Can you be a really good truck driver and still be bad?

You weren't seriously trying to suggest if the Dept of Labor changed the classification of truck driving from unskilled labor to skilled labor or professional labor it would change anything are you? Why didn't you just write that instead of meditating on my poetic waxing? Are you now, or have you ever been a card-carrying thespian?

 

What else do you imagine when you are thinking about me?

 

Yeah, that's exactly what I was suggesting, what's wrong with that?

 

When I said nobody hiring truck drivers refers to the Dept of Labor job classification document when picking a pay rate, I explained what is wrong with that. You might as well blame driver pay on the DOT choosing the shade of yellow for the painted stripes on the road. You can take any non-CDL person and turn them into a CDL holder in 3 weeks. Name another skilled job or profession where you can take a "civilian" and train them in 3 weeks? It probably takes longer to train a bartender or car salesman for their job than truck driver.

The DoL unskilled labor argument is like arguing if you get the city to change the name of your street from Main street to John D Rockefeller Lane your home value will be that of a mega-mansion. It's a label, not what determines the value. You want others to believe that the hiring manager consults the DoL job classifications before hiring a driver but he doesn't know if he has too many trucks or is paying enough money to keep his trucks full of drivers? Ridiculous.

 

Obtaing a license does not by any means indicate you have any Skills!

 

I didn't even think about it like that, I see what you're saying now.

Also I never thought about the fact that bartenders are more skilled than truck drivers but you're right because they have more training. I can't imagine how long it takes to memorize all those drinks.

 

Exactly, which is why the hiring manager counts the trucks to make sure the trucks are full because the Dept of Labor is ridiculous but if somebody would just tell the Department of Labor the bartenders have skills than they'll stop saying there is a driver shortage.

If I understand it correctly now

 

I can truly admit that I have a love/hate relationship with truck driving. Some days it’s the best job I can imagine another days I feel like I’ve sold my soul to the devil for a paycheck. But at the end of the day it’s a decent paycheck in a decent way to make a living compared to many other ways. It’s just definitely not for everyone. There are some very harsh realities that you must face and I feel like most drivers Face them between years three and five Depending on their age and the reality of whether they’re willing to do it for life or not. You truly are giving up a lot of life for that paycheck. And no matter how hard you fight the system, if you want to keep that paycheck there’s no other way around it. I’ve tried some of the most creative ways that I can think of to incorporate having a “life“ out on the road. Rather than trying to cram my five days of home time every month into having that be my life. It doesn’t happen. Lol maybe once every two weeks or so the stars align and you can get out of the truck and actually do something truly fun. But in my case I’m usually too #### tired to truly enjoy whatever it is I’m trying to do. I end up just wanting to go use the extra time for extra sleep. Because I know the 600 to 700 mile days are right around the corner.

having done this job for 5 1/2 years it’s my humble opinion that if you’re out on the truck for 2 to 3 weeks at a time zigzagging back-and-forth across the country you should be putting it at least $1800 after taxes a week in your bank account. Anything less than that is just slavery of some type in my opinion. If you’re making that kind of money and you’re smart with it you can set yourself up for hopefully an early retirement.

 

What do you think this graph means when it comes to the driver shortage? It's dividing truck tonnage by truck transportation employees?

If the line goes up does it mean that truck tonnage has been outpacing truck transportation employees?

You seem to have the best grasp of the topic so hopefully you can shed some light on this.

Is it just propaganda do you think?

 

You've hit trucker puberty. All grown up in the industry lol. In all seriousness though, when that epiphany hits you, it's kind of jarring. This lifestyle takes a lot out of you. When someone decides to be an OTR trucker, they have to become ok with a very large sacrifice, and one that oftentimes goes unnoticed. It's difficult to impossible to live a normal life outside of trucking. That's what I think drives so many people out of the industry.