Finally Quit Trucking.

I have a little over years experience, always holding out for that magical great pay dream job for the experience all the while taking the most miserable pay (sold the house and car to be able continue to eat and actually save some money) and long hours in my life chasing the imaginary carrot. Below are my experiences. I gave it a honest to god gold effort. I did not listen to the complaints online or the naysayers and wanted to take it 100% on my own with my experience and see how it panned out. It is the only career choice in which I wanted to try something and try to 'make the best of it' no matter what, I was 100% committed to making this work, but month after month, the trucking industry chipped away at me till there was nothing left. I thought I was comfortable in a truck, but I was kidding myself.

As only found out from experience, my hands hurt from the excessive vibrations going through the steering wheel and having to hold it for hours and hours on end all week. I went to the doctor and they are saying I am really screwing up my hands. My right hand has a constant vibration buzz all the time right now and I have a hard time gripping with real strength on that hand, only through rest will it hopefully heal. I have driven many tractors of different brands and they all vibrate to a point, some far worse than others. I started wearing hearing protection while driving cause the noise (I used a dB meter) is at hearing loss level @ 65mph and slow speed and pulling up a hill, especially after so many hours driving. Why they can't build late model tractors with proper sound damping and a steering wheel that isn't like holding a out of balance electric sander I don't know.

Also, the safety for my life was getting to be a concern. I missed by 3 minutes last month almost having a head on collision with a RV whos front steer tire blew in Montana, it careened across the grass median of the freeway into oncoming lanes and slammed into the guard rail, keeping it from flying off the cliff. There has been many times out of the road where I'm driving next to a drop off 10 feet on the edge of the road with no barrier there, just praying that my tire doesn't blow on that side. Also the fact that the small majority of licensed truckers to licensed drivers in the whole of the United States make up a huge 12% of all fatal/injured crashes in a year, the odds are against you. The low pay also combines the thought, is this cr@p worth it?

The DOT HOS really are a detriment and another reason I am so glad to get out of the industry and live 'off the clock' where my life is not under a timer. The 14 hour timer rule is really pathetic, forces you to keep driving when you tired unless you want to lose your job and/or lose even more money on a paupers salary. It also makes you either rush to find a parking spot if you try and drive as far as possible to utilize maximum hours or it makes you stop short and hurt your pay/miles if you want to keep a nice cushion before your time runs out in case no parking spots or whatever the unexpected is at that location. And if you keep driving past the clock and someone crashes into you, you are the one at fault regardless and face jail time. There is so many other rules such as split breaks, personal drive time, ect ect ect regulations that can easily be interpreted against you as falsifying your logs which, even if unjust, you will have to spend money and lots of time to correct. not.worth.it.

I have been asking myself why I keep going working so many hours, taking so many life sacrafices, take such huge responsibilities and low pay when there is so much other things I can do where I can have a life out of work, a place that is fixed that I can call refuge and sleep without truck engines idling 5 feet away and be a part of a community which not only enhances my physical/mental well being, but can also lead to many opportunities for my livelihood from community interaction. I recently got hired for a new industry that pays more per hour than those magical hourly local truck jobs I was holding out for, and I have far more room to advance and even start my own business with low overhead in the future. I now work 8 hours a day 5 days a week with overtime pay and commission sales along with getting 2 days off a week to further enhance my life.

I am so happy to not have to go to truck stops anymore either. From the urine smelling parking lots, to the disgusting bathrooms with guys washing their hair in the sinks and the overpriced food and merchandise. How can you not find fresh freaking fruit and veggies on the road. I once saw a 'fresh fruit' spread at a truck stop in a major metropolis and all they had was a full basket of limes and lemons, lol wtf, pathetic. They had cold pre-cut fresh fruit that was $5 for 1/4 of a cantalope, wow.

I'm also glad to not have to sleep and listen to truck/reefer engines all night, good nights sleep are back with me again, ahh.

I am also so happy to never deal with another shipper or receiver as a trucker again. There was very few that seemed to respect truck drivers, all the other ones you are treated like dumb cattle, treated to disgusting toilet amenities that would even appall a homeless person, not very well identified entrances, goofy backing docks and what not. I still can't understand it, since well these companies could not do business at all without us shipping their crappy goods, so WTF? You would think we would be greeted like heros and treated like kings on their property.

I respect each and everyone of you who puts up with these sacrifaces and hardships whatever your reasons. I hope everyone finds their happiness. Just wanted to share my thoughts on my experience, not bashing on taking anything out personally on any of the current truckers driving. I have a few words choice words for my fleet manager though, lol. Take care friends

*you don't need to respond to this cause I will not be logging onto any trucking forums again, moving forward and putting this pamphlet of my life behind me and shelving it in the nightmare/horror section*