Consider yourself Warned about trucking!

The correct way to go about finding about a company is to go to a truckstop AND A local Shipper/Receiver. Reason I say Shipper/Receiver is that you can compare companys with the same trailer. If your new to the business. (You can also watch how long it takes to get loaded/Unloaded and how much work is involved.)

At truck stops most of the drivers are in a hurry or sleeping. Those that are not in a hurry are the drivers that are not getting the miles. I can name 2 companys off the top of my head that will get you minimum 2500 a week and home 75% of every weekend. More time you've been with a company the more you get priority on loads that go buy your house

Just remember Everyone has at least one thing they don't like about the company. If they don't then they're lying to you or they haven't been there long enough. Or even they haven't been in the business long enough to say.

I talked to a few drivers that love the company they work for. They will never leave. They also take home 3-400 a week and only go home for 4 days a mth

ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS ASK *****How long have you been with this company***** One thing I noticed is that when I ask drivers from the company I work for. I've been here 10yrs 15yrs. I have even talked to the driver that has been here since the company started. Out of 20 drivers only 2 has been here less than 2yrs.

 

Go to the truck stop on during the week and on the weekend and count how many trucks from the same company. You'll see who is getting home and is not.

 

Or it could just tell you that "that" company has a dedicated fuel stop there............

 

To infidel: After reading your rant, it just sounds as if you never did your homework. My kids love to tell me that I have the computer skills of Fred Flintstone, but even at my age of near-55, the internet has taught me volumes. Trucking is not a job. It's a committment and a lifestyle, its a means to an end. And if you don't love the 'means', then you're already at the 'end'. Often age and maturity are able to teach us things, if we listen.
Or, we can go on being victimized by life, by making immature, uneducated decisions. My homework is done, as are my days as a Chef. Best of luck to you, and I look forward to many years ahead on the Road.

 

I have dedicated fuel stops. Doesn't mean I'm goig to park there for more than 15 mins. I get my fuel grab a snanck and go. When you get home (if you get home) go count the trucks there getting a restart or are awake hanging out because they can't deliver. To early, waiting on a load. I get dispatched before I'm mty. Get my restarts at home not on the road.

 

Ive loved my time driving, I have memories that will last a lifetime, during training my mentor and I delivered a load of props from tom cruise's new movie "one shot" to universal studios, we got to see all the props from movies, and we got to walk around the park and go on the rides for free, I would never have gone to universal studios on my own, but its an experience that I doubt a "civilian" would of experienced.

Ive been happy in every job ive done, I personally dont care what I do in life, as long as it isnt an office job (I have a degree in programming and in network engineering and cant stand it, love computers, just fall asleep in those office situations). I researched this job, I did my homework, but also know that IM the sort of person who has been in that burger king job. I never get talked down to though, odd, Ive had one customer who started being a dick and I told him to zip it, and made a complaint to my dm, dont need to put up with that in this job, or any job, courtesy and politeness are cornerstones of society.

 

It's funny. All the things I thought would suck about driving OTR (or regional) turned out to be not that big of a deal at all. There's tough/lousy days occasionally where nothing is going smoothly, but that's life...welcome to it. The trick is finding a gig that doesn't suck. Usually this requires spending time in one that does so you can get the experience or seniority you need. Before I got into my regional gig I was doing typical gut rot OTR van work with big shippers and long waits for crap pay. I started to get a little tired of it after a few months and found something a bit better. And I know there are even better jobs to be had in the future if I play the cards right.

 

Always know what you're going to be getting yourself into before you try it.
Sadly, there are those of us, myself included, that don't quite believe any horror stories until we put ourselves through it outright.
That said, one of my introductory rants that got me shot down on this site was primarily a result of being spoiled by one company, getting booted from there, and ending up at the "back of the bus" with a different company.

If there's any one thing to be learned from driving as a career, it's to "not get comfortable" with any arrangement.
Unless you're running local or linehaul of some type, a sweet OTR gig keeping you in a comfortable place could disappear at the drop of a hat.

 

.....it would be this: If you become a "Truck Driver" and actually work at it for any decent length of time, then you will soon learn that regardless of your educational level and/or prior work history (regardless of whatever other field or industry), you will henceforth and forever be known to any and all future employers as nothing but a "Truck Driver".

Most companies do not use actual human beings to screen applications or resumes, they use computer programs to search for "key words" or "job titles". If you post your application on a job search engine to any non-trucking entity, their computer program will pick up your status as a current or former "truck driver" and automatically kick you out of the running for any non-trucking position.

Sorry, but it's a fact and one that I would have liked to have known before I made the leap. I love driving a Big Truck, but I don't appreciate that the world now suddenly thinks (thanks to technology) that I am incapable of anything else, regardless of how educated I am or how diverse my prior trucking work history/experience is.