Thinking about trucking for a living

Dude don't overthink it so much. Trucking is a decent career. A heck of a lot better than panhandling. lol

 

And there is more work than you can shake a stick at. Really. Compared to conventional post secondary return on investment, trucking blows that right out of the water.

$50k for a diploma and lucky to get a 40k job?

Or truck school 6 grand and make 50+ year 1. With lots in the 70-80 range.

 

@Ind0792 I have to say though, if you do choose to get into the trucking industry, there is a certain level of independence not offered anywhere else in the job market. If you work for the right company, there isn't a supervisor constantly breathing down your neck (work for the wrong company and the dispatch will spend all day micro-managing you) and you get to make a lot of decisions on your own.

It's a feeling of freedom you can't find anywhere else. And when you get "into the moment" driving down that US highway out in the prairies, with the sun setting, painting the sky in those gorgeous pastel colours, window down, warm breeze rolling through the truck, turbo whine pulling you up the next hill... there's no better feeling in the world. That 5-10 minutes a day makes the whole day worth it.

 

The aggravation is what you make it. If you are capable as being cool as a cucumber rather than fly off the handle you will be just fine.

There is work at all hours of the day as well. If traffic is what sets you off find a night run. Your productivity goes way up with no traffic or waiting in lines for fuel or border crossing etc.

 

Baltimore along Pulaski Highway once in the 30's through the 1961 year (No I-95 etc that did not exist) were a group of about 34 very good motels, hotels and so on catering say from high end Williamsburg to a basic bed around back in a cabin. That industry pretty much went away, however certain locations still remain.

The Baltimore Block downtown Eastern Ave East of the Harbor is a international meeting place, a Roman open air forum where sailors and brewery men came out to see about a night out on the town. If I remember my history right Mayor Schaffer assembled something on the order of 1600 state troopers and a few hundred supporting arms. One night in a few hours all 22 licensed businesses in the area defined as "The Block" no longer possessed any secrets.

Vice, Drugs and arrests rolled on for weeks and months after.

Trucking was pretty close to that what with the lounges and so on in the City accessible to the big trucks. But it is not the be all end all etc.

Fast forward to today there is still a little bit but generally controlled by the Cartels if they are not under a form of regulated business by license in the Block.

The one rule that they taught us was that I-75, 85 and 95 generally is STD alley. So if you were very careful with whom you spent time and fun generally by and large it is not a issue. Especially for those of you marrieds who would be very upset if you brought something home. Whoops.

What troubles me today is that as much worldly I am aware of, the younger generation is going out on a limb in some ways to engage in behavior that I do not tolerate. Im not here to bash or make trouble. But We had a good run and more than happy to let them have at it, if that is what they really like. They should be careful though. It can come back up and bite em.

 

You still have freedom out here. Way more than the poor ######## stuck in the cubicle farm in a polluted high rise.