Be honest, is trucking a good job?

Nope, some guys are home every weekend bringing 5-700 dollars. If that company would take a van O/O, I'd sign on faster than one can blink.

 

Good Job requires a value judgement. What do you define as good job? Money. This is not the highest paying job I ever had. But is $70,000 a realistic number. I make 45 cents a mile as a company driver. Take the amount of money you want to make and divide it by the cents per mile you are paid and it give you the number of miles you have to drive to make that amount. $70,000 / .45 = 155555.56 miles. 155555.56 miles divided by 52 weeks gives you miles per week you have to drive. 2991 miles a week average for $70000. It can be done. But if money is what drives you, you will not make it in this industry. You have to become a business man at heart to make it. Truck drivers are one of the most important thing in a businesses success. We are rolling warehouses for companies. The "Just in Time" inventory system that major companies rely on can not function without the driver getting to the place on time. Harley Davidson was one of the first companies to figure that out. Companies can cut cost if they do not have to inventory large amounts of parts. As long as the ones they need arrive "just in time."

If you fail to understand that truck drivers are very important to this nation, you will fail. It isn't about your pay check. It is about the global economy. Without trucks nothing gets done. Understand your place in the universe and you will be a success. Because you will demand to be treated with the respect and pay you deserve. I make sure my load arrives on time and in good condition. I ask the customers if they are satisfied with my performance and if there is anything I can do to make their job easier. I listen to them and try to improve. I know my dispatcher and let her know that I will do anything I can to help her. I never turn down a load and I drive anywhere. I point out anytime that I get screwed as taking one for the team but do so smiling. Most times, I get ten good runs to make up for anything bad.

And remember, you can always buy a powerball ticket.

 

What drives me is be able to see different things. I enjoy it out here, if my sleeper was big enough I'd live in the truck. I can't do an office job, tried it, hated it. 4-8 seemed like 4 days to me. Quit first day and sent my prehires.

 

You're right, it doesn't have to be that way - - but if we're to be honest, more often than not it will be "that way".
In the Denver area it's a prerequisite that you have OTR experience (with a starter carrier or otherwise) before any company that has local delivery or regional will even consider you. Some only 6 months, but usually it's 1 year.
There are exceptions of course, but this is typical.

Smaller carriers don't have the critical mass that neccesitates recruiters and schools and training programs that the larger carriers must have to keep bodies behind the wheel. So the smaller carriers let them do all the training and screening for them; keeps their insurance rates down as well.

If you can survive that first year with a large carrier that recruited you from a CDL mill, you probably have what it takes to drive for anyone. Making it through that first year unscathed is what the smaller guys want to see in a driver.

Can the OP be one of the lucky rookies that falls into a sweet little dedicated weekly run?
Yes, it's possible - - but atypical.

 

One thing to note, lots of the big mega companies will actually let you get home every week, without any real experience. I had only the training program at CR England and two months at swift over 5 years prior and Schneider said they would hire me for the local Walmart dedicated for .32 starting, then CR England said they would give me .38 for a home weekly dedicated run, and they would let me park at a plant one block from the DC metro. Since I would have to buy a car to work for Schneider and it was less money per mile, stayed put at CRE.

You will see them put things like 6 months or a year experience required, but most of these mega companies are self insured and they will break whatever internal rule suits them. If they need people lots of times it seems they would rather have a cheaper newbie anyway.

So being gone for months at a time isn't really required for new people, but most people I talk to who are home every week make a fair bit leas than otr people. I don't view it as a lifestyle, work is a means to an end, it doesn't define me, that being said my whole plan is to only be around in this industry for a few years, I would think that a poor attitude if you want a career in the long term.

 

Yes it is. But you have to get to that point. If you have your own truck, authority, etc then you better know what you're doing (experience) or you're going to make stupid mistakes that will devour your nest egg and leave you with a worn out truck and not much else. I wouldn't want to go back to company driver but it's alot more work "being your own boss" than most people realize.

 

The longest I've ever stayed out is two weeks. So now being home every weekend I am losing what, 4 days work a month? That's nothing and I bring home a lot more than the numbers you mentioned.

 

...who's your employer? ಠ_ಠ

 

Trucking is awesome i dont care what anyone says no boss on your shoulder,you set your own hours and my family loves to see me when i get home.Yes it is not great pay,yes you work really long hours and of course you may not be home exactly when you want to but dang it i love it so much I will never leave.........

 

Agree, trucking is great its an awesome career. There may be hard moments in trucking but you are able to work and be able to take care of things. Some companies are good and some are not, people have different experience then others. Some love it alot and some hate it. As truck driving for me I love it, I learn life on the road and how the country is. Problem trucking mostly have in for me is hometime and when you have young kids and a wife it will be harder for you unless you have a local job. Other than that for me its a great job in my opinion, I love being out on the road