Trucking and pay

For context: the average starting salary for the class of 2013 was 45k; the median for US truck drivers as just over 46k. I did the corporate thing for a time, and I'd much rather be behind the wheel than working as a spreadsheet jockey listening to my d-bag boss bloviate all the while puckering up because I'm afraid of losing my job. It's all personal perspective.

 

We as truckers make more money than your average college graduate. We make more than a lot of Suburbia actually. Especially if you get yourself a good team mate and get with a company that has the freight to keep you moving. Lots of truckers do make big bucks (even thbough they complain that they don't) It's not the game, but how you play it.

 

I been wondering the same thing especially guys living in good areas where there plenty of local driving jobs paying more and not having to worry about logs.

 

It's basically the lifestyle. Why would anyone want to sit in front of a computer 50 hours a week? I did that for quite some time with a degree in IT. Why would anyone jump out of planes for a living in the military risking life and limb for menial pay? I'm medically retired and do that. You're asking a rhetorical question?

 

Like my ex boss would say , drivers are a dime a dozen.
In other words the market favors the truck owners nowadays , as opposed to many trucks and few drivers.

 

How long ago? Because with: the new HOS, rebounding economy, retiring of baby boomers, lack of interest in trucking jobs among millenials, and growing population, most business journals seem to think there is (or is looming) a driver shortage.

 

Have to wait and see , I've been hearing " trucker shortage " for the past 8 years. It's like Bigfoot , it hasn't actually been spotted yet

When your company has half it's fleet sitting in a lot , and the recruiter phones are silent for weeks on end , then you'll have a genuine driver shortage

 

Perhaps; consider that: HOS created an overnight shortage if you think about it. Demand stayed fixed, but capacity to deliver goods was cut substantially (depending on recap v. reset, types of freight, type of routes, company's ability to restructure their delivery apparatus, etc.). I could be wrong, but I finished school a short while ago with a cohort of 6 other guys, and all 7 of us had multiple job offers upon completion. It makes me think these firms need people pretty badly.

 

You should, you are working 70 hours a week, most college graduates work 40 hours. You are at your job 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, most college graduates go to work for 8 hours than go home. When you die what is all that money worth? Nothing. What is wasting your life rolling down a highway worth? While other people have social lives, see their families, and etc. That's for each person to decide.