Why this lifestyle?

Discussion in 'Experienced Truckers' Advice' started by nightgunner, May 30, 2014.

  1. Aminal

    Aminal Heavy Load Member

    Yeah. I'm at home nursing the flu. It was the cold medicine talking. Sorry about that. I'll probably take it down.

    Note to self: Blogging and Dayquil don't mix.
     
    Honch, Nightwind8830 and Rocks Thank this.
  2. Truckers Report Jobs

    Trucking Jobs in 30 seconds

    Every month 400 people find a job with the help of TruckersReport.

  3. thelushlarry

    thelushlarry Road Train Member

    3,023
    8,994
    Jan 9, 2012
    glasgow ky
    0
    You sure you was not in West Memphis?
     
  4. x#1

    x#1 Road Train Member

    1,773
    1,102
    Dec 24, 2009
    Cherokee County, Alabama
    0
    excellent summation of trucking.glad that you enjoy it.I don't have any of the electronic gadgets that control me or the truck but the gov't strangulation does have me contemplating other avenues of income.anyway,great post.
     
    Rocks Thanks this.
  5. TripleSix

    TripleSix God of Roads

    17,737
    124,498
    Apr 10, 2009
    Copied in Hell
    0
    There are two kinds of drivers at my company: The ones that complain about being unable to make any money and the guys that make money. It's interesting because 50% are fleece drivers. It's sort of difficult to explain, but you have to figure out your freight lanes. The freight lane is dependent on what kind of trailer you have, what day of the week it is, and your skill level/qualifications as a driver.

    First mistake. Driver shows up bragging about all the loads he's pulled in the past. Doesn't mean jacket the new company. You're going to have to prove yourself all over again. Square One, amigo.

    Second Mistake. Driver is unreasonable. "I do not run the northeast, my map ends at the Ohio border. I do not run for less than $X dollars a mile. I do not drive at night. I will be home every 14th day....etc". You mean you wouldn't take a load out of Moab Utah to Charlotte,NC for $1.91 a mile?

    Third Mistake: Driver is unable to learn new ways, new techniques, new HOS...whatever. What benefit is 30 years experience if you can't get up to date and work the new rules? Even with elogs, there's some wiggle room.

    Fourth Mistake: Driver is a coward. Had a driver pulling wind blades. He could make it from the truckstop to the shipper without starting the clock, but he would start his clock. Why?

    "Well, if something happened, DOT could go back and go through my logs and get me."

    So, you start your clock to move 1 block, sit and wait 4 hours ON DUTY, and then complain that you don't have hours to run like everyone else. Of course you don't make any money.

    Fifth Mistake. Driver is beancounting when he should be grabbing money. If they're throwing money at you, load and unload you, round robin as fast as you can go, why are you fiddle farting around? "Oh, I only drive 55 mph. Oh, I only run 7 3/4 hours a day...that way I never need a restart."
    When the money is there, grab as much as you can, as quickly as you can, because it's not always going to be there.

    I like to hear that a drivers doing well, making money, enjoying the drive. Apparently some do not. If a drivers doing well, then "he must be speeding. He's driving illegal. You can't make any money out here nowadays." When a driver doesn't do well, everyone jumps on the bandwagon and blames the company with him. Then they blame the guvment. If money couldn't be made in today's trucking industry, then no trucker would be making money.

    So you drivers that are still truckin instead of driving, I salute you.
     
  6. nightgunner

    nightgunner Road Train Member

    2,112
    2,796
    Jul 23, 2013
    Cedar Rapids, IA
    0
    Funny you bring that up. I am a "Fleece driver". The best part is I am making money. Actually I am making and SAVING MONEY to go buy me Pete next summer, go figure.
    This job is too simple to go and make it hard.
     
  7. x#1

    x#1 Road Train Member

    1,773
    1,102
    Dec 24, 2009
    Cherokee County, Alabama
    0
    and then there are the drivers that are making money and/or doing more than merely getting by yet they just do not seem to enjoy the "lifestyle" after 25 -30 years for reasons even they can not put a finger on. change,whether due to government bureaucracy or simply due to loss of interest,is inevitable especially in trucking.

    yes you are correct in that one can make decent money and not run illegal.the drivers that drive the castrated trucks running elogs and qualcoms generally are the ones that rail against those that i reference as ones that drive an actual truck.envy is mostly to blame for their thought processes yet they have chosen to drive whatever it is they drive.green is a multifaceted color.
     
  8. GabeScott

    GabeScott Medium Load Member

    422
    282
    Feb 16, 2014
    0
    The 2011 Median Income of US households was $50,054 per annum

    Most truckers make that or more. Hardly mediocre pay.
     
  9. ramblingman

    ramblingman Road Train Member

    1,152
    1,114
    Jan 12, 2014
    0
    As long as you don't break down your hourly pay your golden. Never figure out your hourly pay or you will be depressed for eternity lol.
     
  10. AZS

    AZS Honk if anything falls off

    2,912
    1,303
    Sep 30, 2010
    PHX, AZ
    0
    I've never been able to look at it from that perspective even if I tried, probably because it rarely even seems like work to me and I do flatbed on top of it.
     
  11. NewNashGuy

    NewNashGuy Road Train Member

    1,615
    752
    Jul 27, 2011
    US and Canada
    0
    I love trucking I hate the wild hours my dispatch gives me. I look at other trucking jobs in the classifieds and all of them pay half what I make now with driver unload. Looking at regular jobs unrelated to trucking and they all pay $8 per hour part time in Obama's economy. I think I would be totally happy as an o/o but I do not jump into anything without knowing all of the facts and still havent found anything to provide that. Just ramblings of O/Os on a forum telling you how no one makes money.
     
  • Truckers Report Jobs

    Trucking Jobs in 30 seconds

    Every month 400 people find a job with the help of TruckersReport.