Any regrets?

Yea, Its a tough business.. If your not good with $$$ or putting money away, You'll struggle..It also helps by not moving subpar freight either

There are a Lot of guys on TTR that are doing really well..........And some that aren't.


Some people,you can Lead a horse to water..But you cant make him drink it

 

To funny. My only regret is I didn't quit my old job sooner.

 

I think any young person with a family who gets into OTR trucking should have a working spouse to help subsidize income, or enough savings for a few months bills. It takes a lot of pressure off, knowing that bills are being maintained while he/she is going through the learning curve out there. I have seen far too many young sole bread winners, that were just flat out demoralized in the first 5-6 months because they were not making the money that they were expecting, and falling behind. Many of them leave the industry thinking that they failed. They don't realize that the first year is slammed packed with learning........( the truck itself, routes, how to eat healthy/economically, mileage fluctuations, mistakes, dealing with shippers & receivers, being stroked by their dispatcher, 2 AM delivery times, bad weather, listening to bad advice from other drivers........etc. etc.) I like to compare a new drivers career to (cramming a 3 year college course into 9-12 months).

 

Regrets?..I have a few
but then again,to few to mention.

 

[QUOTE="semi" retired;4407078]Hi The Mariachi, there have been 100 page threads dealing with this subject. IDK, generally, if trucking wasn't in your blood, you are in for a rude awakening. I've heard of people from all walks of life, pitching the past and go into trucking and love it. I was a natural born lever puller, so trucking was great for me, but others, it was just a nightmare. If you can somehow do a ride along, even if you have to pay someone to do it, it could be the best money you ever spent. Trucking schools are very expensive, some with limited results, and the pay for a new driver is pretty low, but there are good paying jobs down the road in a couple of years. Trucking is mostly incentive work, meaning, the more you drive, the more you make, theoretically, but remember, you drive day and night, EVERY day and night, and just make sure that's what you want to do. OH, you can kiss your family life good-bye too, if you have that. Good luck.[/QUOTE]

Thanks for the information, Semi. My brother-in-law mentioned that there is very little time off but he LOVES driving OTR. The daughter of one of my sisters used to drive OTR and she LOVED it as well. She had a regular office type gig before driving and I can't remember right now what got her to try OTR but she highly recommends it to anyone.

 

You'll LOVE trucking! Just give it a try, or you might HATE it... Or you might find you love it AND hate it at the same time or depending on when you get asked, you might love it in the morning and hate in the afternoon and love it again before you crash out.

I did a lot of research, but at the end of the day, it's something you just have to decide, and if you do decide to do it, give it at least a year, maybe two before you decide if it's something you want to keep doing.

OTR is a grind, but it's an interesting gig. I think it beats some office gig and you will enjoy it if you keep an open mind.

Best of luck and glad to see you made it to the forums

 

my main regret is I didn't get the road out of my system prior to having a family and was only able to do it for a short time before I chose to drive local for the sake of my family. but its just not the same. nearly everyday I find myself scouring this message board and looking at various load boards somewhat living vicariously through the many otr drivers on here....

 

I think that, if all I ever did was drive a truck and made a career out of OTR, I would've regretted it. I had jobs where I got to drive trucks, work with various crews with boots on the ground, operate equipment.. it's a lot more hardship, but I'd choose that over the OTR life, any day.
I didn't come from a wealthy background, and I didn't transition from a white collar career - I came from a very depressed area of the country with a very dead end way of life, and I was a Combat Medic in the Army before I got my CDL. And, while the first one of those things was very detrimental in many ways, there were a couple benefits to it... for one, once I began to see a way out, I got locked into a "be more" mentality. The other, when you figure you've got nothing to lose and you get a notion to do something, you don't really do the whole risk assessment thing - you just do it. Now, in my younger years, that typically didn't turn out for the better, but I got laid off in North Carolina in 07, the job market there was kinda ####, so I saw a potential opportunity to work overseas, and I just did it. And, when things got to a point where I felt like I was treading water and wanted a change of venue (and I'm already in my 30s by this point), I just said "hell with it" and went for it. So now, I wrench on them, with a little bit of driving and equipment operation as a side gig.
I don't own the flashiest car, I'm not the best dressed, but I'm doing alright, and was able to sustain myself while I sowed my wild oats and got to the point where I was ready to.... well, I prefer to say "settle in" over "settle down". Looking back, some of it was good, some of it wasn't, but it was definitely interesting, I was willing to take risks, and I just did ####, and picked up some good skill sets along the way. I can understand the "white collar hell" sentiment, because I know I'd feel the same way. If you're not treating life like an adventure, you're not living, IMO. Yeah, not all of my life's decisions were good ones, but I lived life, you know? I don't regret that. Maybe OTR will give you the sense of adventure you feel like you need.. maybe you'll live out your days as an asphalt cowboy, maybe you'll move on to other things, and perhaps it'll give you a skill set you'll be able to use in conjunction with others in the future. Go forth and kill!
Well, just go forth, anyhow. Don't kill anyone.