Female Social Worker turnin' to Truckin'-Asking for Your Insight and Advice

Will do and likewise on your end!

 

Jagd and Nydiation, How are you doing in your training? I'm finding this site is a good resource but can be frustrating too because of soooo much information to digest! 20 minutes can turn into 2 hours reading advice!
I'm interested in hearing more from you as you progress in trucking! I'm in week 5 now at trucking school and its all a bit overwhelming!
Thanks!

 

Hey
i read a lot of negative stuff. I'll tell you different. Go with a BIG CO. Like US XPRESS I was with them for 5 years I Went through 4 dispatchers until I found one that was like me and it all went real nice. When I was there I got nice long loads my average was around 2350 a week. Sometimes more or less.
They also run auto shifts. It's been a long time sense I was on the road. The last 10 years I hauled logs I California in the summer the highway in winter I was always an owner OP. but you have so much more at a big CO. I don't care what any one says YOU HAVE TO PAY YOUR DUE'S!!!! No mater what. When you do that you can get work #### near any wear.
PS dont go out without a trainer it will be all bad. Good luck

 

Good luck OTR is not for everyone

 

I’d be interested in hearing how you’ve found the last 6 years. I’m in the same boat as you were in 2012

 

Yeah, how did it all go Nydia?

 

100 wanna drive a 18 wheeler.

Half cannot due to medical issues etc. So they are gone.

Half gets into school. Majority of that goes into debt or contracts a indentured servitude of their own free will. 20 will pretty much get out within three months. 15 will be removed from the industry for being non hireable due to too many accidents, incidents and so on. That leaves about 15.

After year one 5 will be killed, injured, arrested etc. The rest will still truck. After year 5 maybe half will still be with the 18 wheeler. These are the core of the industry who lord willing will run from age 21 to approximate age 55 when arthritis sets in, spines give out and other health problems set in. One or two will get past that and continue on into the 70's those are the lucky ones.

In the mean time we need so many replacements. Your first year will be a loss of sorts, you have to build up stamina to take on the United States in all the good and bad. Sometimes going into areas truly dangerous to you. It is one of the most dangerous occupations already. Getting back home to be with family on time off once a month for a couple of days or several times a year is truly precious. Although you can use today's technology to get face to face in real time communications.

This industry is something that keeps America going. In ways we don't always understand. You will need to be careful about what you are hauling because for example if you are with a reefer load of food and end up sitting 30 hours to get empty by yourself or with very expensive lumpers etc.... You will find that the US Fair Labor Act says it's legal to work 1000 hours straight forever you just cannot drive a inch until you have had either off duty time or a minimum logged time sleeping in the berth. Overtime is exempt in this Industry since 1934.

You are going to find that learning to trucking incurs either a fear of say mountains or problems with learning how to back a big rig. You also will best be very careful about job offerings. For example if your company boss says we have a dedicated position delivering to dollar general stores... if you know anything at all about that account you will FLEE from such a job offering. And be wise to avoid it.

It is good that Trucking offers such a interesting range of things to get into, flatbed, tanker, van etc. There are all sorts of fun things to do with it. If you like it. Otherwise it's not worth it. Every day is a learning process. Even today I just learned what weights a particular axle grouping can carry, because I did not have the motor carriers atlas right at hand when I did not do well thinking about that particular subject. You will do well to learn the weights system, axles and gross and have it down before you hit a DOT scalehouse. If you are too heavy, they will asbolutely write expensive tickets against you personally. I hope you have been making money. Or even better taking your rig to a CAT scale to find out the exact weight situation a few miles from Shipper before you decide all is well and head out.

We are deep into winter. Certain things like always fueling at half tanks, this protects your life should something happen and will provide you a few days of heat if your engine is still good in a break down of either a computer issue or a emissions problem or something else. If you find yourself with a completely dead truck in -35 in dakota, your life is in danger.

I am not always negative. But by experience I have learned to fight what i can see coming out there on the road before it becomes a real problem. Sometimes the shop manager says AWW go out and run it it's fine when you insist on having something fixed. Make sure it's fixed. You might learn new things like Chain Laws. When you are on Donner and it's fixing to be 10 feet drifts by morning and the state requires you to be on chain to get over to Reno you will want to know how to do it correctly long before you are there. "There" is no place to be learning to do it first time.

You will find our truck stops a little bit good, but alot of bad. Urine and messes all over. Fast food crap in place of sit down restaurants have been the norm as truck stop owners eliminate areas that cause drivers to sit for a long time and not spend money. So the full service restaurant is eliminated in favor of no place to sit while you pick up a bag of fast food that will probably not sustain you beyond a hour or two when you are trying to put away a thousand miles by morning.

Sunday and Saturday means nothing other than rolling to make your delivery. There is no time for sabbath or sunday services. You get that in the cab yourself as you roll. The appointment time is the most important problem you have in this industry. Then when you get there sometimes you find it has no value while you sit one or two days potentially waiting for a dock and getting empty. (Unpaid)

And as the years go by you discover inflation. .35 a mile is what they paid 35 years ago and what they continue to pay. You will find that inflation eats that right up if you live long enough.

It is not all bad. Again you gain a lifetime of stories, experiences and so on. It's not all the money. It's a feast and famine. If you build savings out of profitable weeks against a week in which you have nothing you will be ok. However your mortgage, house bills, utilities etc meaningless to the industry, you will be smart not to have any of that.

9-11 has caused big time changes to this industry. Not all of them good. And continues to do so. My life is literally two parts. Before there was a 9-11 and afterwards. For some who continue to drive today, they might consider it pre-emissions and after emissions. (Round about 2007 or so)

And the Laws. There are uncountable laws at all levels of our Nation from Township to county on up through state and federal at so many levels. You have to carefully think about what you are doing where you are at with that 18 wheeler. You cannot just stick it whereever you want. Be careful with it.

Good luck.