Is truck driving the best paying driving job?

I'm retiring in March. Looks like a great side hustle...Rooster schmoozing the old Hens. Pretty close to Port Canaveral...lots of ships, lots of old broads...and poor me!

 

Inflation takes care of the dollars. 20.00 in the 80's is much more than that today in inflated dollars for the same widget or service. If you looked at it another way early 70's a good wage was 4.07 a hour which would be around 24.00 per hour today.

Trucking is rewarding in other ways than money. Traveling the USA and learning the land as well as mex and canada in it's own time. Growing up in Baltimore City in Maryland is different than the bodymore murderland it has become today. There is no point in staying there. However if you go to many other places you will find both the good and bad.

The little stresses about driving a 18 wheeler 53 foot sleeper or non is something that is learned as you go and then refined. Trucking school teaches you just enough to get the CDL, then your real education begins with your first load. Many do not stay in trucking for a variety of reasons. However for those who managed to stick around and still run those are the ones you want. Ultimately it's a young man's game related to physical labor in certain areas of trucking. You also would consider the quality of car drivers to be pretty abysmal and have to keep eyes up and think ahead to make room for your truck so that you are not involved in the smashup.

 

Plenty of class b (box truck) jobs

 

Formula 1 driver

 

Best comment I ever read was on youtube.. some cdl driver said he loves pissing people off when he has to back in the middle of the road to deliver with 4-wheelers honking and flipping him off and all he does is laugh in their face because they can't do nothing about it.

Was comedy gold. Had to screenshot it. Will have to post.

 

I couldn't imagine drving OTR forever, that's why I only do it for 4 or 5 months and then take off 4 or 5 months and live overseas. There's more to life than baby sitting someone else's truck and load 24 hours a day most days of the week. Even when you are not driving, your around the truck and that means work, whether you admit to it or not. Trucking is literally slavery on wheels, but its self imposed slavery so it alright!

Lots of hassles and b.s. for a job that works you over 70 hours a week all the while you feel like you are being used as cheap labor and make no mistake about it, you are. That's why there is always a shortage of qualified drivers. I"ve only worked for the mega carriers so I can only speak from that side of the fence.

 

Think Schneider would be a good place to start? I think any job really asks a lot of you. As a custodian, always get asked if we want overtime (extra 1-2 hours on top of the 8). Least I get to sleep in my own bed.

 

I contact ozzy for you I'm sure we will be able to find you a position driving a crazy train

 

That's where I started was there for 3 or 4 months then got a food service job

 

I drove for them nearly 6 months out of Phoenix. They are low paying compared to other companies. I didn't like their terminal/dropyard locations on the west coast. Very by the book company on a lot of things and I never had to argue about layover pay or break down pay with my DM.

I drove a Cascadia for them at the time nearly 59K and about half of that time the check engine light was on, all they ever did at their in house shop was reset the thing. Finally, had to get it fixed up near Medford, OR one day when it turned red. Spent a night at Motel 6 without much hassle.

If they paid more, I'd go back to them.