Question to drivers who left and came back years later

I always longed to be back on the road.

To see the views of the mountains, sleeping in a new place every night.

 

I started back in 88, when all you needed was a good driving record, a firm handhsake and an $8 chauffeurs license to land a good paying driving job.

My son was born in 94 but it wasnt until my daughter being born in 96 that I took a long hard look at my life style and how being away from home was effecting my now growing family. I decided it was no way to be a good father being away from home all the time and quit trucking all together and joined the union and went into construction.

Fast forward to 2009, company I worked for went out of business. Union cant help. Havent driven commercially since early 97. Couldnt find work anywhere. Recent experience vs past experience? Never heard of any of that until I tried to get back into trucking to support my family. Over regulation, insurance companies, and greed producing driver farms have ruined this industry.

When I last drove we all had CB handles,.. no one was called "Driver". No one dared curse for fear the FCC was listening. Now all you hear are young punks (And grown up ones too) acting like a fool, talking garbage. I dont even bother to turn it on anymore. We had logs back then, but they were not as enforced as they were today. Back then a state officer was more concerned about the safety and condition of your rig than if you were within your HOS.

Much has changed and one thing as stayed the same. I am currently earning pretty much the same weekly pay that I was getting when I was 25 yrs old. I Am now 44. Progress? Trucking is nothing like it used to be. Very sad,.. much like the way this country is going,.. trucking has followed suite.

Hurst

 

Pay in trucking only sucks if you don't get all your endorsements and become more flexible.

 

keep drinking that kool-Aid man.

Having all of your endorsements (generally) and flexibility is simply part of this job. Trucking pay is much lower than it should be. When you watch fuel, groceries, building materials, whatever you haul double in price or more over the years.....yet the truck still makes the same money??? Yeah, "pay in trucking only sucks if you're not fully endorsed and flexible." hahaha

 

You're correct. I was pulling a reefer OTR, and had all the other endorsements, but not using them. Went to a company and put my tanker/hazmat to work, also OTR, and my income went up an $15K- $20K per year. When a friend saw my W-2's he did the same. I was in my 50's when I finally made the change and wished a million times I had done it years sooner. Yes,BossOutlaw88, you are correct.

 

Your comparing apples to oranges.

 

apples are better , oranges are too much work.

 

In 1991 or 1992, I had a conversation with a group of truckers. I was like 23 or 24 at the time.

The gist of the conversation was that I needed to keep my nose clean, work hard, buy my own truck and by the time I was 50, I could retire.

Work with a good accountant/financial planner and you could pay that truck off and continue to work hard and save your pennies for retirement.

This was coming from a bunch of college educated type truck drivers / Owner/ Operator type.

I got married, had kids, started a family, went local, thought the grass was greener on the other side and got my degree in Industrial management. That's why I left trucking in 2007. To finish college.


After that, I got different jobs, nothing really paying over $13-15 an hour. OOOOh. Not the "improved wages" I thought I would see with a degree.

9/11 happened and 3 1/2 almost 4 years of my life disappeared as it was given to the army. two deployments later, I was burned out.

I got a job finally in 2005 that paid kind of decent for my degree. But I Could never get to the level it should have because it didn't say "Engineer" on my diploma.

2008 hit and our company laid off 65% of it's work force, closed one plant and prepared to move operations to WI and to Thailand. 2009, I joined the ranks of the unemployed.

I attempted to chase the "engineer" carrot and it just wasn't panning out. Dislocated workers were everywhere and the program wasn't going to fund a mechanical engineer, but it would fund a land survey degree. The maths and sciences were the same so I went that route.

2011, the programs were NOT paying. Wages were still in the tank. I'd take a 25% paycut even over unemployment. Almost 45% from original wages in 2009.

I did manage to get hired by the state to work as a snow plow operator. Being Union and being a "trained monkey" that say around and did what you could to avoid work was NOT For me.

I left in Feb 2011 and started to look at the oil fields. That quickly turned to OTR and then to realizing that being an O/O was the next logical move.

I found a local regional job that had me home weekends. That helped me show the business plan and resources needed to buy my own truck in July 2012

And it's been full circle now to where we should have been 20 years ago.

Now I are one of them thar college educated truckers that are telling young drivers to keep your nose clean and you can actually retire by age 50.