Am I Crazy?

Well then, that comment could mean more than meets the eye

 

Yes, yes you are crazy.

 

Btw, there are quite a few companies (I've heard) that have a casual driving option. I have a retired buddy that is retired from SWIFT and that's what he does. Whenever he gets the itch, he just calls up his operations manager and they put him in a truck for as long as he wants. He told me that he and his wife wanted to go visit relatives back east somewhere in the summer. They put him in a truck and loaded him there and back. Got paid to make the trip.

 

I've been suffering from "analysis paralysis" in trying to decide whether or not to get into the trucking business late in life. I've been fairly excited about the prospect of making the change, until...
We had some friends stay with us over the holidays and I learned that the cousin of one of our friends owns a small trucking outfit in Georgia. I was pretty excited to learn that little tidbit because it was a way for me to gain one more resource/point of view. I asked our friend for her cousin's contact info and made the call. Now he's 72 and looking to sell his company. To paraphrase the conversation:

- “Only an idiot would want to drive a truck these days”.
- “I have absolutely no reason to recommend truck driving as a career”.
- “The government is all over it now”.
- “They know where you are all the time” (unspecified “they”)

It was one of the most depressing conversations I've had in a long time; next to the one where I was told I'd probably be losing my current job.

 

Yes you are and welcome!

 

I think your on the right track as the teamsters pensions in my area are not long for the world, I've had the same thought of collecting my pension and getting a full time driving job and stock piling money as long as I'm healthy. Good luck!

 

Yes...as in OP is crazy, or, he has a good idea?

 

You don't sound crazy to me OP. I get that people idealize retirement... but I just spent 3 weeks with almost no work and I'm climbing the walls. My uncle retired and was dead 3 months later. I've known like 5 guys like that too.

The reality is that if you're not working what are you going to do with that time? How are you going to feel useful?

Now whether you should go be a truck driver... I don't know. That's a pretty rough line of work... But hazmat dirt sounds brutal. To you it might seem easy?

 

Unfortunately he is correct.