how do you know when your not a truck driver

Most people wouldn't think of this, but this is actually a great way to tell if a potential employer is worth your time. Although, you will always have one or two people who will still drive clunkers regardless of how much they make. Case in point: I make 1k a week and drive a '03 Crown Victoria LX to work. Not a clunker, but not extravagant either.

 

Who would leave their GOOD car in the lot? Thats not too smart.

 

Dang right! My Maserati stays out back under the prefab carport!

 

i am a poor truck dwiver...i only have 1 vehicle.....

 

Most of what you said makes absolutely perfect sense, NOT so sure about what the other drivers have as personal cars.

 

My last company had two old cars and about a 1985 Winnebago out in the parking lot and each of them had flat tires. I was like dang they never get home, lol.

 

Currently, I am 56 years old with 38 years in the workforce. In those 38 years, I have had a total of 7 jobs. I am currently trying to hit 10 years at my current job. I have 7 months of UNVERIFIABLE UNEMPLOYMENT from 2006 to 2007. I never collected unemployment compensation. 2006, I had to quit my job, move back to the east coast from the Midwest, to help my 2 sisters care for our elderly mother. She passed away about a year later, 2007. In the mean time, it took me 7 months to find the current job that I have. I moved back to the Midwest in 2009.

Therefore, if I am able to get to a truck driving school, acquire my CDL, get on with a trucking company, I would like to have a full 10 years behind me, without question, providing that I do NOT get laid off or terminated. If I am able to get into a truck driving job "down the road" I hope that it will be the last job that I ever have to apply for, and retire from it.

As shown below, my work history is both semi-stable and semi-erratic. Also, my pay scales have ranged from minimum wage to lower middle income wages.

NOTE:
What has helped me over the years is my family and, currently an income of an extra $300.00 a month or $3600.00 a year, which was a result of my mother passing away 6 years ago. Her dividend income came to me, through her estate. It REALLY helps out.

NOTE:
No matter what the starting pay scale of a trucking company is, it is MORE than I am currently earning. Therefore, it will be like "manna from heaven".

TRUTHFULLY, I only have myself to blame for this. I HONESTLY do NOT have a legitimate excuse for having put myself into this situation. Without going into details, I messed up and it followed me throughout my life, (never been arrested or convicted of a crime). The last several years, I have been getting out from under my mess, (never been married - never had any children).

1) Supermarket ******************* 1974 to 1978 ************ 4 years ****** $2.25 an hour to $5.00 an hour
2) Insurance Company************ 1977 to 1983 ************ 6 years ****** $123.00 a week to $222.00 a week
3) active duty U.S. Navy ********** 1984 to 1992 ************ 8 years ****** $ 550.00 a month to $1100.00 a month
4) gas station ********************* 1993 to 1995 ************ 2 years ****** $ 5.00 an hour to $6.00 an hour
5) Supermarket ******************* 1994 to 1995 ************ 1 year ******* $ 5.00 an hour to $6.00 an hour
6) convenience store ************* 1996 to 2006 *********** 10 years ***** $ 5.00 an hour to $8.47 an hour
7) retail store ********************* 2007 (still working there) * 6 years ***** $ 8.00 an hour to $9.30 an hour

Total Number of Years ******************************************* 37 years

NOTE:
I am currently earning $9.30 an hour plus any overtime, commissions, or nighttime differentials that come my way. I am VERY GRATEFUL to have a job.

God bless every American and their families! God bless the U.S.A.!

 

The smiling man at the bank said, If you miss 4 payments, we will take it back. Incentive! If I miss a period, your a Daddy! If you make a mistake, at least I will still love you. It's hard being a Trucker.

 

You've been in the workforce for 38 years and never made more than $10/hr? Yikes. No wonder why you want to get into trucking.

 

First off, it's obviously a bit late to offer that bit of advice, but thanks nonetheless. Truckers are a friendly, helpful lot usually, but there's always one... Yes, I know entry level pay is never "top dollar", but that has nothing to do with what I was saying. What I'm saying is that as a grown man, I couldn't live on $230 one week, $489 the next, then $111 the third week. As I said, I have responsibilities, and having a stable income is important for me and my family. If I were a single guy with no need for money other than to occasionally shovel a Flying J pizza into my gullet, that'd be one thing, but that's not my life. I doubt it's yours either, so I'd imagine you can see where a guy nearing forty with a family would have a problem with wildly fluctuating paychecks like that.

Understand, when I did temp office work, I made nickels and dimes, but I knew for certain what I'd make each week after putting in 40 hours or what have you. Truck driving didn't give me any income stability, which would've kept me out of the industry had I known beforehand, but evidently I didn't so... You have no idea what situations people are in when they come into this industry, but you can be certain that at my age I wouldn't have done it if there were any other viable options available to me, and I was in a class of almost 30 people in the same boat. This was never our dream; if it was yours, congratulations on living the dream and much respect to you, but we're just trying to put food on the table legally and don't much care beyond that.