Does it get better?

Discussion in 'Questions From New Drivers' started by Canadianhauler21, Feb 27, 2021.

  1. Canadianhauler21

    Canadianhauler21 Heavy Load Member

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    I'm coming up to about 2 years of driving next month. I'm starting to rethink my industry choice.

    Lately I have been dealing with such bad drivers (trucks and cars) and crap from shippers and receivers.... Most other truckers treat each other like garbage, no common courtesy at all on the roads. Shippers and receivers look at us like we are sub human.

    I work for a small 25 truck fleet and they treat me well. But I'm wondering if it ever gets better?

    It's just work 6 days a week, come home for 36 hours reset and back to work. I'm starting to get bored of the same routine. I have left the industry before but have been sucked back into the black hole that is the trucking industry.

    Any of y'all have any advice or tips for me?

    Thanks eh?
     
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  3. GreenPete359

    GreenPete359 Road Train Member

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    Get away from them boxes. Go run flatbeds or tank wagons. Think of something that you find interesting & go try it.

    Dragging a box behind you is no life worth living. Once you loose that you’ll find customers treat you a lot better, you’ll find better co-workers, and more challenging & exciting work.
     
  4. uncleal13

    uncleal13 Road Train Member

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    That’s part of reason I like hauling grain. Trucking is trucking. But at least the farmers like to chat, friendly, appreciate what I’m doing for them. And occasionally they invite me in for a meal.
    Plus I’m home every weekend, and sometimes during the week
     
  5. Rubber duck kw

    Rubber duck kw Road Train Member

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    I don't know if you've noticed, but that's any job really. They all get monotonous and irritating. Hell some days, or even weeks, you'll think you'd have been better off staying in bed or drinking.
     
  6. Western flyer

    Western flyer Road Train Member

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    Oh please,stop it.
    As if he's gonna get treated any better because he's
    Pulling a flatbed or tanker.
    Like anybody cares.
    We're all just truck drivers to everybody else.

    He's still gonna work 6 days a week and
    Be pissed off about it.
     
  7. olddog_newtricks

    olddog_newtricks Medium Load Member

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    You may be better off finding something that gets you home every night. It's still repetitive but more home time might make all the difference.
     
  8. Northern Nomad

    Northern Nomad Light Load Member

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    What he said. Get away from vans and get into something specialized like tanks or flatbed. You do usually get treated better by both your peers and your customers. I got my CDL in 2000, ran hard OTR for about 5 years pulling reefer and dry van and got burned out. Gave it up for a while and then got back in the game pulling liquid bulk and dry bulk tank. Been doing it for several years now, and plan on several more. There are good trucking companies out there, there just aren’t many.
     
  9. Western flyer

    Western flyer Road Train Member

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    You didn't get sucked back into trucking.
    You couldn't find a job that paid anything close
    To what you made driving.
    So you came back.
    Join the club,that's why we're all out here.

    None of us would put up with all the rules and
    Regulations and bullcrap,if we could get the
    Same money at a regular job, and be home
    Every night.

    No advice is gonna help you.
    Either buy your own truck where you have
    Total control of your schedule or find a job
    That fits your schedule.
    That's pretty much your choices.
     
  10. Dave_in_AZ

    Dave_in_AZ Road Train Member

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    I was so bored with doing concrete, I was falling asleep in the truck waiting for my turn to pour out on larger pours.

    Talk about being treated like a sub human.

    I did more local for a few years after that doing this one companies deliveries, then did produce deliveries for Schneider.

    Some people were cool, some were total #### heads. But whatever their problems in life are, they are their problems, not mine.

    There were two women that abhorred me. Pink stuff everywhere. One even had pink ink pen. They would both kill me several times in some sadistic fashion as I walked up to their window.

    The game I started playing with myself was to befriend them. Which is an impossible task. But it keeps your mind in the game, and I'd always walk away laughing.
     
  11. NorthEastTrucker

    NorthEastTrucker Medium Load Member

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    At the End of the Day 'Work is Work' and like some said its going to be 'Monotonous & Tedious' no matter what so its good to start gettting to use to it if you can. I've been driving for over 25 years now and in the beginning is where I got most of my experience from hauling Vans, Refers, Flatbed, Tailgate etc. I changed jobs almost every year. As I got older I decided to buckle down & researched the higher paying jobs with job security. LTL & P&D jobs locally interested me as well as unionized ones. However, one thing that Only got worse is the four wheeler drivers and other Truckers on the road along with Shipper/Receiver attitiudes but that is a society thing bound to get worse because people simply have become selfish, pretentious and self absorbed along with the rapid population growth. I recently transferred to another depot for a OTR Regional route so I will see how that goes. Change in Trucking is good for the mind, body and soul or I find things become dull and makes you feel stagnant within your well being as a driver and person.
     
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