I need some confidence

Mathew, I understand your passion for trucking, like I had a passion for whales and dolphins when I was younger, however my dad talked me out of college, then I ended up brushing rat teeth in a research facility for 20 yrs. 3 yrs ago the facility nearly went under and I bailed..right into a truck, I found this site before I dug too deep and did my research here and learned an awful lot, the past 2 yrs have been difficult. I went with a fairly good company but you learn quickly that even the best of companies will take advantage of the newby, I learned from this site that if you make it through your first year you will probably make it in this industry, I almost didn't, having kids at home and being a single parent, it is difficult on everyone, the regulations, dispatchers, shippers, receivers, DOT, 4-wheelers, other so called professional drivers are a nightmare, and not even to mention the wonderful directions they give you to get you there or should I just say..in the general area. I have learned that these days you must have at least 2 yrs to fall into a really good position, I suffered nearly 2yrs with a halfway descent company and one that everyone said to absolutely stay away from, I am with an LTL company now and here, there is no waiting to be loaded/unloaded no overnights, no sliding tandems, the dispatchers know when you cannot cover a load, I can turn down loads (for now anyway) all of the drivers seem content (except for the few cry babies everyone has) I log about 10-11 hours a day versus the 14-16, and I make way more money here than even at the research lab and still I am at the bottom of the pole right now. My oldest son is 18 and out of high school now (graduated mid term) he took tractor trailor driving as one of his courses, he has his CDLbut cannot find a job because he is only 18, but is attending Indiana State for aviation that is his real passion.
Ok, if trucking is YOUR passion, learn the Pros and all of the cons, there are a lot of folks here that have tons of experience, listen to them and learn, you have 2 or 3 yrs to figure it all out, then the other 3 or 4 you could be in college earning a degree in business so that if trucking is your thing, you will be able to efficiently run your small business... start with one truck then two etc,,..
Went to the dolphin show at the zoo last night and cried silently to myself at what could have been, wanted to play with dolphins now I play with trucksthat said, I still love my job.

 

When I got out of High school, I didn't have the money for College, so I went into the USAF for 4 years. then Got married and started back in construction which is what I helped my Dad do during High school. ended up getting my builders license and built Log homes for 18 years. after that did some Lineman work for Low voltage lines. and then a Hotel Manager for 2 years, and now. Finely, I am a Trucker.

 

These "old" guys are giving you good advice and other options. Try not to have tunnel vision in life and only see one possibility for your life. I lived most of my life with tunnel vision and think about how things would be different for better or worse if I had taken different forks in the road in life at important times than the ones that I decided to take.

How's that for a little bit of philosophy. Ever listen to that Trace Adkins song "You're Gonna Miss This?" Maybe you should if you haven't heard it.

 

What? and you want to be a trucker.... He sings country music....

 

No one is trying to talk down to you. We are trying to be honest. We are not going to fill your head with dilusional visions of glory about this job. It is HARD, HARD work, no matter who you work for. Take that crap you may have seen on smoky and the bandit and convoy and throw it out the window. Those days are gone, never to return.

Outside of maybe flatbed the job is not that physically demanding anymore. It does however, wear on you nerves, body, and soul. It's easy to get fat (or fatter), and catch all kinds of nifty things like diabetes and colon cancer due to poor diet and physical inactivity.

Here's a typical bad day for a van driver: Let's say you are bringing in a load of mixed groceries from St. Louis, MO to Plymouth, MN. (Cereal, Flour, salt, cooking oil, Salsa, Canned beans and Soup, mixed on different pallets) You have a 7:00 AM appointment at a grocery warehouse at U.S. Foodservice, Plymouth, MN tomorrow morning. You are parked at the Olson (BP) truck stop in Inver Grove heights by 7PM the night before, because that's the closest truck stop you have a dying chance in hell of even finding a parking spot. You get a good meal, top off your fuel tanks, and get a shower before you get to bed at 8PM. You set your alarm for 5AM just to avoid the worst of rush hour.

Monday morning you wake up at 5 sharp, grab a cup of coffee and a donut and some junk food for breakfast. You do a pretrip inspection of your truck and are rolling up US 52 catching 494 west by 530. Around 6AM you are pulling off US 169 and following the directions you had downpat. As you aproach the driveway, there is a line of 5 trucks waiting to get in. You wait 15 min and finally you are at the electronic gate and pick up the phone. It rings maybe 2 times and a unfriendly voices snapps at you "P.O. #?" you try to read your bills in the twilight and finally find what he wants. You are then instructed where to park your tyruck and which door to check in and bring your paperwork to.

You walk in to the receiving office, standing in line behind you guessed it, 5 drivers. You wait another 15 minutes. It is now 645 by the time you hand him your paperwork. "Wow, just made it," he arrogantly remarks. He spends nearly 5 minutes entering your info into their system, and printing all sorts of labels. He hand you back your original and new stack of paperwork with a handwritten arrival time on your bills. "are you unloading it or hiring a lumper?"

"lumper," you state, not even thinking twice.

"Door 26, slide and lock your tandems all the way to the rear, chock your tires on both sides. When you're backed in come back in here and go to the office down the hal to talk to our unloading service."

At 7 AM you talk to these guys, and they tell you it will be $320 to unload the trailer. You let your dispatcher no and he curses and swears up a storm, and you go back to your truck, get a t-check ready, and start to relax. But you'll have all day to relax...

At 7:10 your trailer bumps, then silence for nearly 1/2 hour. then again at 7:30, 805, 815 825, 840. You lose track, playing on the computer, watching TV and you unknowingly drift off to sleep for about an hour. You feel the trailer bounce again as you wake up, figuring they must be close to getting done you go inside and check the progress. Your trailer is still over half full of product. You go back to your sleeper, disgusted, knowing full well today will be a wasted day, since your company can no longer afford to pay drivers detention pay. You talk on the phone watch The price is right, listen to your sattelite radio, and still the same, slow progress. Your trailer has 44 pallets on, most are doublestacked, and they are unloading them one at a time. Then they count the product, one at a time. Your dispatcher has already called 3 times, wondering what the hell is going on. This goes on till nearly 2PM, when finally you here that slow grinding sound of a dock lock releasing, see a green light come on in your side mirror. 10 minutes later they walk out with your paperwork. You hand them their $320 extra for unloading their own product. They hand you your bills and receipts with handwritten and stamped times that say arrival 645 AM Departure 156PM. And now 7.25 hours of your 14 hour legal day are now shot.

You get outside the gate and call your dispatcher (or use your quallcom spybox, whatever) to see what your next load is. It's a load of paper, going from Liberty paper in Becker, MN to Some warehouse in Toledo, OH that has to deliver at 9AM sharp, eastern time , tomorrow, appointment only. You are loaded in Becker by 5 PM but now it is rush hour and you have to go back east. By 7PM you are just hitting the Wisconsin boarder. 50 miles ahead of you driver's going west tell of snow, sleet, and freezing rain making for extremely greasy roads. You are down to 45 MPH by the time you near Eau Claire. See where this is going?

Still sound like a career you want to persue kid?