Failure, why? How to prevent it?

Sometimes. I worked 5 years of 100+ hour weeks before I got into trucking and got little more for it than tired.

It was an "investment" with the potential for million$, that ended up paying far less than minimum wage.

Truck driving is still the hardest job I ever had, and ever hope to have.

 

Also, understand how your pay works in this job. We're payed by piece work. Almost every one of us. I'm payed hourly, but warehouse to warehouse is x hours. You're not going to become rich from the start. But if you're making under minimum wage, well then you need to analyze what you're doing.

In NJ, at only 25cpm, you'd only need 2,000 miles to match minimum wage. Most solo drivers start above that or in the 30s. And usually get more than 2,000 miles a week.

This business depends on how you work. If you want to shut the truck down a lot, go sight seeing all the time, then you're screwed. If you're out there to get the miles and drive the truck, you'll be payed very well. You might not be one of the lucky ones netting 50-60k, but neither are a lot of nurses, cops, firefighters, scientists, techs....

I don't know why so many people average below minimum wage, but the math just isn't there. You're like your own business, you gotta push to make the money, and ignore the distractions.

 

They average ~minimum wage by choice.

I did it, I think we all at least "optimized" our logbooks. Many is the week I put in 100 hours to log 70 and turn 3000 miles. 100 x $8.5/hr. = $850. 2000 x .25/mi. = $500. $8.50 is what I approximated I was earning/hour when I entered the industry at .25.

Yeahbut... you can't push the hours as a O/O... or at least it's becoming more difficult, and it will soon be impossible. Then, drivers will have it a lot easier, and freight rates and driver wages will have to increase, substantially.

If drivers gave the feds what they think they want, the feds and the whole US of A would immediately discover that ain't nothing like what they want.

"We have seen the enemy, and we be them".

 

Had a guy that I had to train to haul windblades. First thing out of his mouth was that he had been driving 32 years and use to pull a 13 axle. [READ: if you meet a driver, and in the first 5 minutes of you knowing this guy, he starts volunteering employment history, WATCH OUT]

At the port, the driver was extremely impatient. Got into a shouting match with a loader, and they put him at the back of the line. I didnt say anything.
They were slow about issuing us our BOLs, so the other group leader and I decided to pull out the next day. Rookie was extremely upset and couldnt understand about the metro curfews and challenges of parking 190 ft loads late evenings. I didn't say anything.
Rookie runs out of the port the next morning, almost hits a pilot car. I catch up to rookie and watch him miss a turn and go off route. I dont say anything.
Rookie shows up late at the jobsite and asks me if I am mad at him like the rest of the crew is. I tell him that I dont get mad. I ask him if he knew he had been off route today, he said that he didnt realize it until it was too late and that this was the first time that happened in 32 years. I inform him that it happened the day before. He asks, "You saw that? Why didnt you say anything?" I told him that once he started volunteering employment history that I dont have anything to say.
Next run, Rookie blows through a metro curfew. He doesnt get caught, but one of his pilot cars drop a dime, and the company flies a Safetyman out to fire him on the spot.

He told me that he had been heavyhaul, pulling a 13 axle. He told me that he had been driving for 32 years. I was to show him the ropes in pulling blades. That was his way of telling me that he knows what he is doing. Alright, if a driver has been on the road for any length of time, he will learn patience or he will kill someone. You will never see a driver that's pulled a 13 axle that's still impatient. He went off route with a 190ft load twice in 2 days. He's not doing his homework, which is trip planning and reading his permits. You have never seen a successful heavy hauler that would hit the road without doing his homework. This is disasterous in our line of work.

So why say anything? He already knows everything.