Does anyone still enjoy being a trucker?

#### right, the money for OTR caps out at a certain point, after some time it's not even worth it. I do regional and I'm home almost everyday but even that I sleep and head out again. $1500-2000 a week to have no life.

Trying to find a good local gig within the GTA. Trying for Martin bower. All these OTR companies are the same nonsense.

 

Yep, OTR only pays better, because you work 100hours a week. If you worked any job 100hrs a week, it would pay more (and prob better than OTR).

Martin Brower/UPS are worth the wait.

 

I would recommend people to start getting into the trades. Ontario is making it much easier to get into the trades with many incetives.

 

You gotta find the right niche for you.

Sometimes it takes working several different types of hauling to find what you like.

I know some people that love being gone for weeks or months at a time, and would hate being home every day.
And I know people that are just the opposite and you can be both and different times.

When I was younger I didn’t mine being gone all the time .
When I got ready to start a family I wanted to be home every night

some people like vans, some people even like reefer madness, some people like doing flatbeds , some like tankers, some like oversize loads. Etc .

I know a young guy that foundered around trying different trades like hvac and welding and after he got laid off welding , he went back to the vo tech school for their CDL class and got recruited by a heavy haul oversize company.
He absolutely loves it,
All the routing and maps and curfews and permits.
You think the US is one country , but if you start doing oversize , you figure out fast that each state is basically it’s own little country and has its own rules for everything that are very different from the adjoining state.
One state you have to be off the road 30 minutes before sunset , another state is 30 minutes after sunset. Another state you can run all night, and every big city has a curfew.
Or not, and sometimes the curfew is different on the same road.
the beltway around Cincinnati doesn’t have a curfew except for the 1.3 mile section that’s in Indiana, they do have a curfew.

and you might make the same trip with the same oversize overweight cargo every week, and your permitted route is different every time based on road construction.

or you are on your permitted route and the road is under construction and you realize you can’t fit , and have to pull over (or sometimes stop in the road) and call the state and get a permit to go a different route.

All that would drive me nuts but I know a guy that loves the challenge.
I think dragging a dry van around would be super boring to him.

 

These available as O/Os positions?

 

Most are yes, COOP for example, is all O/O power units. UPS/FedEx have line haul Contractors. Sysco has tons of contractors. Just gotta ask around, and not rely on BS like indeed.

 

No matter how crap this industry is, there are still some really good moments.

Today I was driving down I-75 with the sun going down, the sky was red, the sunset looked beautiful. Running with the windows down and music up with the diesel engine humming, gives me some kind of super internal peace.

Days like this is what keeps me in the industry. For all the crap that goes on there are still some good moments.

 

Yea man, the trucking itself is amazing! Its the companies/shippers/receivers/4 wheelers and steering wheel holders that ruin it.

That being said, when you don't have to pickup and deliver, #### me is life ever good!

The city guys in WPG, staged both of my trailers for me in the yard, and asked if I needed any help hooking up. I said "naw, you guys dealt with the ######## to pick this stuff up, I got this" we all had a chuckle. I built the set and rolled out. Like you said, sun going down, cruising, tunes, diesel sounds, just amazing.

One thing I really like about pikes, if the 4 wheelers seem extra scared/don't want to mess with you. Also I'm so big and slow, they have no choice but to flow around and piss off. Its also pretty hard for them to get upset you're on the road, cause you're basically a "Road Train" to them. I'm really enjoying myself, I could see doing this 20 years easy. Also, the parking situation with a pike isn't great, but its no where near as bad as parking in the US/BC or Ontario. Now if only the singles could stay out of the pike parking in Balgonie, Med Hat and Headingly; it would be almost to easy.

Also Edmonton is a ####ed up place, with a lot of ####ed up people in it lol. Thank goodness I only go there on Sunday, and stay West of the city.

 

I like to jiggle the wheel a bit…. Get all three trailers doing the wiggle-worm. No one passes me then.

 

Heck ya! that B Box makes quite the whip!