Older Guys and Trucking.

Good post, gonna play the devils advocate here a bit though...for fun.

Don't assume that everyone coming to trucking had an easier job beforehand. I am finding the actual job much easier than my last one. And more rewarding. Imagine spending 16 years digging holes for a living, sometimes on a backhoe but open cab. There are no rain days. If it's 33 degrees and raining in november and a hole needs dug you gotta by god dig it cuz those dead people won't wait (least their families won't). You are also moving around chunks of granite (headstones), most by hand and some weighing in excess of 800 lbs. You are hand mixing and pouring cement into footer holes you dug for all those stones you install. I hand mixed on average 10 ton of cement every year for 16 years. My old backhoe was a twin stick shift that was a pita to get on without twisting your knees or back. I'd get in and out of my truck 10 times before getting on and off that tractor once. And the pay sucked.

I found driving is a lot of procedure to get used to but the actual work, at least non flatbed work, well it could be worse. If you are a person with perfect hair, manicured fingernails and hands that have never had a callus then I agree totally that this job will be very tough. If you are a person who is used to manual labor and of at least average intelligence (though dumb truckers won't last long) then you may do ok. I think I am.

All the above was said respectfully, I am still a noob to trucking and I know this. But I have been around the block a few times in the game of life.

 

The thing to remember is that, you never become a Master Trucker. Once you think you know it all...you can become a dead man/woman, real quick.
I've been in the trucking industry for 34 years (31 driving. 2 as an Ops. Mngr and 1 as a Dir. of Training at a school)) and I see or learn something new all the time.
There are more trucks on the road now than in years past, which in my opinion has made the roads more dangerous. Too many people that have lost their jobs in other sectors of the economy come here as a temporary job, not taking what we do for a living seriously. Probably 90% of the trucking school graduates don't belong behind the steering wheel of a bicycle, much less an 80,000 lb. tractor and trailer. This puts us and the general driving public in danger. You can blame that on politics and the big mega carriers that will move freight at any cost, as long as they don't have to pass on that cost to the driver. It's getting so bad that the Canadian trucking firms are grabbing a good share of the freight but at around the same cost American trucking firms charge. The real shocker is going to hit when the Mexican trucking companies hit the Interstates. The Peso is worth half of what the American dollar is valued at, so I'm sure you can figure that one out for yourself.
Sorry if it seems I jumped off topic but all of what I said ties in with what Kittyfoot posted. If we think things are bad now.....

 

Read through the whole post here, and with all that in mind...this is *still* what I want to do for a living, and has been since I was a young un! Why I waited so long to get my CDL I cannot explain, mostly bad choices compounded by worse situations, and I'm still in a (seems to be) insurmountable crag right now, but by God I'm gonna get behind the wheel of a truck, drive that rig night and day (or at least as long as I can legally), and smile while I'm doing it...because I was born to drive, have always loved driving any and every vehicle I could my hands on, and driving a tractor trailer as a career is the culmination of a lifelong dream I've had since the mid 70s, topped off by an uncoltrollable wanderlust I've had since I was a kid!

 

I am a new guy and when people say not to do it, it kinda lowers my motivation and excitement. I may be the best or worst trucker ever, I do not know. Discouraging someone who could be a great trucker is a bad thing. My only concern is how often I will get really hungry or really tired and when I need to use the bathroom. The other stuff doesn't seem impossible. Last night I was up all night long, driving around since I couldn't sleep.

I went to bed at 6 AM, took a two hour nap, and taught a programming class. I came home after the six hour class, and went to sleep for another three hours. Now I will probably stay awake until about 5 or 6 AM again. So I am not like the average person who wakes up early everyday and goes to bed at 10 PM. I sleep whenever I get tired and it could be in the morning, afternoon, or night. I also want to become a driver since I need a job that cannot be replaced by people working for barely anything in other countries.

I drove a 4 wheeler chevy truck from Nashville to Chattanooga daily delivering windows 10 years ago (that was a big business, you would be surprised how many companies ordered window replacements for vehicles). I had to load and unload the truck myself in the warehouse. I was so excited when the boss told me that the truck was ready, I would hop in and take off before they told me I had to stay in the warehouse longer lol. I would listen to the music and smile that I was actually getting paid to drive around. When I came back after driving for eight hours, I would be stuck in traffic going home for an hour. I would then take a shower at home, hop back in my car, and drive to visit friends.

When you factor in the time to drive to and from work, I feel those two hours per day of being in traffic is like working 10 - 11 hours per day. I rather just pull at a rest stop and use those two hours to sleep or have some private time. I am totally happy being alone. If I want to have a conversation with someone I just call them or go online. I do not need them to be physically next to me to have a good conversation. I can be alone forever as long as I have the internet. I sat in my office for over six years without communicating with anyone in the "real world" due to my programming work that would last from the time I woke up until I went to bed during the good times when I made good money.

 

Just recently some of my fellow drivers of 30 years or so are pulling over to the curb. Heart attacks,mental disorders or just plain had a gut full. After enough miles you realize just how lucky and skillful a prof driver of your caliber is. At any given moment an accident can happen for various reasons. Congrats on accident free life time career. You have my respect.

 

I will second this. The field work of my prior job was much harder than trucking, or what I know if it in my short 6 months.

8 hour days all year round in chicago oppressive heat and bitter cold before the wind chill!

I too am not in any desirable financial situation. Trying to save the business which was related to real estate, and keep our house (a tiny little townhouse) has dried up all our savings. There will be no retirement for me either.

As long as the people that want to do it for fun for a few years are not:
1.) taking jobs from those that need them, by accepting pitiful wages
2.) can do the job more than adequately so as not to be a danger which brings burdens on the entire industry

then I don't consider it a spit in the face. But to expect those two things does not have a good probability, so I agree with you, I guess...

Mikeeee

 

If there's really so many of these retired sorta casual drivers -- hoping to enjoy a few fun years behind the wheel -- and they're finding out its not what they thought it'd be, they'd go back to their manicured lawns and garage full of toys and then warn their friends, neighbours, family, etc.. that trucking does not provide the life of riley.

And if that's the case, I think the problem will solve itself, no?

 

Same here. Regardless of physical effort required I figure the easiest job is the one you like doing and the hardest is the one you detest.

The difference with most jobs is that even if you don't like the work you get to go home after your shift and get away from it.

 

Well for my two cents worth.
I am 64, started driving at 62 after more than 30 years as a computer consultant. After I turned 60 jobs became harder and harder to find.
While physically it was harder than sitting behind a desk, it was the mental adjustment that was hardest for me. Being so used to being at home at night, going and doing things on the spur of the moment, I now had to adjust to being alone most of the time and cramming in a month's worth of normal living into three days.
It was also terribly hard on my wife. I would not be able to do this without her strength behind me. I can't imagine the strain on a younger person with children at home.
I have been lucky in the learning process of this career and become more aware each day how ignorant I was when I first started driving.
This is not a job I would recommend to someone who just thinks it will be thrilling or just wants to do something new. We, as drivers, have an incredible responsibility pushing 40 tons or more down the road amongst the ignorant 4 wheelers out there.