How to make money in trucking....????

Discussion in 'Discuss Your Favorite Trucking Company Here' started by jrsytrucker, Mar 24, 2013.

  1. landstar8891

    landstar8891 Road Train Member

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    Do you think some of the waitresses i talk to are telling me a line.?.The last few i have talked to said they do anywhere from 800-1100 a week...HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM..?
     
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  3. thelushlarry

    thelushlarry Road Train Member

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    I just won a million dollars in the state lotto. They asked me what I was going to do now I said "keep on trucking till it was all gone"!:biggrin_25513:
     
  4. Hurst

    Hurst Registered Member

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    No argument. I am not the norm in this industry. But I believe that anyone who applies them self can repeat what it took for me to get to this point. None of this was handed to me.

    I told myself I wouldnt do this but meh,.. this is trucking and this is my story if you guys dont mind a bit of a read.

    I was 18 in 1986 and I worked the graveyard at a Shell gas station. Back when you went out and pumped the customers gas, sold wiper blades and had to punch the top of the oil can and do the breather hole on the other side. Yeah,. anyway. The owner had a towing and transport company and I eventually worked my way over to driving an 82 IH 1600 with a 17' Jerr Dan bed and tow bar. I was encouraged to get my Chauffeurs (The CDL of the day). Was easy enough to get. $8 and a written test later I was good to go with a class A. About a year later, I cant remember if I was 20 or still 19, but one of the heavy haul drivers (3 axle RGN trailer) quit just as an escort load had been set up. The tractor was a 1971 IH that had a 2 stroke Detroit under the hood. I loved that truck because the jake sounded like a fire truck coming down the road. Anyway,.. boss calls me over and says I am to drive this truck. Now bare in mind that other then pulling cars on the tow bar and a U-haul trailer once or twice,.. I had never pulled a trailer before. But I had been out to help the driver many times and I understood how the trailer and hydraulics worked. So here I am, I had never even driven air brakes before this point either. My truck had a 5 spd (Granny 1st) with a 2 spd split rear. I usually just kept the splitter on the high side. This older IH had a 21 speed Spicer with the 3 stage splitter on the side of the shifter. So after about 5 min explanation on how to shift the thing I get a pat on the back and told to just follow one of the other drivers. I went to pick up a large machine that had been disassembled for transport. They used 2 very large cranes to set it on my bed. The other driver made sue I understood how the dunnage and rigging needed to be. Viola,.. we were off to a mine in PA and that was my first start.

    I married early and I had already been driving for 3 yrs when my son was born. We didnt stay away from home for very long in those days. Mostly day trips moving construction equipment from job site to site for a couple local companies. But then I started getting more and more out of state runs. By 1996 my daughter was born and my wife was growing concerned about me being away from home all the time. So I got out of trucking and hired on as as an equipment operator doing pipe work. I got in the union and was making pretty good money. In 1999 I moved to Fla and during the process of getting my license transferred to Fla I baulked at the fees they wanted for transferring all my endorsements from Md to Fla. I had everything back then, Haz Mat, Doubles, tanker and passenger. My brother made the comment and asked if I really needed a CDL. So I chose to give it up and just get a regular Class E drivers permit.

    Now fast forward to Jan 2009. The company I was working for gave notice that they were going out of business. Thank you,.. have a nice life. That hit me like a ton of bricks. I didnt know what to do. I liked computers and thought it would be an easy gig, so I registered for classes and began working toward my BS degree in Computer sciences and Information Technology with my focus on computer forensics. Basically learned programming and how to hack computers in order to prevent people from hacking computers. After this was done I discovered that much like trucking,.. the computer industry wont hire with out some kind of previous experience. $80k in Salley Mae loans later and the best job I could find was as a $10hr phone tech. Construction wasnt any better. I tried pulling favors from people I knew in the business and I got the same story from everyone. Sorry,.. I have 100 guys just like you with just as much experience looking for work. So I decided to fall back on my driving experience. Have already had a CDL,.. I refused to pay a driving school in order to get it back. So I went to the DMV, I spent about 30 mins going over the CDL handbook. Took the general knowledge, air brakes and combination tests. Got my learners permit. Waited 2 weeks. Paid $175 to Roadmaster in Tampa to take a 3rd party road test. Viola,.. I went back to the DMV and had my CDL.

    Now came the harsh reality that trucking has turned into. Despite my previous driving record, despite my previous experience, I got the same story from everyone I called. No recent OTR,.. no job. Cant hire me. They suggested I take a refresher course but even that was no guarantee. The refresher course was almost as expensive as taking a full CDL course. By now I was getting angry and refused to take any sort of needless class just for principles. The insurance companies managed to get a strangle hold and controlled who company owners would and would not hire. They would allow a 23 yr old straight out of school with no experience before allowing a 45 yr old with 7 yrs prior experience. But because I had no recent experience,.. I may as well not even had a CDL at all. Made absolutely no sense to me.

    So after searching and calling around I became desperate. Money was running out. I found a guy out of Tacoma Wa who sold me on a laundry list of lies and empty promises in order to get me to sign his 12 month contract. I knew I would need at least 12 months OTR before I could be taken seriously with the way trucking has become. I would be pulling a reefer,.. how hard could it possibly be? So I meet up with one of his drivers here in Fla. I spend the next 6 weeks driving team with this guy. I'm paid peanuts on a 1099 salary,.. no CPM at all. I waited until I was out for 6 weeks before I asked about home time and the owner said that people who asked that early about home time dont make it very long with his company. He originally said that drivers get home every 4 - 6 weeks. That was the start of lie after lie. The driver I was with explained to me that the owner paid for almost nothing. No tolls, wiper blades, oil, misc BS things, like washer fluid etc,.. all on you. If you picked up a nail in a tire,.. it was immediately assumed you ran over something you shouldnt have and got yelled and screamed at over the phone. The mere mention of being tired after driving for the last 11 hrs straight and being awake for 6 before that began another lecture with periodic curses and raised tones on how lucky I was to be working for such a company. I was on paper logs and when I brought up that delivery schedules were not only impossible to maintain but illegal brought on more of the same. I was instructed on how to 'pencil in' restarts. "Rewriting History" was how the operations manager explained it to me. Making sure DOT stops, fuel stops, or anything else that could place me anywhere at a certain time were properly accounted for. My wife is a former police officer and detective,.. when she found out about this she was livid and wanted me to come home. Said it wasnt worth it. I tried to explain that I needed to get through this in order to see the pot of gold on the other side of the rainbow. She was not having it. $500 week on a 1099 was more of an insult compared to everything I had to go through. For the 12 months that I worked for this company,.. I added up how many days I spend at home. 22 days,.. out of the entire year. Thats how much home time I saw.

    Now fast forward to Dec 2012. Christmas is coming up. I am getting balsey and threatening to quit if I dont get to spend Christmas with my family. So far I had managed to avoid any kind of accident or DOT confrontations. No tickets,.. no OOS,.. despite the BS I was put through I managed to keep my record clean. I never got caught 'Burning the books'. The owner promised to get me home for Christmas. After dropping off in Bronx NYC,.. I head up to Manchester NH to pick up a load heading to Fla. I knew from my gauges that I was heavy. The closest scale was a closed DOT weigh station. I went in there and saw that I was pushing 83k. I went back to the shipper and said that my boss knew that I would be over weight. I told them they needed to remove product and they refused. I called the operations manager and explained to him what the situation was. His only response was "Well you know what you have to do". So I had a few choices. Sit there and wait for another load and miss Christmas with my family,.. quit and try to figure out how to get all my things home from NH to Fla and still miss Christmas with my family,.. or scale dodge. I had not seen my family since Sept,.. I took a chance. After explaining to my wife how I was coming to Fla,.. she told me that this was the last time. No more. I agreed. I had enough time under my seat and if I could manage to make to Fla with out getting caught I would be free and clear. I have to admit,.. I was a nervous wreck pretty much the whole time. I didnt get any sleep. I made my deliveries and then I left his truck in Miami and told my boss to go pound sand.

    I left much out. But try to imagine 12 months of running 3500 - 4200 miles a week under grueling conditions, the constant stress, the lack of sleep, the yelling and cursing from a psychotic boss,.. I endured for the sake of my family. Forum admins can attest to his insane behavior as he has gone ballistic and been banned from this forum under so many different alias, its almost comical.

    That is what I had to go through to get to where I am now. I'm not suggesting anyone should repeat how I got here. Only that if you want something bad enough and are willing to work hard to achieve it,.. you can do it. I've basically been struggling since 2009 and not until I finally hired on where I am now have I finally been financially stable and actually able to put money away. So no,.. my current situation is not the norm. But then,.. how I got to this point was anything but text book. That is why I have little sympathy for folks who whine and complain about how hard things are when they arent willing to put forth the effort needed to get what they want.

    My situation isnt prefect. But I am content with where I am and the money I make. So to those who want more,.. I say take a look in the mirror. What are you doing,.. what are you willing to do,.. to get to where you want to be?

    Hurst
     
  5. Hurst

    Hurst Registered Member

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    Where was this,.. a Vegas Strip club?

    I would say there are as many waitress making $1000 as week as there are company drivers making $100k a year.
    No facts to back that up,.. but I dont think I am far from the truth.


    Hurst
     
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  6. landstar8891

    landstar8891 Road Train Member

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    No.A NY Strip Club...ROLMAO.:biggrin_2559:
     
  7. thelushlarry

    thelushlarry Road Train Member

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    Last edited: Apr 24, 2013
  8. RavenRyder

    RavenRyder Light Load Member

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    If that was the case... do you not believe that I might serve you lunch one day...? I know... I'd have to pay people to not throw-up.
    Let's look at a little math... waitress wage is $2.53 an hour... granted some will pay you $5.00 an hour... generally not the rule.
    Waitresses are exempt from minimum wage laws... most waitresses don't work an 8 hour shift... but we'll forgo and say 8@$5=$40... that leaves $160 a day in tips... let's say everyone is rightous and pays 20%... haha... ahem... so that's $20 tip per $100 in food sales. So there are 8x$20=$160... so 8x$100 in food sales =$800 in food. let's say the average per person is $5-10... so we'll split the difference and say $7.50... That's 107 meals... one waitress would be hard pressed to handle that load by herself... that's 13meals an hour... but you don't have that kind of balanced flow... you have your lulls... and you have your "in the weeds"... ask any waitress if she ever gets "in the weeds"... she'll be able to explain it to you... is it possible to have this kind of business... yes in a very busy place like maybe a truck stop where there's 24/7 traffic... is it likely... I kinda doubt it... if so they are very fortunate because waitresses generally aren't that likely... when you live with a lifelong waitress as long as I have... trust me you know all about it... just as she has a pretty good grasp on what's involved in truckin'...
    She had one job where she was pretty up there... but all the stars were aligned so to speak... her s...bag boss couldn't keep his nose out of the coke bag in combination with going to the casino... business down the tube... it happened to be the oldest continually opened restaurant in Hartford, Ct. called 'The Marble Pillar'... the majority of the customers were from Traveler's Insurance... just breakfast and lunch... she made $5.00 an hour as head waitress, and her boss paid her half that under the table cash... it was sweet while it lasted... she made about $800 a week... oh to have back the late 80's early 90's... money was pretty good... oh well.
     
  9. starvin1345

    starvin1345 Bobtail Member

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    where u work homie 1000? home every nite no way
     
  10. RavenRyder

    RavenRyder Light Load Member

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    Hurst... I give you a lot of credit... I have to say... I've eaten a bunch of poop in my life... but it sounds like you were belly upped to the sewer plant... I would of heave hoed long before you did... I would've just lost my mind and let that scum know he didn't deserve anything I could do for him.... Then I might've started waiting tables....:biggrin_25514:
     
  11. StayBusyTrucker

    StayBusyTrucker Medium Load Member

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    I gave a 76yr old waitress a 10 spot and told her I either want my change back or a table dance she just smiled lol
     
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