Please help...I don't see how this is a good career

being where you are in SC, imo its the only way to go if you want hometime and real pay.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Less_than_truckload_shipping

 

1-2 cents every 3 months for first year, plus on time bonuses. TYVM

 

2.97 a hour for:

Sleeping
Pooing
Eating
Showering (Some truckers anyway)
Washing my hands
Reading
watching TV
oh...and driving too.

For a non family man, thats heaven



If your a family man, and your doing this, thats your call, but it aint a good one.

 

I have to say I understand the OP's feelings. When I was their age I could only get a 6.00 job in a factory. I worked 7 days a week and 12- 16 hours a day. It was what I had to do to support my family. It took me years to work my way up the ladder to a spot that paid 22.00 an hour and 6 weeks vacation with 10 paid holidays....... but by then my kids were grown. So much of their lives I missed. But I did what I had to do to pay the bills and we made the best of the time we did have together.

Times are hard right now.... I lost my job in 09 and have not been able to find one since. I have turned to truck driving to keep the roof over our heads and food on the table. Yes I would like to be home nightly and only work a 40 but them days are gone for now. As my wife reminds me "In these hard times we all have to make sacrifices".

 

Less than Truck Load

 

It also means that you make alot of stops to get a truck load and then you make a bunch of stops to get the freight off.....it pays better but can be a bit more stressful

 

I've yet to meet a person who's home every night add their commute time to hours worked and then recalculate what they consider their hourly wage. Same for their unpaid lunch break and other unpaid time between when they leave the house and when they get back so I don't quite follow you.

Regardless of how you look at that there are much more important things to consider if you are going to be away from home for days, weeks or even months on end.

 

I just have to say, as a mother of 3 children, and wife of a trucker, that I don't believe that my husband made a poor choice in this line of work. The economy is offering crumbs when it comes to employment. What difference would it make if he worked 2-3 part time jobs to pay the bills, or if we both had to work to cut the mustard? The children would either never see him, or never see either of us. In this line of work he is working to support us while at least one parent is still in the home, and nowadays that is becoming rare. Back in the day fathers probably did miss out on a whole lot of things, but with technology that just isn't so. I took my kids to a birthday party today, and text messaged him pictures the instant I took them, as well as video capability on text. He is getting real-time images. I know it ain't the same as being there, but there are also a lot of jobs that don't facilitate weekends off, and/or receiving calls while on the clock! Heck, I know fathers who are forced to work graveyard, and then sleep during the day. Just saying, what makes a good Dad is being there for his kids and loving them when he can, and the rest of the time he is making sure they are well cared for.