Be honest, is trucking a good job?

Look honestly any job is what you make of it. now with that being said you won't ever be rich driving a truck ! you will get to see parts of the country you never would have all be it from behind a windshield, now there are many things that can effect your goals, so you need to do a little homework and whole lot of thinking ! You will be away from family you will be out more than a week I don't care what the recruiter promises you. You need to get a REAL physical before you start, because a DOT physical wont catch anything and had I done that the last I started I would not have spent 6 grand and years on the road away from family. you need to check your DMV record look for that speeding ticket you forgot that you got 3 years ago and don't forget the joint you got busted with when you were in high school all of this WILL come out when they do a background and you are in orientation in Nowhere New Mexico and need to get a bus ticket home. also have a little cash saved up because the first few months your gonna be BROKE ! I know this is long and I tried to make it what it is. Been there done that ! I would truly love to be back out on the road I enjoyed the people I met the places I seen and all of the Bull that comes with running an 80 thousand pound truck down the highway into Denver in the snow and Ice and landing at the bottom and saying I DID THAT ! good luck on your future I hope you can find what will truly make you happy. Now let the flaming begin !

 

I might be the most retrained driver out there due to the fact that iv jumped from job to job in this industry. So do your self a favor if trucking it the way you want to go. Find a company that is small to mid size with a long history of good standing, stock,safety,employee retention and so on. Ground level might be best, and if you had good schooling unlike me, you can move up fast. But even local trucking you can put in more hours in than some over the road jobs, you sleep eat and back to the job. If close to an airport try air fright forwarding, might be a good start. Anyway Good Luck to Ya !

 

Good way to put it. some are born to be truckers some will never make it and figures someone from a driving school talking how great they are . go figure

 

Pretty good post but I don't entirely agree . Not all newbies get the miles to run like crazy . Many get 1500 miles a week or less .Number 6 - as I have said in other posts there are far more drivers with a year or two experience looking to make a move than their are openings for them to move to .
Company solo ? The majority of OTR carriers push drivers completing training to run team or lease purchase .

 

All true. Guess a better way to put it is when you get that 2am call and a high priority meat load is running way behind you can grab it and run every last second of the clock or pass and sleep in. I had to take some pretty crappy runs starting out but it paid off in the long run. I do lease now just for the flexibility of home time but paychecks can be a nightmare. The numbers posted are based off what I made leasing and other drivers on the company side were making. We usually compared week to week to see where the money was at and up to the 6mo mark it was in my favor then after that more toward the company.

#6 is just the what next category. Far more options open with 2 years flawless driving than starting out. And those options may not be the best move but they are there. A lot of recycling of drivers going on right now with everyone bouncing around the carrier pool

edit: the good weeks will blow the company check out of the water the bad will make you want to break something. Like that piggy bank you had when you were 6 that might still have a couple quarters in it.

 

Very encouraging post , Vito . You must tell more how you've applied this attitude and the kind of decent living you're making . I'm sure newbies could benefit from hearing what you've made of it and how.

 

"Could you all be honest with me and tell me if this is a good job or not?"

It's not a job, it's a life style.
A good job pays you fairly for 8 hours a day day Mon thru Fri, with full benefits and you enjoy doing it.

OTR trucking is 11 hours a day, 6 days a week, for 4 weeks straight, at which time you "earn" 3 to 4 days "home time" per month. When not driving you're either waiting to drive or sleeping in a small bunk in a compartment behind the drivers seat. You're first year you will take home between $1500 and $2000 a month - - if you work hard and are given the miles. What's the longest time you've driven in your life in a day, 10 hours? maybe 12? How did you feel when you stopped? Now do that almost every day for 4 weeks at a time with 4 days off inbetween for 2 years, only you're pulling 53 feet.

It takes a certian character, spirit and fortitude to truck. Some love it, many hate it. It's not a normal life. It's frustrating, exciting, stressful, fun, boring, tediuos, relaxing, exhausting....

It's good that you're getting training in something besides marketing, because once you get older companies HATE old marketing guys, unless you've made it to director or VP...and those will be appointments made by executive management of the better looking guys, with cute wives and 2.5 kids. Once you hit 50 and you're old and single and set in your ways - you start looking into alternatives like buying a franchise or driving a truck...just for some adventure if anything else.

 

Typical wannabe view of following the herd to an OTR lifestyle . It doesn't have to be that way . Think outside the box. . Avoid the large carriers recruiting from CDL mills . You don't have to be away from home weeks at a time .

 

Would anyone agree that the best way to make this industry work for you is to own your own truck out right, have your own authority and have a few shippers in your pocket and play golf with a couple of brokers here and there. Plus becoming your own best mechanic and know the freight lanes inside and out. Not to mention a nice cash reserve set aside!

 

There are hotshotters that made it that way . I've seen several of them. Leave the industry in the past few years when their base customers had the number ofshipments drop off considerably due to the economy .
Another option is to start in expedite as a driver for a fleet owner then buy your own truck .