Why truck

well you go trucking for 14 years and you can have the best career in trucking and any trucking co will fall all over themselves to gie you a job but hen you write up a resume to send to employers in other industries they will look at it and see someone who has been isolated for the last 14 years, is probably soially disfunctional, has not customer relation skills etc etc. now granted alot of this comes from the stigma truckers seem to have lately but right or wrong it's still there. Can you break through all that? sure it can be done but it isn't easy.
I have friends who are high up in industry and we have had these conversations. These things come from them not out of me

 

Well damb!!, I was looking for the words and you spoke them. I couldnt have said any of that better. warmed my heart over here.

 

Consider the traveling salesman. Typically earning little or no salary, being paid strictly on a commission basis, they spend weeks away from home, sleep in a different hotel room every night, and take home nothing unless they make a sale.

Personally, I'd rather drive a truck. But then, I'm a sailor. I'm used to spending long periods of time in a small self-contained world in which I have to anticipate changes in weather, read charts and plot courses, think on my feet, prevent idiots from hitting my boat and worry about overly-meddlesome bureaucrats writing rules regarding a subject they know little or nothing about. At least with a truck I don't have to worry about accidental gybes.

 

ive been doin this for a couple months and i plan on doing it for a couple years (longer then that actualy)

there are 2 types of drivers on this board, those that got into the industry cuz they needed something. namly those that think they can get super rich in this industry and figured this was the way to do it.

and those of us that were ment to be here. some here family tradition, fufilling a dream, or have it in their blood.

myself, i find myself a natural. and i dont mean im super trucker when i say natural, i mean simply from the first time i sat in the drivers seat to today everything ive done.. ive done it like ive been driving forever. my father and mother both wanted to be drivers but never did it. furthest my dad got was a corospondance course... i took a drive to visit a freind 90mi away had a miserable time there, then drove home. i loved every minute of the drive. i put myself thru school, graduated 4.0, passed cdl test first time, student of the month, started with roehl 2 weeks after i graduated, and otehr then some minor questions here and there ive been able to figure out, plan, route, do everything required like ive ben doing it for years. hah ive actually had to unofficaly train a couple other drivers on backing manuvers because they didnt know what they were doing and their company threw them to the dogs and said good luck.

the point im getting at is like some have said, for the majority of us... there really is no other way then the one we chose. its in our blood.

 

Too-Tall,

I hear whatcher sayin'.
I know the feeling, too.

I think it's called "APTITUDE".

Attitude + Aptitude = Success.

Maybe we could call it Aptattatude?

 

That part about being trapped. . .

I can understand that feeling, but you should only feel trapped if you are NOT doing what you like to do.

Many of us older guys are doing this as a second career. We have pensions and years of experience elsewhere to fall back on if needed. OTOH, driving gets in your blood.

I can't imagine myself in a job that does not involve a great deal of driving. I came off the road a few years ago to do local work. And while I love being home with the wife at night, I do miss OTR.

 

For me this job is a life style. I suspect if I had lived hundreds of years ago I would have been a gypsy or sailor. Traveling is great and long haul is the easiest of all driving. Make a pick up 1 day then drive at your leisure to the destination stopping when you are tired or hungry. As long as the load is delivered on time no-one bothers you from the company office.
For some this job is a cake walk. For others it is a veritable nightmare. It depends on who you are inside and how laid back you are. If your an uptight easily stressed person chances are this job/life probably isn't for you. On the other hand if your'e more of a loner and a free spirit, love to travel, are self motivated, prefer to be on your own, hate punching a time clock and commuting to work every day, despise bosses looking over your shoulder, then maybe trucking will be a good choice for you.
The fact is this is an easy job with many perks. You get medical, dental, vision, disability, vacation, sick days, holidays, 401k, or pension. What other job can you go to school for 4 weeks, go out with a trainer for 4 to 6 weeks and then start earning 35 to 40 grand your first year?
The truck does the work while you sit in an air conditioned vehicle on an air ride seat attached to an air ride cab supported by an air ride suspension. The engines are normally 400 to 500 horsepower now-a-days with engine brakes. We have am/fm/cd/satellite radios/onboard computers for dispatch/personal laptops with wifi and even air cards for getting online. The travel centers/truck stops have paved parking for hundreds of trucks and several showers available. Fuel islands with room to fuel up to a dozen trucks at a time. Restaraunts that have all kinds of choices for food including healthy alternatives. We have multilane interstates and US highways with speed limits up to 70 mph.
Compare the above with trucking history and "horror stories" from the old timers and I think you will realize just how good we really have it now-a-days.

 

Nice post. Makes trucking sound pretty good. We need to hear that once in awhile

 

Maybe my buddy in the Great White North was correct. I may have missed my calling...

 

I know what ya mean Ducks. Ever since the night I crawled into one of those bad boys it was like.....Move over dude I wanna drive!!

I would love to try driving I know without a doubt I could be great but to be honest I don't know if my body could handle it. I've got a health issue that wouldn't prevent me from passing any physical but could make for uncomfortable driving.......old bones and joints are a killer.

Nah I'll settle for being the navigator, a great conversation, paperwork and keepin the passenger seat warm.