Why do people say "don't be a trucker, go to college instead"?

Yeah I’m off by 6 most nights.

All the benefits and it’s a 80-100k job once you’re at full pay in four years. I just started 3 months ago though so I only make 80% of full scale.

Whatever, I can live with that. The thing is most these doctors and lawyers are putting in crazy hours too. People act like trucking is the only field where you gotta work long hours. Most any job that is gonna pay you big bucks is gonna work you hard. It’s not like doctors go to work and it’s a walk in the park...

 

Especially e.r. docs, and then you've got to deal with the people who come in who you can't help, or you do all you can and it doesn't help. You've also got the whole malpractice lawsuit thing you've got to worry about as a doctor too if you make a mistake.

 

I voluntarily chose several years ago to leave a mid six figures position in the financial world. The stress was immense, and I was never off work. The more responsibility I assumed, the more intense it all became. I finally decided that I wanted to live a little. Having money is not all there is to life. We RVd for a couple of years, and then I got into trucking because it’s something I wanted to do. Although I work long hours, most days it does not feel like work. I think most things in life are what you make them. It’s all about perspective. I think Mark Twain is credited with saying, “If you find something you love to do, you will never work a day in your life.” There are other things I enjoy as well, and someday I may choose to pursue another venture. You only live once.

 

Exactly. Truck drivers act like it’s the only hard or stressful job.

My friend is a brain surgeon at the Mayo Clinic. It ain’t all sunshine and rainbows even if you make a bunch of money.

 

I was a surgical nurse in my past life, I'll stick with trucking.

 

Truck driving is one of the few jobs where after spending $5000.00 to get through school, many drivers make less than minimum wage their first year driving.

 

Trucking is considered by the US Dept of Labor as unskilled work. Right up there with janitor and such.

Means there’s no floor to the wages.

Where a body of knowledge must be displayed (credentials) then lifetime earnings are CONSISTENTLY higher. Electrician, for example.

An undergraduate degree is nowadays worthless. Standards dropped so low that barely-above average IQ is admitted & graduated.

Thru WWII it was 2% of the population. Figure it today for maybe 10% of white males as of sufficient rigor.

Like high schools have been turned into daycare centers with some sports teams (instead of denying entrance to sub-85 IQ), college is just a holding pen to keep them out of a job market that,

No longer features jobs where a man can earn enough to get married and save for a house (one income) as was the case even for the high school diploma’d of 1960.

And debt that can’t be exorcised in bankruptcy.

It’s war against the native population.

A CDL is a handy back pocket career. Second or third choice.

Time away from family, chronic health issues and premature death after a lifetime of hard work are its main features.

Might be different if pay were 3X current wages so that a man might sacrifice himself to ensure a basic prosperity for his family.

Military service would be better. Safer. And transition into another government gravy job afterwards. Guaranteed pension and medical care. Etc. Outside of Special Forces it’s pretty much a welfare scam now.

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I’m a military vet and also went back to school and got bachelors degree. Maybe if you stay in school and go to graduate school but even then it will be difficult. more money in trucking depending what kind of trucking you are doing and what kind of industry you are in. I’m talking local construction.

 

Having been a successful programmer for 15 years and a trucker for eight years, I can tell you why. Most old school truckers jumped straight into trucking and think that going to college and getting an office job means you just lay back and relax in an office and collect a big paycheck and go home. They have no idea of the mental stress which far exceeds trucking. Trucking is way easier than programming even on the worst day.