Disavantages of truck driving??

"I guess my biggest complaint is taking orders from anyone and everyone " and what job or type of employment gets you away from taking ORDERS.

My biggest complaint is that SO many think trucking is going to give them BIG $ and TOTAL FREEDOM from the day they start.
Like any job you have to work at it get ahead , yes the time away is a lot more than a majority of jobs , but work on construction or forestry , fishing and your not always at home every night weekend as well.

 

My biggest complaint is all the government regulations and their ability to crush your career with the stroke of a pen. Better be good or should i say do not get caught.

 

Yes, people have delusions of grandeur about being a truck driver. They thing they are going to make 80k their first year, they have to answer to no one, and that its all pretty site seeing. I grew up around it and have EXTREMELY realistic expectations about going into it. I make 20k a year now at a dead end job that I was promised the world at and delivery never happened. So If I make 30k a year my first year, thats great by me. Plus my cost of living is going to go way down. No more rent, no more utilities, no more car. So I am hoping to save a good bit of that! You do have a lot of people to take orders from. Everyone seems to thing they're job is more important than yours... so be realistic and love to drive and live out of a suitcase and you will do alright.

 

In every job, you have to take orders, from the maintance person to the president, they have to take orders. The president of the U.S. has to get the approval of congress to do his job right, or they will be all over him. Your company president has stockholders & investors to keep happy, or he'll/she'll be out of a job. So you see everyone has to take orders, even you.

 

I think my biggest complaint would be when you are sick. Unless you are deathly ill they still expect you to make your appointments on time. It's not like you can get a doctor's note for blowing mud!

 

No home time...bad roads...bad diet... driving a Volvo...qualcomm wakes you up to ask stupid questions... you can't make any decision without the company's permission... you are basically a trained chimpanzee... dispatch doesn't care that you are stuck in traffic... load tonite and be 1000 miles away in the morning cuz the customer needs the product... no one really knows your name... quit and you'll get a bad DAC report... don't quit and you'll get a bad DAC report... you are in NYC and dispatch tells you to find a parking space and call them every 10 minutes...

 

this is a great thread! Helps newbies and their family members that read this site getting a better understanding from all aspects. Thanks for the information!

 

You know all of those sites you wanted to see so you became a truck driver so you could travel and see them and get paid for it? Wave at them as you drive by them because that's about as close as you are going to come. I have always wanted to visit the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland. I got within a mile of it and couldn't stop; I almost cried like a baby over that one...

On the other hand, driving did get me to see Canada, which I never would have. How can you not enjoy spending the night in a town called 'Moose Jaw?'