Should I be making the switch?

Certified !!!!

 

Ah yes, the age old question, "am I nuts?" Well, only your psychiatrist knows for sure, but since he/she/it is probably "nuttier" than you are, who can really tell?

Cannonball, this is not something that any of us can answer for you. No way. You will probably see all kinds of opinions about what you "should" do here. I imagine the majority of them will tell you to forget about and go on with your construction work.

So, that being said, may I respectfully make some suggestions about things you should think about.

1) How badly do you want this?

2) Is there a family involved, or are you pretty much "on your own."
a. No matter HOW you answer this question, there is still no "right" or "wrong" answer about whether you should get into trucking or not.
b. If there is a spouse involved, you really need to sit down together and talk this out!

3) How are you current finances. We see way too many folks think that they can come to trucking flat broke, and suddenly start making a good living. It don't work that way!

4) Say you decide that you just are not ready for it yet. How much older are you going to be when you decide that you ARE ready. In other words, there IS a time when a person needs to decide, "YES, BY GOLLY, I AM GOING TO DO WHAT I'VE ALWAYS WANTED TO DO!"

Believe me, trucking is nothing like any of the movies or tv shows portray it to be. It is a long hard grind. Lots of time by yourself. Lots of time to think about things, that sometimes you really don't want to think about too often. Not home much, and when you are, you are often dog tired, and really don't want to "do" much of anything. Is this fair to your spouse, if you have one?

I really hope you will take some time looking at this forum. Don't be afraid to find a truck stop and talk to some drivers who are already doing the job.

Don't be one of those folks who let some silver tongued salesman for a trucking school, or a golden tooth recruiter, sell you a bill of goods. They will promise you literally ANYTHING they think you might want, just to get you to sign up. After all, that is how they make their living.

Do a lot of research, and then make up your mind. Good luck to you, no matter which way you decide to go!

 

i can assure you this ain't no tv show. Hollywood and producers and directors and stunt people do things we would NOT really be doing..you are jaded to think that sort of crap happens out there.

again, these are stories, you have NO WAY of knowing what is or isn't true..and if you are addicted, then you basically have no life and live through the eyes of others...there ARE other things to do than listen to stupid stuff on a radio to simply bring in the ratings and commercial time..

you would be crazy to think this

sorry to bust your bubble (but i still will) those "tricked out trucks" can be had by ANYONE that has money to spend. what type of truck or all it's glitter DO NOT MAKE a truck driver, again, you are jaded in your thoughts.

YES

NO, you only "THINK" you are going to get more vacations..its work fella, not a joy ride..

you gotta start watching better tv shows.....and by your age (watching those shows since those days have you..??), it would make sense to me that you would know fact from fiction...

 

I've vowed to never sell tools.

You never know what the future holds, and if you give trucking a shot, it doesn't work out and you wind up broke those tools might come in handy.

 

Excellent point KO. It is one thing I meant to cover in my post. However, old age and old timers disease. . . .

 

I still have my tools from the early/mid 70's, the best insurance you can have!

Maybe use a big slug of vacation and find a driveaway company to haul some motorhomes or non cdl rental trucks. Maybe once you spend some closer to real time on the road it may either shatter your dreams or confirm them.

 

But,

being certified "nuts",

will help you fit right in !!!



Good Luck !!

 

Might use the term "Semi-Crazy"?

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UhsVXuwpRUw[/ame]

(The video is terrible, but I was going for the song anyway.)

 

You received some of the best honest responses I have ever seen. If tricked out trucks and TV shows are the your basis for the dream, run fast and hard the other way.

There isn't an owner/operator that doesn't dream of one of those trucks. There isn’t a business-minded truck operator that believes he will own one. If you are independently wealthy, have a woman that keeps you or want to spend every dime you make and have no life but the road then it might be possible.

If you are talking about making a living with a truck, you will have to develop an entirely different mentality. You are looking at making numerous sacrifices for the freedom of the road and the earning potential. A truck driver faces a great risk of failure. A businessman faces a high chance of success.

I’ll offer some general food for thought. A tricked-out truck will weigh several thousand pounds more. This will limit the loads you can haul in an already tricky business. It’s long and will get you attention from DOT and tickets for over length, unless this has changed a lot. It is also less aerodynamic which affects mileage. At 4.00 per gallon and 4MPG, your cost per mile (CPM) is 1.00 CPM for fuel. The owner in an ugly fuel-efficient truck getting 8 MPG has a 0.50 CPM fuel cost. Now these are extreme examples, but you can see the cost of looking good doesn’t stop with the purchase. In the real world average fuel cost probably varies from 0.10 – 0.20 CPM (~0.48 – 0.67 CPM) between most trucks on the road. You can’t make it in trucking spending an extra $100,000 for your truck and having it reward you with an additional $10,000 - $20,000 in fuel costs. That is a loss of driver wages or truck profit that you can’t afford and stay in business when times are lean.

Do a lot of reading in the “Ask An Owner Operator” section of this forum. There is a lot of good information available. Once you have the real facts, if you still want to enter the industry, give some thought to driving first to decide if it’s for you. Check out this thread to get your feet wet:

http://www.thetruckersreport.com/truckingindustryforum/ask-an-owner-operator/146942-how-to-become-an-owner-operator-7.html

If it’s about travel, money and glamour……………. a vacation, in a rented RV, with no vacation pay and short on cash will give you a chance to decide if it’s for you. I started out in 1979 with exactly the mentality that you have described. I told my story in the thread I pasted above. Believe me, I only shared the highlights. There are many parts I would be embarrassed to air in a public forum. It was a humbling experience.

BTW, welcome to the forum and good luck. Don’t give up your dream, just arm yourself with facts and decide based on research. I’d hold onto the tools but then I’ve held onto my CDL for 35 years too. A man can never have too many trades, tools or licenses.