I asked a veteran trucker about trucking

On a different forum I frequent, and this was his response. It reads like well written novel.

"Drew99GT,

It's nice to be asked about truck driving. Yes, I enjoyed it as I was out and about. Yes, I enjoy the physical discipline of working 15-18 hour days. Yes, the pay was adequate.

First, it is best to be from a family where there is at least one driver. Truck driving is a world unto itself, and there are no books to teach you an overview or perspective (I have a joint B.A. in history and philosophy). I worked plenty of blue-collar jobs prior to this one and had more than a good idea of what I was in for. You should understand that, due to circumstances of decades standing, most skilled jobs were not an option for me. I make this point so you can comprehend that I could not afford to be a dilettante, nor was I kidding myself about the dangers of this occupation: mental, physical, emotional and financial. And I already knew what sorry jobs were: you don't have the option of leaving.

As a single man, never married, I had no responsibilities to anyone but myself, and could afford an overall low wage. Truck driving is a dead-end career. The median American wage at present is $32,000 for all workers. This is about what you'd make the first year in driving, gross. Truckers are paid cents-per-mile, but only for miles-in-route which may be one-third less than one actually drives. It is a seven-day per week job, pretty much, which was fine by me at the point I started. The IRS deduction for travel is decent, but you won't make enough to use it all. You must use an accounting firm that handles company drivers and owner-operators. Do not make the mistake of trying to do this yourself. Just keep perfect records of every .16-cent expenditure and up.

One must plan. Sell any cars or motorcycles is best. Otherwise, have a paid-for dirt-cheap car you can keep in storage. Sell all other goods. One must have a legal address (Hi, Mom, or sis) but that is it.

Get your possesssions down to what is needed for winter and summer driving (US or Canada; CARHARTT is good quality, get the twill dungarees; I wear WRANGLER and FILSON work clothes as well. No t-shirts, always shirt with collar, leather belt, leather shoes: preferably with composite safety toe like REDWING; I wore boots when loading/unloading and then MINNETONKA moosehide moccasins to drive. Slip on boots -- wellington style -- are easist to take on and off. Goatskin roper-style gloves. Also, a hat for the rain, I like the FILSON Packer as the gimme caps make men look like kids. Optical quality sunglasses. I prefer the high-tech SMARTWOOL socks and this lightweight, poly underwear that wicks sweat. Your clothes are the only thing saving your hide in any weather or conditions, don't cheap out or look like a bum. Have about 3-4 seasonal changes to wash when you get the chance (usually the Sunday night on the road). Take plenty of good books (Cormac McCarthy, that quality. Robert Stone, Russell Banks, et. al.)

After steering-wheel-holder school one moves to company training at a rate of about $300/week for three to six weeks. You'll eat plenty of peanut butter or other cheap carry-along food. Get rid of all possible debt payment for the first year, as you won't really be able to service it and to live on the road. Everything you can stuff in a duffel bag, as the company will send you a bus ticket to get to their place to start.

One is out on the road for two weeks: Sunday, July 23 afternoon through the following weekend until the next early Saturday morning, August 5 when you arrive home (Maybe late Friday, but don't push it to get home). Then you'll leave again Sunday afternoon the 6th, about 13-1400. That's your time off, in total. You'll be "home" about 24-hours, twice per month, all year.

Most companies will get you home for major holidays, too. When on the road, if you are awake, you are at work. Your log book is the record you must keep 24/7/365. It is a legal document. When you become a truck driver, you have no other time for anyone or anything else. Period.

As a commercial driver one is now held to a much higher standard by the law. In all situations. The fines and penalties are much higher. You will have to have the money (probably $500 per incident) to pay a lawyer to defend you on any and every ticket you get. Mistakes are easy to make, and the penalties follow you around for at least seven years. (See some online applications for big companies such as CRETE or HUNT or others; the questions they ask).

You will always be tired. Always. One reason I drove flatbed, hauling steel and wood mainly, was that one is at factories or mills that are only open 0700 until 1700. I got my seven hours sleep every night. I didn't have to load or unload the truck. Only tarp the load, plus chain or strap it down. No 0200 partial unload of a dry box, then hustle across town to make another partial unload at another distribution center at 0800, and the final unload at 1200. Then time to fuel (daily), to eat (when you can, about always $10-$12 as you can't park a 53' trailer with 18' tractor except in few places) and off to start the first of two stops to load. Finally out of town for that big 400 mile drive to start the process anew.

With flatbed, true, I got very dirty in the process, and only had time for a shower and clothes change every other day. You get used to it, especially as you come to understand that being a truck driver is to become, for an American, a disposable person. Your health, your well-being are impediments to others making money off of your labor, directly or indirectly. The good part is (like the old Negroes will tell you) it's better to know that prejudice is up-front and not hidden behind "happy talk" and reasonably decent working hours with weekends off.

You will be behind on a load, booking along through a major metro area, and look longingly at
all the restaurant parking lots full of cars. Of guys obviuosly headed off to the golf course, or opening day of deer season. Or truly hot-*** babes going to a Saturday club date (and no, there are absolutely no good looking women in any area of trucking ; not at the truck stops, not at the place you'll deliver or pickup. Your right hand will have a new (or increased) set of subtleties (beats a sleeping pill [illegal for drivers, as are firearms], though, as the engine idles, the truck shakes, and you try to fall asleep, too wired after a near rollover 42 miles back.

Take instant coffee crystals, as there is nothing worse than truck stop coffee. Dishwater is being generous as a description.

For reasons unfathomable, the worst American ******** you can imagine are at distribution centers and the other places you'll go. If you think you haven't got a temper -- know how to kiss *** a little -- just wait. The good thing is that you will be leaving those sorry ******** behind in a few hours. But realize that you'll likely go there again.

You'll also, besides the log, need to keep records of your loads (for payment, and to back up any disputes). I used to buy them from a Florida company (weird name, can't recall it just now), and you must take the time to be meticulous with paperwork. Satellite dispatch or not, you'll only find out weeks or months later that the company has dinged you for freight damage. Keep the records. (Don't tell me, what, I have run offices with big staffs -- am used to paperwork -- but driving is a body job, not a brain job once one gets used to it. It is all about habits.

The best time of any day is when one is loaded and leaving town. Driving actually constitutes a little less than one-half of your time, you are restricted to (new Federal rules, haven't memorized them) about 10 hours per day. But you'll likely have only a few days per week where you max out those daily driving hours. Your company trainer is someone you about want to drive crazy in getting him to teach you how to use that log book.

Safety is the only thing that matters. Trucking is composed of two groups: young guys (you) the business will use up, cripple or kill and drive off with a record for safety, timeliness and moving violations . . self-cleaning, in other words; and the second group that is in it for the long haul. Don't overdrive yourself, the money, the very few dollars, isn't worth it.

The truck is the boss; the truck is the job. If the truck is right, then everything else goes OK.
Takes about one-half hour to completely fill all eigthteen tires from 96-psi or so to the company number of 105-psi all around. Do it. And you'll be picking up new trailers every other day or so. The other drivers will not do it, and they will, at truck stops and other places, steal anything you leave unlocked or loose. Keeping the interior cleaned up (bedroll tied up, absolutely nothing loose, anywhere), swept up, wiped down daily takes time. When the cops pull you over -- and they need no reason, as commercial traffic operates under different rules -- your clean appearance and neat truck will help. A lot.

As does cleaning the windshield and other glass. (See my posts on same in the car cosmetic section; every time I got a "new" tractor, the glass alone took well over an hour to get rightl; an hour I was supposed to be already driving. I also swapped out "my" wipers, headlights or lamps, and added my extra mirrors. And scrubbed all the exterior lamps at every fuel stop).

In the same vein, the fifth wheel is not a hitch, it is a crucial part of the steering. It has to be cleaned before every new trailer, and re-greased. Need cheap nasty gloves and plenty of tubes of dirt-cheap grease plus a plastic mud applicator (sheet rock mud) to put it on with. And another to clean it off.

You have to set the limits. You have to be patient. It will take five years or so before the experience makes you a driver able to handle the problems that are part of the higher paying, better jobs. Maturity is key.

I can go on longer, and you can ask again. If you're serious, we can talk on the phone sometime.

Most truck companies won't take drivers under age 25 (maturity: actuarial statistic and insurance fact), so use the time well to prepare.

In truth, I'd recommend to you to become an officer in the military. Your pay, training and any adventures all translate to civilian life better. Not to mention any help with college loans. Look at the Navy, the USAF and Marines first, maybe Coast Guard. Army last.

My son finished his BA last year and is finishing The Basic School at Quantico, VA in the USMC. From there he'll go to flight training. And, after 6-8 years, he'll be better off than in a truck driving (or similar) job.

I completely understand your feelings about the workworld. I would, then, advise you nevertheless to get your CPA while killing time for a year or 18-mos in a regular job. Get your affairs in order. Dump any girlfriends. Get credit limits maxed upwards. And then look into driving if it still seems alright to you.

It is true that truck driving has great moments where it all comes together: a fresh (unfiltered) Pall Mall, the Stetson slips back as the AC cools one off, the coffee is fresh, and, as the sun goes down on the road from San Angelo to Sweetwater, TX, that AM station kicks in with Bob Wills & The Texas Playboys in "Cherokee Maiden" just as one drops the trans into 13th (top) gear . . and that 515HP CUMMINS just sings it.

A man can live a long time in those next four-minutes.

Yours,

Ross"

 

I thought you veteran truckers would get a good kick out of reading that, and I hope it helps us newbies! It's honestly why I'm still on the fence of whether I want to actually go to trucking school. I thought it was gonna be all fun and games until i started asking questions...