10 Years on TTR

Wow where has 10 years gone? I joined TTR March 14 2010. But in the preceding weeks leading up to joining I spent a ton of time reading posts and threads trying to learn about the trucking industry as I was going to trucking school in those days.

I worked construction for 19 years prior to becoming a trucker, and after 10 years of trucking, things have come full circle. I will be going back to construction now to finish out my career before retiring.

Trucking has changed significantly in the very short snapshot from 2010 - 2020. I started out on paper logs then graduated to AOBRD which, as strict as they were, did have some flexibility. Then around November of 2019 my company implemented the full ELD mandate that most of us work under today.

In the paper loggin' days, parking wasn't the problem like we have today. Oftentimes you could just pull over to an onramp a mile or two before the truck stop exit late at night and sleep for 4-5 hours then roll into the truck stop and finish your ten hour break when other drivers were stirring and leaving to begin their shifts.

Today you would have to finish that full 10 at the onramp at the risk of getting a parking ticket along with the inconvenience of no hot/cold running water/food/restrooms etc. Otherwise you'd have to roll into the truck stop only to find there were no parking at all and would have to make your own spot.

In 2010 truck parking was pretty much free all over with a few exceptions like TA/Petro in West Memphis/Baltimore/Ontario. Walmarts were pretty much truck friendly places all over the country back then as well with a few exceptions.

In 2020, the Man has taken advantage of the ELD Mandate to charge drivers to park and is actively booting trucks at Walmarts and charging the drivers exorbitant amounts to remove said boots.

In any case, it has been an interesting 10 year chapter in my life, got to see 46 of the 48 states and picked up 3 Canadian provinces in my trucking travels. I hope to make it another 10 years on TTR as well and love reading and sharing trucking experiences. It will definitely be interesting to read about the drivers who are coming into trucking today and their 10 year take on the industry in 2030.

 

I did make a few back in the 90's which are up on my channel. I would love to make more as time goes forward as well.