I'm 18 - should I become a trucker in a few years? Need advice...

Let's go back the original post. Andrew, you said in that post that you have a friend who "recently became a trucker" and then later said "who bought his own rig for 125K".

This friend of yours.....he sort of put the cart before the horse here. Or at least he put the cart beside the horse. He should have put the cart behind the horse where it belongs--he should have been a company driver for a few years before jumping into the O/O side. Not only this, he bought an expensive ride to boot. If I were starting out as an O/O, I'd pay AT MOST 35K for a rig. I'd want to make sure I could actually make money doing it before investing in anything new. Hell, if I found I could be successful, I would probably STILL buy a cheap, used rig over a 125K ride.

Going the route your friend has gone is NOT the way to go. Don't let all that guy's chrome overwhelm your reason. I bet his rig has already depreciated away 10% of its value ...at least.

 

i posed a simaler question recently and got about the same response, althou it was slightly more supportive. perhaps because im a bit older then you, matter of fact just turned 21 yesterday

i dont know his situation however i can relate. i had no clue what i wanted to do either. however even if i did know i can NOT afford college. and if that means making less then so beit. if its one thing you will learn about college its this: you dont go to college and you get a $10 an hour job. you go to college you get a $20 an hour job. HOWEVER you still own about half a billion dollars in loans and debt from college so guess where half your paycheck goes? thats right, now you are making $10 an hour. the purpose of college is to get a job doing what you REALLY love. if you arent passionate about something dont fall into that ######## hype that you need college or else you will spontanously combust or whatever your highschool has been telling you.

secondly i see alot of comments here about you should try other jobs, this that and the other thing because trucking isnt a great job. well in all honesty there is NO SUCH THING AS A GREAT JOB. with trucking you are on the road lonog hours, you deal with the 90 billion morons that dont deserve a drivers liecense let alone a car that surround you and beleive they are more important then you and nearly wreck you half the time. you have to deal with loading dock morons that keep you 3hours overdue of when you shoulda been loaded up. and a whole slew of other problems im sure the other guys here will list for you.

but that doesnt mean you shouldnt do it. every job sucks. thats why its called "a job" if it was suppose to be fun it would be called "sex" everyjob sucks. the important thing is what do you want to do. do you want to protect and serve? then become a police officer but keep in mind there is no "9-5" its "whenever we want you" which means 28 hour shifts and idiots to deal with all day, oh and that whole getting shot at thing. but if you can deal with that and you want to be a cop then do it. if you want to be a part of the legacy of people that construct buildings and such then do construction but it sucks because of the heat and cold working outside and bodily injurys.

i can continue but im sure by now you get the point. a job is a job. it isnt fun. it isnt great. a job is there for you to earn a living, support a family, and live life. there will be highpoints and low points. take the bad with the good. pick what you want to do and do it.

as for me in a year or two i will hopefuly have enough saved to go to truckin school and join the ranks of these brave nobel fellas and ladies here. because my only passion in life is driving. and since i have no prior racing experiance i highly doubt that nascar has an opening for me so the next closest thing to a career in driving is trucking. i know it aint all CBs and Highways. but if i can support a small family that i wish to have in the future then thats what i want to do. i want to be out on the road i want to do what it takes to have a decent life. i aspire merely to be a "workin man" i dont care about being a CEO and owning my own fleet of expensive sports cars. and i beleive that trucking can fufill my needs in life. so im ready to take the bad with the good. i will be enjoying my passion of driving and making a living.

so you do what you feel is right for you. and be ready to take the bad with the good. because life isnt whiped cream and cherries. underneath that dream is a big bowl of ************. so just be ready to enjoy what you can when you can because the reality will hit ya and you will find out that its tough. but sooner or later it all pays off in the end.

 

Hey, Too-Tall. Tip here. I can offer you some advice--definitely get into driving. You want to do it, you're young, and you have a good attitude. I say "go for it". You'll be fine.

When I MYSELF tell folks to avoid getting into driving, it's because (usually) those guys are a lot older than you and would be walking away from jobs that pay 60K+. Most times these guys know nothing about trucking except "they've always wanted to try it." That reason isn't good enough for them to make the jump, at least not in my mind. I tell them honestly that getting into trucking isn't worth the risk that they will bail on their cherry jobs for trucking only to find out later trucking isn't their cup of tea.

Sure, maybe they'll like it. But maybe they won't. What happens if they don't like it, they quit because they don't like it, and then they can't return to their former cherry jobs? Where are they gonna work at 55? Burger King?

A bird in the hand is worth ten in the bush is what I'm really saying.

 

I agree with you Tip. If someone is young and wants to see if trucking is for them, then they should try it. I have personally found that going to a good trucking school and working on getting my CDL A, has been a good thing for me. I was one of those people that always said I'll go to college down the road. Well, down the road came, and I never made it to college. I decided I needed a good job skill aside from a high school diploma. So, I decided to try truck driving and got my CDL B. I really enjoyed driving, but found that year round jobs with no driving experience can be hard to get where I live with a B license. So, I registered to take a CDL A training course. I can say that it has been a great experience so far. However, alley docking a tractor and trailer is more difficult than I ever imagined. I would trully say that if you are young and want to try trucking, give it a try. If you have a stable job that pays $60,000, I would stay there.

 

yea i would have to agree

only thing is, you cant drive for 3 years lol....so what are you going to do
till then????

if i were to do it all over again i would goto school.....ask a bunch of people
on the cb

 

let's "look" at this college/educational thing from another view.

suppose he takes up some business courses/majors, and graduates, that business degree will HELP HIM if he were to ever consider being an O/O. not too many (first time) O/O's are successful, and many DO FAIL with-in a 2 year period of getting into business. now, as a business grad, he can then know how to properly run and maintain a business. even if he decides to stay a comapny driver, that business degree will be of some help somewhere's in his future.

now, let's suppose he doesn't go to college, becomes a truck driver, doesn't like it, or perhaps stays with it a few years. NOW (if he likes it) he wants to try being an O/O..................??? he will have NO time to return to school to furthur his education, as he will be too darned busy chasing loads, maintaining the truck/trailer, paperworks, and so on and so forth.

yes wihtout a doubt college cost big bucks, but there are "junior" colleges, even places like "Saywer" (if in your area), that do have college courses, sometimes at reduced costs compared to the "big universities".

i wish i had the time/money, i'd go back to school and take up something else, and be rid of the roads for good.

 

I dont mind the solitude. hell give me an mp3 player and radio adapter. a CB. and a destination and im as happy as as a stripper at a bill gates party.

i orginaly wanted to go into computers. namly computer technian. first off school for that costs $40,000. lets see.. new pickup truck... or over priced education.... thats a tough one. (roll eyes)

my parents didnt have a college fund, nor can they afford to co-sign a loan agreement for me to go, thus i cant go to college until im 25 when i can apply for a loan solo. thats when i started lookin at plan B: an "Everyman" job. the average "workin joe livin the american dream" and thats what i aspire to be. when i realized my passion for driving i realized this is probably what i should look into.

now that aside the other reason i decided to second think that computer tech career. is i do that as a "hobby" right now... there has yet to be a case where i havnt been HIGHLY tempted to grab the keyboard smack the person across the face with it and ask "how effing stupid can you be?????" so since i have no patience for stupid people, i think taking a job where im alone most of the time would be the best course of action.

good thing is i am a fast learner and i do beleive that i have a talent for driving. after all the first time i "practiced" i didnt do the hit the brakes every 5 feet thing. it all came natural to me. my biggest concern now is how to manuver that big ol trailer around. however if they can teach you guys n gals how to do it im sure i can learn it too. and if for whatever reason i cant then theres always CDL-B.

the other thing that i like about trucking is its always an indemand job. because no matter what theres always **** that gotta go somewhere. and someone's gotta take it there

 

What do you mean unkept promises? Didn't you get everything that was listed in your contract. The see a lawyer. Or do you claim that your recruiter told you stuff that wasn't true? Only suckers get suckered. There are a lot of people out there that did quite well in the military. (myself included) If you can't live off a military pay check then I doubt you will be able to live off a truckers starting pay check. Unless of course you get to drive for mom and dad. Military pays well and you get free housing, paid in full medical, food paid for. Your pay is for what you want to do with it. Even as a young troop starting out when you do make less you have enough to enjoy life a little. after four years in you should be E-5 and making enough to support a family. Enough on that.

Andrew,
That is exactly what I would suggest you do, look at going into the military for a couple of years unless you are going to college. Get the GI bill to pay for college after you get out. You can also take college classes while you are in. I don't think you can really get into trucking until you are 21 anyway. Three hot meals and a cot plus a paycheck and you get to see the world. From your post you seem like a smart guy who needs some life experience. The military will do that for you. I would have to recommend the Navy, Air Force, or Coast Guard unless combat is to your liking.

 

This job sounds better than it really is...u must keep in mind that most of the time you will spend by yourself. But...the good parts are..with my job I work M-F running New England. I am only gone for 2 nights at the most and sometimes home the same day.

I work for a small company and on overnight trips I get $15 for dinner $5 for breakfast and lunch is paid by the driver. It's something you don't see very often.

I get paid by the hour which is also nice..so everything I do i get paid for. U mention sleeper cabs vs. day cabs...well if u have a day cab they cant make you sleep in it. So you're either home everynight or they put u up in a motel.

I haul plants so i will be not working all winter. I get paid 30 hrs. a week by the company for not working...so i can deal with that.

There are companies that have their own schools and pay for your training. Otherwise you can go to a school and pay out of your pocket. Some companies will pay you back for your schooling.