If You Had It To Do All Over Again.....

No, I would never have tried any kind of trucking...AT ALL...with the one exception of some equipment moves involved with my former telecommunications job. I would have stayed with that..

 

if i had to do it all over again i would have started earlier in life, and it sure wouldn't be with ARROW!!!! maybe TMC or Maverick deffinately not ARROW!!!! don't know if i made that part clear but it would not be with ARROW!!!!

 

Well, I would have found someone besides Waterville Cascade and the crook that owned it. Aside from that, I think I just would change the way I managed things in the beginning, knowing what I know now. The experience I garnered driving with the old hands that I learned from is experience one cannot get from any school.

 

Yes, I would have loved to drive union - up north - I did a temp job up there hauling dirt in a belly dump and was getting paid $35 per hour plus $7 an hour being dumped into a retirement fund, plus OT. I would have stayed on - but - I'm not from the northwest and I didn't much care for the weather.

 

Yes, well I know the lifestyle of working 12, 13, 14, more plus hours per day, doing it 6-7 days a week and doing that for over 2 decades. That being a truck driver. I already deal with unreasonable people - people who like to scream and shout and wonder why the load wasn't there this morning, or yesterday. I'm in the middle of the road on the pay scale, which doesn't bother me because I'm now working 43 hours per week, no weekends, 30 paid days off per year plus holidays and a lot of other stuff.
But, it is ironic. I already have a small business going that I hope to eventually catapult into a full-time, all -out proposition. It isn't paying my mortgage - yet - but as my clientele base grows, so will my income from it.
And, as I said before, I did like the first years of driving - but then again, it was in a totally different era and the rules of the commercial driving road were MUCH more lax than they are now - CDL licenses didn't exist. I got my truck driver's license before - and not a permit - a license that actually allowed me to drive trucks on my own - before I had EVER driven a truck one single time!
Good luck with the school and with your new career.

 

This, right here, speaks volumes. Gone are the days of the brotherhood of the trucker, for the most part. I still remember hand signals to tell the driver heading the opposite direction there was a cop ahead. I remember the days when a driver would get on the two-way and as a truck alongside the road if he was okay and move to the hammer-lane so as not to rock the truck. Not so, anymore. Ahh... the good old days. And I didn't even get to experience the real good old days of trucking.

 

Yes I'd do it all over again. And yes, probably the same way. [maybe a few little tweaks] I figure that if I knew all the things then that I know now I'd just be even more diappointed when I made my choices that still wont always "work as planned". Or either something I don't even know that I don't know would be my downfall.
Sounds like any given day in a truck!!!

 

If I had it to do all over I would have went to college and learned something worth while and skipped the whole trucking thing. I don't regret all of it though since I grew a backbone and learned just how tough I really can be if needed. I just missed out on a lot of time with my son and family from being gone all the time. The money WAS NOT worth it at all...

 

I think a lot of us aren't satisified with what we have and think someone has it better. I have the 4 year college degree (plus some). I've had a lot of experiences and usually thought someone had a better job or made more money. But it's not the money, it's not the power, it's not the hours. It's if you actually enjoy it. It has taken me a while but I finally figured out that I enjoy being by myself, with no boss standing over my back (although satallites change that), working hard when I need to, and doing it my way. As a Park Ranger (yes I actually was one for many years) I had a lot of those things. Then I decided to make more money, got promoted and landed in an office and lost my freedom as a Ranger. Then I went to a job that made a lot of money where I owned my own business. Last I closed the business and had to start over. I realized that 1 year really isn't much time, but that is probably an age thing. I figured that if I try trucking for a year or two (or a particular company) and decide it's not right, it's only a year and a new experience. I bet that there aren't many jobs that you can't find someone who isn't unhappy with it. Heck, look at how many people want to be truckers. Anyhow, I'm still in my student stage and may reevaluate this in a year (I may reevaluate it before my 8 weeks are over), but so far I'm excited about driving. If I fail in a year, then I'lll try something else. My other option was IT, but I couldn't take setting in a cube 5 days a week.

 

I hear ya... I sat in a cube myself. You may be in the right place at this point in your life to start driving. The driving is NOT what makes trucking a challenge its mainly the time away from home, dealing with dispatchers and of coarse for o/o & i/c FUEL is a huge problem(huge problem it also afects company drivers as companies are starting to cut benifits, pay,bonuses, even cutting miles, & hours ect. Don't let things like that keep you from giving trucking a chance its hard to really judge it of your first year even two. Not all trucking jobs are the same theres anyany from staying gone months at a time to even part time home daily. Theres freight companies, water haulin, fuel tankers, feed hauling, bull hauling, rail, its endless really ... You will be fine out there I am sure of it. You mainly need common since and a lot of patience .... Get to know logs the best you can and what DAC means...We are here for ya if you have any questions ...Good luck and enjoy the journey you have just begun!