FILL IN THE BLANK: I'm glad I became a trucker because...

.... Job security.

Only 2 people in my immediate family has been able to keep a full time job since the economic ressesion. Myself who is a truck driver, and my sister who is a general manager for a restaurant chain.

.... inflation

 

I am glad I became a truck driver because in the last 32 years I have never been out of work for a single day that I didn't want to be.

 

I'm glad I became a truck driver because being a gigolo was getting to be too tough at my age.

It would be great except for people who can't give a serious answer to a question posed on a chat board.

 

I'm glad I became a trucker because I wouldn't have met the best girl in the world if I hadn't been driving OTR and made that stop for the night in her town , and if it weren't for still-wet-behind-the-ears people becoming "trainers" and ignorant, misinformed people giving others advise , all would be good.

Seriously, I met the love of my life by chance...I happened to be running with a guy who wanted to stop at a truck stop I had never been to before for the night. She was working in the restaurant inside, and the rest is history.

And one of the biggest problems I see with this industry is the severe lack of competent, experienced trainers. Most of these training companies will send you to school to get your CDL, throw you into a truck with one of their "trainers" for 3-4 weeks, then send you out on your own. 90 days later, they want you to become a trainer to teach what little you know to another new CDL holder. The problem lies in the fact that you cannot teach what you do not know, and 90 days on the job isn't nearly enough time to even crack the surface of what a TRAINER should know. Heck, you could start training before you've ever even experienced a winter behind the wheel of a CMV! So now, you've got 2 guys...a trainer and a student....experiencing slick winter roads for the first time in an 80,000 pound truck.

When you couple the training problem with the fact that too many people are too lazy to open up that little green book and read for themselves the regulations which govern the industry...they'd rather ask somebody else for their opinion about a regulation which they heard from their buddy who's uncle is the safety director at XYZ trucking....it's easy to see where a lot of people get confused as to what is or is not allowed under the regulations. They are all right there in that little green book....or even online if you'd rather read 'em there. I tend not to believe much of what I see online or hear at the truck stop until I've had the opportunity to look it up and read the regulation in question for myself....and probably 99% of the time, what I saw online or heard at the truck stop was wrong.

 

I'm glad I became a trucker because I love my job, and if it weren't for The French, all would be good.

Thank you VERY much for any info/advice you may provide to help me get my new career started!

Bob[/QUOTE]

 

I'll 2nd the trainer part. If a trainer told me they had only 6 months of driving experience, I'd literally bust out laughing. The blind leading the blind. No wonder why starter outfits have staggering CSA scores.

 

it's a solid, challenging, respectable career.

low pay, although i'm not broke at the moment, with money in my wallet.

 

I agree with you there! I left the trainers truck in late august 2012, and a couple of weeks ago I got a message asking if I wanted to be a trainer! HELL NO! It would be highly negligible for a company to put me in a training position with such little experience. I've only driven in heavy snow once, and my backing still leaves a lot to be desired. Hell, the trainee could probably teach me a few things! I'd say you need AT LEAST a few years experience before even being considered a trainer.

 

Glad i became a trucker because it fulfilled a dream...and if wed get rid of the FMCSA b.s. all would be good. Just let us drive and start putting regulation where it belongs on the vehicles with 4 wheels not 18!

 

I'm glad I became a trucker because I never thought I'd find a 100hr a week job that kept me away from home so much and if it weren't for that, all would be good.