legal logs".. "safety is number 1".. yeah RIGHT. MONEY is #1.

 

I see you're an old hand at this boss. Give it a couple of years. The industry turnover is 200%, or at least it was. Some companies like PST vans was 700%. Drive a year, for 2 to 3 weeks at a time, with just enough time off for a reset, and you will comprehend what an old geezer like me is talking about.

Week after week, this job will grind you down. I actually LIKE it when freight is slow. I do not WANT to run 3500, or even 3000 miles a week. That home time is important. There is a reason why these companies are always hiring, even in these times.

The life expectancy of a truck driver is age 61. Many of the drivers at the local company I worked for for 5 years are dead, or seriously injured. Old Woolsey the Owner Operator had a heart attack. Pat, the guy that left to run the road (like a fool) had a old injury crop up and lost his eyesight in one eye.

I done much of the work out here. Flats, reefers, doubles (started out with doubles). Everything but Tanker trucks. Drove a garbage truck for a while.. that sucked pretty bad.

 

That's ok carroll6, I have no home. The interstate is my home. Heart attack? I'll carry a portable defribillator and zap myself. Life expenctancy 61? Good, then I'll buy a Porsche when I'm 59 and enjoy my remaining time driving to the IHOP for breakfast.

I respect your opinion, but I have 2 kids to get through college and a current business that's in the tank until the economy recovers. Both my father and grandfather were truckers and yes much of it does suck if you aren't mentally prepared. Will it "grind me down"? probably. Will I get pissed? Definitely....but hey....that's trucking....I expected it anyway.

 

A fine reason not to drive for a large company.

And you'll be wrong!

I do it...But I'm not driving some 62 MPH fleet dog.

I'm 55...and I'll keep doing this until I physicaly can't do it anymore and that won't be anytime soon because I'm in very good shape!

Money is number "1"...But part of what I get the money for is running safe, legal and consistent.

Yes it will....If YOU let it!

I'll take the freight that you don't want to haul....

Oh no! 6 years to live...I'd better haul ###!

Oh the humanity!




Trucking sucks for some and not for others!

But then...Life sucks for some and not for others!

YOU make it what it is.