The truth about trucking....

You want the truth? Well the truth is that trucking isn't for everyone. Some people can hack it and others cant. Some people can hack it for a little while and get burned out. The more of them that leave the industry the more work there will be for those of us that can hack it. I'm happy to see them go.

 

I am not nor have I ever claimed to be a super trucker. After 25 years of driving a truck you get tired of the "Special snowflakes". About every six months or so some person titles a thread "The Truth about Trucking" and they proclaim the trials and tribulations like long nights away from family and friends, not being home for holidays or little Suzie's dance recital like it is some grand revelation. I have seen enough "I want to start at 9 Monday morning and go home at 5 Friday afternoon and still get 3,000 miles a week" drivers come and go. Trucking has always been and probably will always be a tough job. Technology has made some aspects easier, but it still is basically driving from A to B. Then you have the guys who "Cant wait to leave trucking to go onto bigger and better things" who still hang around on forums yapping about their "Experience". You also have the never weres who washed out of the industry, but they always claim it was the evil companies fault, or family problems at home which caused them to leave. They bounce from job to job with their bad attitude leaving at the first snafu then wonder why no one will hire them. I wonder what the next thread will be titled "The Real Truth about Trucking", "The Absolute Real Truth about Trucking" or "Things the Trucking Industry Doesn't Want You to Know"

 

A lot of this happens because drivers won't stand up for themselves and these companies know that they won't.
It's one of the largest reasons our industry is so far in to the toliet.

 

Until 8 years ago I was a home every night local driver driving a logging truck. I had no OTR experience. NONE. I caught on with an oversize specialized company who looked past my lack of experience in their field and gave me a shot because of my attitude. I wanted to learn, I had no problem asking questions, and I had no problem taking advice given to me. I started out as the last guy hired and in less than three years I was at the top of the list in earnings. No one is going to GIVE you anything in this business, you have to earn it. It doesn't matter if you ran 4,000 miles last week, that was last week. There is money to be made if you expand your horizons. One of my old coworkers is now the terminal manager where I used to work and he goes to job fairs at truck driving schools. The number one thing he hears is "I really don't want to work that hard". I don't get it.

 

You would have been successful if you hadn't leased.

 

I see and hear that all the time too. You really see it on open decks where the driver does not have nearly enough securement on it. I am 48 and the sad thing is that many of those "drivers" are my generation too.

 

This is so true. I am constantly amazed at how many Drivers take Management's side against themselves. Many of them are on this forum.

They are the ones who love to say things like, "Well if you have a problem with something your boss does, maybe you should look for another job." Or, "It's your bosses company; he can do as he pleases," or some such nonsense, when someone is getting abused by the company they work for. It's crap.

I suppose this happens in all lines of work but since I have gotten into the trucking industry, I have never met so many people who have this seemingly Randian-type philosophy towards their career and workplace. It's kinda scary when you think about it.

 

I understand your point, but some people really don't want to work that much. I certainly don't. When I was young maybe, but now? Life is too short to spend it constantly running back and forth, North and South, East and West.

If I wanted to eat, breathe, and sleep trucking I would invest in my own tractor and trailer. I don't so I won't. This job is nothing more than a means to an end for me.

If running 24/7 is how you define yourself that's fine and there's nothing wrong with that I suppose. But don't hold me to that standard. I have other interests and I intend to follow them.