Guidance please!

Yes, I'm prepared for the onslaught of rebuttals. The great big lie in the OTR trucking industry is that the OTR job is somehow a good substitute for the job you just lost that kept you home everyday. It isn't. The ONLY thing trucking companies care about is revenue. If they could figure out a way to make the truck move without a driver, do you think they would send you a care package of money each week just because you are out of work. They wouldn't. And they don't really even like giving you "their" money even after you work 16 hours a day. That's why it is so hard to get paid for anything but miles.

Parents often think they need to make more money to be a good parent. Kids are best raised frugally. Being at home with your kids is more important than chasing the make believe fantasy of trucking. It's all lies. For every trucker that makes $60,000 per year there are 99 more that make $30,000 and were gone 50 weeks a year to do it. Learn to love what you have instead of chasing dreams sold by trucking companies that never come true.

You know you need to stay home or you wouldn't ask this question. Stand tall, don't be ashamed of your economic situation, and find a job at home.

BRI

 

if i had kids i wouldnt be anywhere near this business. i pretty much grew up with my dad not being around very much. he tells me all the time how much he wishes he was around to watch the sports i was involved in. missing birthdays was his biggest regret. cant replace missing your child growing up. but he made a sacrifice for me to grow up without ever having to worry about me wanting things i needed and didnt get.

during the summer i would ride along and that made his trip. you could always take your 13 y/o with ya after you get settled in and if they allow that. wouldnt suggest taking a 3 y/o in a truck. good luck with your decision.

 

You will be away from your kids for awhile.
you've already experienced a divorce situation. I left trucking to come home to deal with a divorce situation. as it stands now thanks to a cheating *&^%^%$####$% even tho I'm not OTR I still only get my kids every other weekend.

I started in this to do my time OTR and then get a cake local job. which is what i've done. I'm making the best money of my life thus far (well legally anyhow) and was only out otr about a year. And now i'm making more hauling trash than i did with either of the otr jobs I had.

If your upside down to the degree your saying, unless you have better options yeah sounds like your kinda stuck. I can't tell you for sure it'll pan out cause in my case, yeah i'm making more than ever, but since ks says a woman can cheat on her husband and get the kids the most, she gets the benefit of my hard work.

What i've done, while otr and even now is I call and talk to my children everyday. It usually isn't very long, but long enough to know their daddy misses them and is thinking about them and wants to know how their day went. It's difficult, I've bawled myself to sleep many a nights over my children in those sleepers. but knowing that I can pay that %$#&^ and not have to be stuck in a 1 bedroom apt with my 3 kids (I'm up to renting a 3 bedroom house nowadays) makes it worth it, even tho i'm still broke as all getout.

 

Coach

It sounds to me that you don't really want to do the OTR thing. how much time have you put into checking local jobs? I don't mean dumps etc. One of the posters above mentioned trash - I talked to a guy a while back who does nothing but haul trailers from the sorting facility out to Mt Trashmore - something like 80K a year.

Or look into driving tank for a smaller company..

Yes, OTR seems to open doors - or at least, oil the hinges. But it's not an absolute requirement for finding a good local job.

That having been said, your kids will react pretty much as you and your wife do. If you make a big deal out of it, so will they. If you treat is as 'just one of those things', they will too. Be happy as hell when you come home, and be 'down' when you leave. I think big tearful going away scenes are tremendously counterproductive with kids.

I don't mean to imply there won't be issues and strain. They WILL react - and probably negatively. Most especially the 13-year-old, since he's lived through the divorce.

What might help is: get a decent laptop with a web-cam, and something like an aircard, so you can (probably) get online whenever you stop. Make a point to have a video conference every day with the kids. Thus, not only will they hear your voice every day, they'll see your face. If you put a web cam in at the house, you can see them, too. If you set your schedule right, you might even be able to participate in events, even if you aren't there.


Just my thoughts. Speaking only from my own experience with my own kids (13 and 16 - boys). No divorce, but several divorced friends.

 

Cool!

no - it makes it a LOT easier, yes. But fresh out of school I had an offer from a belly dump operation, a tank operation, and one other local that I forget what they do...

Sure, they weren't 100,000 year jobs. In fact, the pay was about equal to OTR, give or take. But I WOULD have been home daily.

Hrm.. that was kinda a stupid comment, wasn't it?

Still - if you approach it right, he'll be far less ripped up. I don't know him or anything really about any of you, but my un-asked for opinion would be to simply tell him the whole story. Need a job, got this one, gonna take me away a lot, I still love everybody, etc.

It's not that expensive. Just off the top of my head, I think you can find perfectly adequate web cams for about $50 each. Probably less on ebay. Use a free service - I'll PM you the one I've used. It allows for video conferencing (one on one), and if video isn't available, you can chat like AIM/IRC/etc.

Laptop - probably less than $100 for the truck. Add in an aircard - $60 or so per month.. it's not that expensive, really. How does that commercial go...? Laptop $100. Aircard $60. Nightly time with the kids: Priceless.

Also, remember, most companies (and any company I'll work for) will allow riders. The typical lower age limit is 13... so make arrangements to bring him along on a number of trips.

I'm not suggesting that your choice to not do OTR is bad or good. Only you know the answer to that. I'm just trying to make sure you don't paint yourself into a corner that's not really there.